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)
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Status
- On View, Gallery 107
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Department
- Arts of Asia
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Artist
- Ishikawa Toyonobu
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Title
- Praying for Rain Komachi (Amagoi Komachi)
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Place
- Japan (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1750–1760
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Medium
- Color woodblock print (benizuri-e); hashira-e
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Dimensions
- 27.2 × 10.6 cm (10 3/4 × 4 3/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
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Reference Number
- 1925.2847
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IIIF Manifest
- 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.