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Shiba Kokan

Praying for Rain Komachi (Amagoi Komachi)

Edo period (1615–1868), 1770
Color woodblock print; chuban
26.7 × 19.7 cm (10.5 × 7.8 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

A pupil of Suzuki Harunobu, Shiba Kōkan created his own version of his teacher’s Ono no Komachi Praying for Rain. As in the image nearby, here a young woman is about to set a toy ship in the water. The comical poem above is the same as on Harunobu’s work. Although he executed this print in the style of his successful mentor, Kōkan would go on to become one of the early advocates in Japan of Western-style oil painting and perspective.

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