The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 29, 2022

Hinazura of Chōjiya from the series Beauties as the Seven Komachi

c. 1793-97

Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川 豊国

(Japanese, 1769–1825)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Color woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Sheet: 37.9 x 25.4 cm (14 15/16 x 10 in.)

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.355

Location

not on view

Description

Seven plays based on legends from the life of 9th-century poet Ono no Komachi served as the source for this print series. Hinazura looks at a caged bird, symbolizing the play The Parrot, in which Komachi responds to a poem sent to her by the Emperor Yozei with a poem with just one syllable changed.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signature: Toyokuna ga Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei (Senichi han) Censorship Seal: kiwame

Exhibition history

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988: A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection.

A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - September 2016-January 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 19, 2016-January 8, 2017).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.355