The Jewel River of Plovers (Chidori Tamagawa), from the series "Fashionable Six Jewel Rivers (Furyu Mu Tamagawa)"

This Art Institute of Chicago oban print, dated to c. 1804/18, belongs to one of Eizan's signature bijin-ga series, "Fashionable Six Jewel Rivers (Furyu Mu Tamagawa)." The six Tamagawa — Jewel Rivers — are a classical poetic set of six waterways scattered across Japan, each associated with a famous waka and a distinctive emblem. The Jewel River of Plovers (Chidori) refers to the Tamagawa associated with shorebirds and the Sea of Japan coast. Eizan transposes the literary theme onto contemporary Edo fashion: a young woman, drawn in the attenuated proportions that became his trademark, stands as if a living surrogate for the poetic place. The print belongs to the so-called mitate convention, in which a classical reference is mapped onto a modern figure for the pleasure of an educated audience. Eizan's debt to Utamaro is visible in the framing and figure type, but the cooler palette, slightly elongated face, and restrained gesture announce the new Kikukawa style that would dominate Edo bijin-ga in the years immediately after Utamaro's death in 1806.