Ono no Komachi by the Waterfall (Shimizu), from the series The Seven Fashionable Aspects of Komachi (Furyu yatsushi nana Komachi)

Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725 (?)-1770)

Edo period (1615–1868), 1751/64

Medium: Color woodblock print; hosoban
Classification: Print
Dimensions: 31.5 × 14 cm (12 3/8 × 5 1/2 in.)
Culture: Japan
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

About this work

In this print, two fashionably dressed young women view cherry blossoms at the peak of their season at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. This scene is based on a legend about a young Ono no Komachi (also the subject of a Nō play) in which she would frequent the temple, possibly to meet up with a man. At the upper right is a picture of Kiyomizu Temple, with its three waterfalls, which can still be seen today. The poem reads:

Despite all I do It is of no avail— My body has grown old; While the waterfall remains Unchanged in its appearance.

(Translation by Louise Virgin)