Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 3: Mountain Dove and Peach Flowers

Another Spring Rain Collection plate held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this surimono pairs a mountain dove with branches of peach blossoms in flower. The peach (momo) was a spring-blossom subject prized in kyōka for its associations with renewal, the third-month doll festival (hina matsuri), and the Tang-poetry tradition of peach blossoms beside a stream — Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring being a touchstone of Chinese literary recollection that Japanese poets drew on freely. Pairing the peach with a mountain dove gave the plate a quiet, classical resonance suited to the album's literary setting; the dove was a familiar bird of mountain margins in Japanese poetry and carried associations with the dawn and the natural rhythms of seasonal transition. Hokuba's handling is characteristic of his kachō surimono of the Bunka period: precise observation of the bird's plumage and posture, restrained color, and a willingness to leave large areas of ground unworked so the printed line could carry the design. The Met's impression preserves the original album mounting and the fine color register.