Night Rain of Genjo (Genjo no yau), from the series "Parodies of Eight Scenes from Noh Chants (Furyu utai hakkei)"
- Date:
- c. 1767
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; hosoban
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Night Rain of Genjo (Genjo no yau), from the series Parodies of Eight Scenes from Noh Chants (Furyu utai hakkei), is a 1762 chuban print by Suzuki Harunobu held in the Art Institute of Chicago. The series belongs to the broad family of hakkei (Eight Views) compositions that flooded Edo ukiyo-e in the eighteenth century, a tradition rooted in Chinese landscape painting's celebrated Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers. Harunobu's furyu (modern/playful) twist replaces the canonical Chinese sites with eight scenes drawn from Noh drama chants - here, a passage associated with the famous biwa Genjo and its links to night rain - and re-imagines each as a contemporary Edo vignette. The 'night rain' element, traditionally one of the most evocative of the hakkei sequence, gives Harunobu room to suggest indoor warmth and quiet attentiveness rather than dramatic incident. A figure or pair listens to the steady tap of rain, an instrument lies nearby, and Edo urbanity stands in for the deep classical references that learned viewers would supply themselves. Although produced in 1762 and so predating Harunobu's role in the 1765 nishiki-e revolution, the print already shows the disciplined keyblock and pared palette that would carry him into full polychromatic mastery. In its chuban bijin-ga format, the design fits comfortably alongside the rest of the Furyu utai hakkei series, demonstrating how Suzuki Harunobu could translate an arcane Noh allusion into the everyday rhythm of urban Edo life without sacrificing the quiet authority of the original chant.
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
c. 1833-36
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Ame no Omiya
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Night Rain of Genjo (Genjo no yau), from the series "Parodies of Eight Scenes from Noh Chants (Furyu utai hakkei)" was created by Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信) in c. 1767.
Night Rain of Genjo (Genjo no yau), from the series "Parodies of Eight Scenes from Noh Chants (Furyu utai hakkei)" depicts rain.
