Empress Jito (Jito Tenno), from the series "One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu no uchi)"

Empress Jito (Jito Tenno), from the series One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu no uchi), is part of Suzuki Harunobu's 1758 contribution to one of the most widely circulated literary anthologies in Japan, the Hyakunin Isshu compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the early thirteenth century. Empress Jito's poem, the anthology's second, describes white robes drying on Mount Kaguyama as the indicator that summer has come, a verse beloved for its sharp seasonal observation. Harunobu reimagines the imperial author as a graceful Edo bijin, placing a contemporary woman in a setting suggested by airy white garments hung on a frame, with bare-leafed plants and an open horizon hinting at the slopes of Kaguyama. The substitution is the practice of mitate, in which classical figures are recast in modern dress to allow Edo townspeople to feel familiar with material associated with the classical canon. Although produced before Suzuki Harunobu's full nishiki-e breakthrough in 1765, the print uses careful color registration to suggest the lightness of summer textiles and the cool greens of seasonal greenery, anticipating the lush palettes for which his Edo bijin-ga became famous. The series invited buyers to collect printed equivalents of poems they had memorized as children, turning a sober anthology into a fashionable visual game. Source: Art Institute of Chicago, no. 19981.