Bunya no Yasuhide, from the series "Fashionable Children as the Six Immortal Poets (Furyu kodakara rokkasen)"
- Date:
- c. 1814/17
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Another [oban](/glossary/oban) from "Fashionable Children as the Six Immortal Poets," dated c. 1814/17 by the Art Institute of Chicago, this sheet identifies its young sitter with Bunya no Yasuhide, the ninth-century waka poet known for a famously witty poem on autumn winds. Eizan poses the child in a manner that suggests the poet's signature theme — typically a gesture or accessory connected to wind, leaves, or season — while keeping the costume and styling firmly contemporary. The print is part of the larger six-sheet set held by the Art Institute, and seeing it together with its companion sheets makes clear how Eizan calibrated each child's pose to a different Rokkasen attribute, building a small [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) narrative across the series. As a piece of the children-as-classics genre it is also a reminder of how Edo's print culture rewarded literary insider knowledge: the joke of mitate worked only when the viewer recognized the classical reference behind the modern figure.
c. 1824/29
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1814/17
Color woodblock print; center sheet of oban triptych (right sheet: 1963.613)
c. 1814/17
Color woodblock print; oban
early 19th century
Color woodblock print; oban
Bunya no Yasuhide, from the series "Fashionable Children as the Six Immortal Poets (Furyu kodakara rokkasen)" was created by Kikukawa Eizan (菊川英山) in c. 1814/17.
Bunya no Yasuhide, from the series "Fashionable Children as the Six Immortal Poets (Furyu kodakara rokkasen)" depicts children.
