Night Rain

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Description

This print depicts a scene of night rain — a setting saturated with emotional resonance in the Japanese literary and visual tradition. Rain at night was associated with melancholy, longing, and the heightened sensitivity of waiting. Whether the composition shows a woman listening to rain, sheltering from it, or viewed through rain-streaked screens, the nocturnal weather creates an atmosphere of interiority and feeling.

More Prints by Kitagawa Utamaro

Akashi of the Tamaya, from the series Seven Komachis of Yoshiwara (Seiro nana Komachi) (Tamaya uchi Akashi, Uraji, Shimano)

Woodblock print

Hour of the Tiger (Tora no koku = 4 AM) from the series Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seirô jûni toki tsuzuki), Late Edo period, circa 1794

Woodblock print

Ikebana arrangement of Peony and Willow in Dragon Pot

1781–1806

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

The Greatest Beauties of Our Time (Toji zensei bijin zoroe): Somenosuke of the Matsubaya with Attendants Wakagi and Wakaba

Woodblock print

More Night Scenes Prints

Evening in East Africa

Woodblock print

Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"

Teradomari no yau

1921

Color woodblock print; oban

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

March 1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Frequently Asked Questions

Night Rain was created by Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川歌麿).

Night Rain depicts night scenes and rain.