"Shi," from the series "Tales of Ise in Fashionable Brocade Pictures (Furyu nishiki-e Ise monogatari)"

This color woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunsho, made about 1767, belongs to the series Tales of Ise in Fashionable Brocade Pictures, Furyu Nishiki-e Ise Monogatari, in which sheets are organised by the syllables of the Japanese phonetic order. The syllable Shi identifies this particular episode within the cycle, which retells passages from the classical Heian narrative Ise Monogatari long associated with the courtier-poet Ariwara no Narihira. Shunsho translates the courtly source into the visual idiom of mid-Edo ukiyo-e, dressing his figures in fashionable contemporary robes and arranging them with the polished decorative clarity expected of a luxury print series. The relatively new technology of full-color nishiki-e printing, perfected by Edo publishers in the 1760s, made it possible to register subtle textile patterns and atmospheric grounds across multiple woodblock impressions. While Katsukawa Shunsho is best remembered today as the dominant force behind the rise of the Katsukawa school in yakusha-e, the Ise Monogatari cycle confirms his fluency with literary subjects aimed at well-read patrons. The print is preserved in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it forms part of a substantial Shunsho holding documenting both his actor prints and his contributions to literary nishiki-e during the formative years of full-color printing in Edo.