Sparrowhawk (Konori taka)
- Date:
- c. 1716
- Medium:
- Hand-colored woodblock print; vertical o-oban, tan-e
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
Dated to circa 1716, this vertical o-oban tan-e depicts a sparrowhawk (konori taka), a small raptor prized in Japanese falconry. The print belongs to the body of bird-and-flower (kacho) work that Kiyomasu I produced alongside his theatrical commissions, and it demonstrates how the Torii school's bold drawing idiom translated onto natural-history subject matter. The bird is rendered with the same swelling contour lines used in the school's actor prints, giving the small predator an emphatic visual presence on the tall vertical sheet. Hand-applied tan pigment animates the plumage. Hawks and hawking carried strong samurai-class associations in the Tokugawa period, and prints of falconry subjects appealed both to those steeped in martial culture and to townsmen who admired the iconography from a distance.
More Prints by Torii Kiyomasu I
The Actors Arashi Koroku I as Makomo no Mae and Ichikawa Uzaemon VIII as Taira no Koremochi in the play "Shusse Momijigari," performed at the Ichimura Theater in the eleventh month, 1747
1747
Color woodblock print; hosoban, benizuri-e
The Actors Sanogawa Ichimatsu I as Soga no Goro and Ikushima Daikichi II as Kewaizaka no Shosho in the play "Monzukushi Nagoya Soga," performed at the Ichimura Theater in the first month, 1748
1748
Color woodblock print; hosoban, benizuri-e
Ichimura Manzo as Yatsushi Goro and Segawa Kikujiro as Yatsushi Shosho
ca. 1745
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Courtesan
ca. 1712
Monochrome woodblock (tan-e) print; ink on paper
More Birds & Flowers Prints
Frequently Asked Questions
Sparrowhawk (Konori taka) was created by Torii Kiyomasu I (鳥居清倍) in c. 1716.
Sparrowhawk (Konori taka) depicts birds & flowers.