Beauties and Actors

Chōbunsai Eishi

Ono no Komachi Visiting Kiyomizu Temple

c. 1788

Color woodblock print, 38.7 × 25.4 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

At a Kyoto temple, two women admire cherry blossoms as a boy fastens a poem slip to a branch.

• From The Fashionable Seven Komachi, a mitate series.
• It alludes to a legend: at this temple a young woman overheard a monk praying for the aged poet and led him to her house.
• Published by Izumiya Ichibei; the pale, limited colors keep the mood quiet.

Image: Art Institute of Chicago open access · CC0