Ono no Komachi Washing the Copybook (Soshiarai Komachi)

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

In this first print from a series showing seven scenes from the life of Ono no Komachi, the poet washes a book to remove text recently added by a rival poet, Ōtomo no Kuronushi, likely depicted as the angry figure on the right. This image was printed in black ink and then hand colored. The artist, Torii Kiyomasu II, came from the famous Torii line of printmakers, who specialized in depictions of actors, birds, historical subjects, and flowers. They made up one of the principal schools of artists around when the birth of the Japanese popular print took place, during the Edo period.

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