The Poetess Shunzei no Musume, from the series The Thirty-six Immortal Women Poets (Nishikizuri onna sanjurokkasen)
Edo period (1615–1868), 1801
Medium
Page from a color woodblock-printed volume
Dimensions
24.7 × 18.5 cm (9 3/4 × 7 5/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
34973
Art Historical Context
In the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan (1615–1868), Chôbunsai Eishi, a of ukiyo-e woodblock prints, created *The Poetess Shunzei Musume* in 1801 as part of the series * Thirty-six Immortal Women Poets (*Nishikizuri onna sanjurokk*). This intimate page from a color woodblock-printed volume (24.7 × 18.5 cm) portrays Shunzei no Musume daughter of the renowned poet Fujiwara no Shunzei and herself a celebrated waka composer. The series pays homage to Japan's esteemed female poets, visually immortalizing their elegance and literary legacy in a format inspired by the classic *Hyakunin Isshu* anthol...
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...