Ono no Komachi at Seki Temple, from the series The Fashionable Seven Komachi (Furyu nana Komachi)

Chōbunsai EishiWW-1783-020654

1783·Color woodblock print; oban·37.5 × 25 cm (14 3/4 × 9 7/8 in.)

<p>Legend has it that the poet Ono no Komachi became a nun in her old age and lived in seclusion near Seki Temple, northeast of Kyoto. The once-famous beauty, ashamed of her aged appearance, repeatedly refused social invitations. In a poem associated with this period, Komachi expresses her desire to drift away like a reed on a stream because of her loneliness. In a scene that alludes to the poem, two women stop to speak to a man as he passes them on a riverbank.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1783
Medium: Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions: 37.5 × 25 cm (14 3/4 × 9 7/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Chōbunsai Eishi

Artist

Chōbunsai Eishi

Printmaking

Chōbunsai Eishi was an 18th-century Japanese woodblock print artist and painter known for ukiyo-e works depicting bijin (beautiful women) and kabuki actors. Active during the late Edo period, he developed a refined, elegant style characterized by elongated figures and delicate linear detail. His prints and paintings represent a transition between earlier Edo aesthetics and the more decorative approaches of his contemporaries. This profile will be expanded as more verified source material becomes available.

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