Koshikibu no Naishi (The Koshikibu Handmaid), from an untitled series of Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each)
Suzuki Harunobu, Koshikibu no Naishi (The Koshikibu Handmaid), from an untitled series of Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each), 1767/1768, color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.69
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Koshikibu no Naishi (The Koshikibu Handmaid), from an untitled series of Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each)
- Related Titles
catalog entry; descriptive: Koshikibu no Naishi detains her poetry rival, Fujiwara no Sadayori, from an untitled series of Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each)
original language: 小式部内侍
series (original language); descriptive: 百人一首
series (translated); descriptive: One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each
series (transliterated); descriptive: Hyakunin isshu
translated: The Koshikibu Handmaid
transliterated: Koshikibu no Naishi
- Artist
- Date
1767/1768
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e
- Catalogue Raisonné
Chiba 2002, 161; Ukiyoe shūka v. 9, fig. 14; Waterhouse 2013, 221-222
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image/sheet: 10 7/8 in x 8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
inscription: 小式部内侍 // 大江山 / いく野のみちの / とふければ / 天のはしたて, printed in black within cloud-shaped register, upper middle Transliteration (Translation): Koshikibu [no] Naishi // Ōe-yama / Ikuno no michi no / tōkereba / mada fumi mo mizu / Ama no Hashidate (Koshikibu no Naishi: Ōe Mountain and / the road that goes to Ikuno / are far away, and so / not yet have I trod there, nor letter seen / from the Bridge to Heaven) Language: Japanese Description: Poem by Koshikibu no Naishi (d. 1025). (Translation adapted from Joshua S. Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1996), 319.)
signature: 春信画, printed in black relief, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Harunobu ga (picture [by] Harunobu) Language: Japanese
- Collection Area
Asian Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
Japanese Traditional Prints
- Object Type
relief print
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection
- Accession Number
32.69
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Harunobu illustrates a well-known episode from the life of Koshikibu, a young woman who served at court as handmaid to the empress in the early decades of the eleventh century. During a period when her mother, the famous poet Izumi Shikibu, was in a distant province, Koshikibu was chosen to participate in a poetry contest. Sometime before the event, the courtier Sadayori came by to tease her, saying she must be lost without her mother’s guidance. Koshikibu tugs at his sleeve to detain him and puts him in his place with a clever poem.
- Exhibitions
1999 Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Museum's Collections Portland Art Museum
2011 The Artist's Touch, The Craftsman's Hand: Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Portland Art Museum Portland Art Museum
2018 Suzuki Harunobu and the Culture of Color Portland Art Museum
