「教導立志基」 「三」「小野道風」

Number three in the 教導立志基 (Kyōdō Risshi Ki) series, this print depicts the Heian-period calligrapher Ono no Tōfu (小野道風, 894–966), also known as Ono no Michikaze, one of the three great calligraphers of classical Japan alongside Fujiwara no Sukemasa and Fujiwara no Yukinari. Kiyochika likely represents the famous anecdote in which Tōfu, discouraged by his failure to advance his art, witnesses a frog repeatedly leaping to reach a willow branch — an image of perseverance that renewed his resolve. The composition would show the calligrapher outdoors beside water, observing the frog, framed by willows rendered with Kiyochika's assured brushwork. This episode was one of the most frequently illustrated moral tales in Meiji educational publishing, and Kiyochika's version would bring his figure-drawing precision to a well-established iconographic subject.