Evening Primrose — 宵待草
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
The evening primrose — "yoimachigusa," the flower that waits for evening — gave its name to one of Yumeji's most beloved poems and songs, a lyric about waiting, longing, and the impossibility of the union waited for. The flower itself, which opens only at dusk and wilts by morning, is the perfect Yumeji emblem: beauty that exists only in the transitional, melancholy hours, beauty that is inseparable from its own brevity. This print — bearing the Japanese title "宵待草" — translates the famous poem's feeling into visual form, the flower standing for the waiting woman.
More Prints by Takehisa Yumeji
More Night Scenes Prints
Evening in East Africa
Woodblock print
Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Frequently Asked Questions
Evening Primrose — 宵待草 was created by Takehisa Yumeji (竹久夢二).
Evening Primrose — 宵待草 depicts night scenes.