The Oystercatcher Dance (Miyakodori), from the series "Beautiful Dance Customs (Adesugata odori fuzoku)"

The Oystercatcher Dance (Miyakodori), from the series Beautiful Dance Customs (Adesugata odori fuzoku), is a circa 1778 chuban color woodblock print at the Art Institute of Chicago. The miyakodori ("capital bird," sometimes glossed as oystercatcher) is one of the most evocative birds in classical Japanese poetry, immortalized in the tenth-century Tales of Ise as the bird whose name prompts the homesick traveler in Episode 9 to compose a famous waka asking after the well-being of his beloved in the capital. The miyakodori dance, like other entries in the Adesugata odori fuzoku series, transposed the classical literary or natural reference into a popular dance form performed by stylish women. The chuban format and full nishiki-e color place the print in the mature 1770s output of Shigemasa's bijin-ga practice. The Art Institute of Chicago's impression complements the other Adesugata odori fuzoku sheets in its holdings and helps reconstruct one of Shigemasa's most accomplished bijin-ga series.