Komachi, from the series "Six Immortal Poets (Rokkasen)"

Art Historical Context

This elegant color woodblock print by Chôbunsai Eishi portrays Komachi, one of the celebrated Six Immortal Poets (Rokkasen), a legendary group of Heian-period poets revered in Japanese literature. Created around 1789–90 during the late Edo period, the oban-sized sheet (approximately 16 by 10 inches) belongs to a series that reimagines these classical figures as graceful beauties in contemporary dress. Eishi, originally trained in the formal Kanō school of painting, brought a refined sensibility to ukiyo-e, the popular “pictures of the floating world” that captured the elegance and transience of urban life. As a woodblock print, the work exemplifies the collaborative artistry of ukiyo-e production, in which designers, carvers, and printers worked together to achieve luminous colors and delicate lines on handmade paper. Eishi’s style is noted for its slender, aristocratic figures and subtle tonal harmonies, qualities that lent a poetic dignity to his bijin-ga (images of beautiful women). By linking timeless literary icons with the fashionable women of his own day, the print bridges classical heritage and popular culture. Today housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Arts of Asia collection, the print offers visitors a window into the sophisticated visual culture of 18th-century Japan, where poetry, fashion, and printmaking converged to celebrate both timeless ideals and fleeting beauty.

About the Artist

Chôbunsai Eishi · 1756–1829

Chôbunsai Eishi, born Hosoda Tokitomi in 1756 to a prosperous samurai family of the Fujiwara clan in Edo, inherited a substantial stipend of 500 koku of rice annually. His grandfather had served as the shogunate's Treasury Minister, and upon his father Hosoda Tokiyuki's death in 1772, Eishi became family head while holding a position in Shogun Tokugawa Ieharu's palace from 1781. Unusually for a uk...