Ono no Komachi Viewing a Cherry Tree (Komachi zakura), from the series Cherry Blossoms of Katsushika (Katsushika sakura zukushi)
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1820
Yashima Gakutei Japanese, 1786 (?)-1868
Japan
This print is a surimono, a privately published image commissioned by the members of a poetry circle, in this case the Katsushika group. Here famous ninth-century poet Ono no Komachi views cherry blossoms at Kiyomizu Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. The flowers also appear on her robe and in the image’s background pattern. The two poems on the left read:
Even eyes not accented
By “Komachi red” make-up
Are colored
Cherry-pink
Tipsy from New Year’s
Drink.
The tails of green willow
Praise the form of Komachi’s poems
That gave fame to
Cherry blossoms.
(Translation taken from Surimono: Poetry and Image in Japanese Prints [Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2000])
Color woodblock print; surimono