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Kuronushi from the series The New Six Immortal Poets
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Kuronushi from the series The New Six Immortal Poets

Chōbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756–1829), artist · c. 1795 · color woodblock print

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

This print shows a courtesan adjusting her hairdo before a mirror as her attendant looks on. In the cartouche next to her is a poem by Ōtomo no Kuronishi, a Heian period courtier celebrated as one of the Six Immortal Poets. His portrait and name appear in the disk-shaped title cartouche. The poem reads: "Mirror Mountain / Has been raised high / To show us all / Our Lord will live a thousand years!" The poem appears in the Anthology of Ancient and Modern Verse (Kokinwakashū) with a note that it was sung at the investiture of the Emperor Daigo (885-930). Here, the courtesan could be perceived as a stand-in for the emperor, making this a rather risqué print.

Cleveland Museum of Art’s own description
Credit lineKuronushi from the series The New Six Immortal Poets (新六歌仙 黒主), c. 1795. Chōbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756–1829). Color woodblock print; sheet: 33.4 x 20.5 cm (13 1/8 x 8 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection, 1956.755
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