Poem by Kisen Hoshi, from the series "Six Famous Poets (Rokkasen)"

Poem by Kisen Hoshi, from the series Six Famous Poets (Rokkasen), is part of Suzuki Harunobu's 1759 sequence dedicated to the six waka poets identified in the Kokin Wakashu preface as the most important figures bridging the eighth and ninth centuries. Kisen Hoshi was a Buddhist priest known for a single famous poem describing his hut at Mount Uji, where he had retreated from the capital, and Harunobu treats the verse through the lens of Edo bijin-ga rather than archaic priestly portraiture. A young figure in contemporary dress stands in for the historical poet, inhabiting an environment whose props and seasonal indicators reference the poem's mood of withdrawal. The image is a classic example of mitate, a print convention in which present-day fashion and idealized beauty parody classical subjects to make them feel current to Edo townspeople. Although produced in 1759, before nishiki-e fully matured, the composition anticipates the more chromatic possibilities Suzuki Harunobu would help unlock six years later. The series as a whole positioned poetry as a starting point for fashionable visual play, encouraging customers to layer literary memory with the latest urban styles. By transforming a hermit poet into an elegant woman or beautiful youth, Harunobu reframes classical Japanese literature as a participatory cultural language available to merchants and artisans. The print sits squarely within his lifelong project of using ukiyo-e to circulate refined references through the cheap, multiply printed medium. Source: Art Institute of Chicago, no. 19983.