Cock Flying Over Pot of Adonis

Cock Flying Over Pot of Adonis is a circa 1770 woodblock print by Isoda Koryusai that exemplifies the kachoga, or bird-and-flower, tradition the artist pursued in parallel with his celebrated Edo bijin-ga. The image juxtaposes a vigorous rooster in mid-flight against a ceramic pot containing fukujuso, the Adonis amurensis or pheasant's-eye plant whose bright yellow blossoms are among the first to bloom in late winter and which Japanese New Year traditions associate with longevity and good fortune. Koryusai constructs a dynamic diagonal: the cock's outstretched wings and trailing tail feathers sweep across the upper register while the squat, decorated pot anchors the composition below, creating a tension between airborne movement and earthly stillness. The pairing carries layered symbolism beyond the seasonal reference, as roosters in Japanese visual culture often signal vigilance and the dawn. Koryusai's handling of plumage shows the same attentive draftsmanship he brought to figural work, with carefully differentiated layers of feathers built up through overlapping curves. Although he is best remembered for the Yoshiwara fashion plates of Hinagata Wakana no Hatsu Moyo, prints like this confirm that he worked across the full repertoire of ukiyo-e subjects, including the upright pillar prints and bird studies favored by collectors of the 1770s. The Art Institute of Chicago houses this impression among its broader Koryusai holdings, where it documents the breadth of his pre-Hinagata output.