Atsutada

This undated print by Chobunsai Eishi, recorded on ukiyo-e.org through the Honolulu Museum of Art under their reference 3031, takes as its subject the Heian courtier-poet Fujiwara no Atsutada, one of the celebrated Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, sanjurokkasen, whose waka appear in the Kokin wakashu and later imperial anthologies. As with many of Eishi's literary subjects, the print handles Atsutada in mitate fashion, substituting a contemporary Edo beauty for the historical male poet so that the figure's stance, accessories, or kimono pattern alludes to Atsutada's most famous poem or to his courtly persona. The composition embodies Eishi's signature Edo bijin-ga style. The figure stands with the elongated proportions, sloping shoulders, and tapered hands that became his hallmark, with the kimono falling in long, evenly described parallel folds. As a Kano-trained ukiyo-e designer who studied under Kano Eisen'in before entering the print market, Eishi gives the keyblock work the discipline of an academy painter, and any literary attribute, perhaps a folded scroll or a poem slip, is rendered with the careful linear treatment he typically reserves for textile motifs. The palette stays in his characteristic register of muted greys, soft indigos, and pale fleshtones. The print is preserved through the Honolulu Museum of Art and recorded on ukiyo-e.org. It is a representative example of Eishi's broader project of dignifying Edo bijin-ga through allusion to the classical waka canon, a project that built his clientele among literary samurai and refined merchant collectors.