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A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.

Ono no Komachi at Seki Temple, from the series The Seven Fashionable Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi)

Edo period (1615–1868), about 1771

Isoda Koryusai Japanese, 1735–1790

Japan

Two young women walking on a dock cover their faces demurely as they encounter a man in a boat. One wears a robe with a cherry-blossom design, a flower strongly associated with Ono no Komachi, a famous ninth-century poet. The scene illustrates a poem by Komachi, inscribed in the cloud above:
I that am lonely,
Like a reed root-cut
Should a stream entice me,
Would go, I think.
(Translation by Arthur Waley)
This poem was written by Komachi when she received an invitation to leave her self-imposed seclusion. Ashamed by her aged appearance, Komachi refused

Color woodblock print; chuban

Arts of Asia