Artwork

Komachi Washes the Book (from the series Seven Elegant Episodes from the Life of the Poetess Ono no Komachi)

Komachi Washes the Book (from the series Seven Elegant Episodes from the Life of the Poetess Ono no Komachi) is a print by the Romanticist artist Kikukawa Eizan. It dates from 1814 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

About this work

Overview

Created around 1814 by the ukiyo‑e artist Kikukawa Eizan, this woodblock print belongs to the series “Seven Elegant Episodes from the Life of the Poetess Ono no Komachi.” The work is part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection and depicts a single figure engaged in a quiet domestic activity.

Subject & Meaning

The image shows a woman dressed in a long, patterned kimono, her black hair tied up, and a red collar framing her calm expression. She holds an open white book in one hand and a red cloth embroidered with white flowers in the other, suggesting the act of cleaning or caring for the book, a motif linked to the legendary poetess Komaki’s refined pursuits.

Technique & Style

Executed as a multicolored woodblock print, the composition relies on bold outlines and flat areas of pigment. The kimono displays a mixture of stripes, swirls and checks rendered in contrasting hues, while the background is rendered in a muted beige, allowing the figure’s attire and accessories to dominate the visual field.

History & Provenance

The print was produced in the early nineteenth‑century Edo period, a time when ukiyo‑e artists frequently illustrated literary and historical subjects. It entered the Cleveland Museum of Art’s holdings through acquisition in the twentieth century, where it remains catalogued as part of the museum’s Japanese prints collection.

Artist & collection

Artist

Kikukawa Eizan

Kikukawa Eizan was a designer of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints. He first studied with his father, Eiji, a minor painter of the Kanō school, and subsequently with Suzuki Nanrei (1775–1844), of the Shijō…