The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 5, 2023

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