Poem by Sojo Henjo, from the series "Six Famous Poets (Rokkasen)"

Poem by Sojo Henjo, from the series Six Famous Poets (Rokkasen), is part of Suzuki Harunobu's 1759 set illustrating the six waka poets named in the Kokin Wakashu's preface as the most important Japanese poets of the ninth and early tenth centuries. Sojo Henjo was a courtier turned Buddhist priest, famous for a poem in which he asks the heavenly wind to blow the clouds shut so that the celestial maidens dancing through them might be detained a little longer. Harunobu transforms this allusion to celestial beauty into a piece of Edo bijin-ga, replacing the priest with a stylish contemporary figure or substituting current Edo costume for the priestly robes the poem implies. The mitate device, central to Suzuki Harunobu's contribution to nishiki-e bijin-ga, allows the print to function both as a literary reference and as a fashion plate, rewarding viewers in proportion to their knowledge while remaining accessible to those who simply enjoy elegant design. The sheet's color separation - subtle, harmonious, carefully registered - represents the workshop achievement that Edo print culture had refined by the late 1750s, just before the explosion of full nishiki-e in 1765. The series collectively positions classical poetry as the deep source of contemporary urban refinement, a position that Harunobu's career as a whole worked to enact. Source: Art Institute of Chicago, no. 19987.