The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 10, 2026

A vertically oriented woodblock print on tan paper depicts two women with light skin tones. On the right, a woman in a dark patterned kimono stands adjusting yellow hairpins. Her reflection appears in an oval mirror atop a black box at the lower left. To her left, a woman in a brown kimono sits. An inset circle at the top left features a seated man. Japanese calligraphy is visible throughout.

Kuronushi from the series The New Six Immortal Poets

c. 1795

Chōbunsai Eishi

(Japanese, 1756–1829)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
color woodblock print
Sheet: 33.4 x 20.5 cm (13 1/8 x 8 1/16 in.)
The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection 1956.755
Location: Not on view

Description

This print shows a courtesan adjusting her hairdo before a mirror as her attendant looks on. In the cartouche next to her is a poem by Ōtomo no Kuronishi, a Heian period courtier celebrated as one of the Six Immortal Poets. His portrait and name appear in the disk-shaped title cartouche.

The poem reads: "Mirror Mountain / Has been raised high / To show us all / Our Lord will live a thousand years!" The poem appears in the Anthology of Ancient and Modern Verse (Kokinwakashū) with a note that it was sung at the investiture of the Emperor Daigo (885-930). Here, the courtesan could be perceived as a stand-in for the emperor, making this a rather risqué print.
  • ?–1956
    Fanny Tewksbury King [1867–1949], Cleveland, OH, sold by her estate to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1956–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ukiyo-e: The Floating World Revisited. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 2-April 3, 1994).
    Japanese Prints and Ceramics from The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, and The Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College. College of Wooster, Wooster, OH (1981).
  • {{cite web|title=Kuronushi from the series The New Six Immortal Poets|url=false|author=Chōbunsai Eishi|year=c. 1795|access-date=10 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1956.755