Kayō hyakunin isshu taisei

Kayo hyakunin isshu taisei, a single-volume woodblock-printed book dated 1781 (An'ei 10) in the Art Institute of Chicago, is a late eighteenth-century compilation that draws on Sukenobu's hundred-poets imagery long after the artist's death. The Hyakunin isshu — the classical anthology of one hundred poems by one hundred poets compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the thirteenth century — was one of the central reference texts of Japanese literary culture, and illustrated Hyakunin isshu editions were a major category of ehon publishing throughout the Edo period. Sukenobu had himself illustrated Hyakunin isshu themes during his lifetime, and his designs continued to be reprinted, reissued, and adapted by Kyoto publishers for decades after 1750. The An'ei-era date of 1781 places this volume thirty-one years after his death, well into the polychrome [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) era of Suzuki Harunobu, Torii Kiyonaga, and Kitagawa Utamaro in Edo — and yet the market for Sukenobu's Kyoto-school monochrome imagery was still strong enough to support a new compilation. The book is evidence of the remarkable longevity of his designs as cultural reference material.