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Praying for Rain Komachi (Amagoi Komachi)

A work made of color woodblock print (benizuri-e); hashira-e.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of color woodblock print (benizuri-e); hashira-e.

Date:

Edo period (1615–1868), about 1755

Artist:

Ishikawa Toyonobu
Japanese, 1711-1785

About this artwork

Here poet Ono no Komachi has just recited a poem about rain, causing the heavens to open up. This is an example of a hashira-e (pillar print), which would have been displayed on one of the pillars of a traditional Japanese home. Ishikawa Toyonobu excelled in creating designs for this type of print at a time when the size and format had just become standardized. Additionally, this image is a benizuri-e, a print that has only two or three colors, including beni, a pinkish red. Works with this coloring were prominent before multicolored prints were developed in the 1760s. The poem written above the image reads:

Raindrops on the cover,
A protection against the frost for the narcissus blossom.

(Translation by Kenji Toda)

Status

On View, Gallery 107

Department

Arts of Asia

Artist

Ishikawa Toyonobu

Title

Praying for Rain Komachi (Amagoi Komachi)

Place

Japan (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1750–1760

Medium

Color woodblock print (benizuri-e); hashira-e

Dimensions

27.2 × 10.6 cm (10 3/4 × 4 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Clarence Buckingham Collection

Reference Number

1925.2847

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/23293/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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