# Ono no Komachi Praying for Rain

- By: Isoda Koryusai (Japanese, 1735–1790)
- Date: Edo period (1615–1868), about 1771
- Medium: Color woodblock print; hashira-e
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: 69.3 × 11.5 cm (27 1/4 × 4 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/23120)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/2dcd025b-b4bd-c02c-7cb8-f27238763a9b/full/!548,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In one legend about Ono no Komachi, the ninth-century poet summons rain by reciting an ode, thereby ending a long drought. In this print, an 18th-century woman in modified court dress accomplishes the same feat by reading the poem in her hand, possibly a love letter.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0