Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) A Comparison of the Ogura One Hundred Poets, Number 63: Michimasa, 1847. Oban.
In 1845 the publisher Ibaya Senzaburo commissioned the three leading artists of the day, Hiroshige, Kunisada and Kuniyoshi, to contribute to an anthology of 100 poems by 100 poets. The poem is written at the top of the print and a scene from history or drama is illustrated below, each scene being an obscure allusion to the subject of the poem. Here the geisha Koman is forced to betray her lover in a letter over an incident involving a stolen flute. The poem reads: “Now, the only thing / I wish for is a way to say / to you directly / - not through another - / ‘I will think of you no longer!’”
A fine print from the first edition, trimmed to the image with strong colour, good impression and visible woodgrain in the background.
The print is illustrated in Herwig & Mostow, The One Hundred Poets Compared, Hotei Publishing 2007.
34 x 23 cm.
