Parrot (Omu), from the series "Floating World Versions of the Seven Komachi (Ukiyo Nana Komachi)"

Parrot (Omu), from the series Floating World Versions of the Seven Komachi (Ukiyo Nana Komachi), dated to 1775 in the Art Institute of Chicago's holdings, is an early-career work by Torii Kiyonaga that pairs classical literary erudition with the contemporary social setting of the pleasure quarter. The Seven Komachi cycle reimagines episodes from the legends of the ninth-century poet Ono no Komachi, here transposed into the Floating World; the Parrot installment alludes to the Omu Komachi tradition, in which the poet famously replies to a courtier by changing only a single word of his verse, mirroring his speech back to him. Kiyonaga reframes the allusion as a quiet exchange between contemporary women, leaving the literary subtext to be recognised by the educated viewer. The composition is unhurried, with figures arranged against a sparse ground so that posture and gesture carry the narrative weight. Working within the Torii school traditions of strong outline and confident draughtsmanship, Kiyonaga is already moving toward the spacious, tall-figured Edo [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) that would define his mature style. The print also illustrates the appetite among Edo publishers for series that flattered urban readers by treating courtesans and townswomen as descendants of classical heroines. Recorded in the Art Institute of Chicago collection, the impression preserves the linear clarity and restrained palette typical of mid-1770s [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e), when colour blocks were used to inflect rather than overwhelm a brush-led design. For collectors, the sheet is a useful early Kiyonaga: still tethered to the elegant manner of Harunobu and Koryusai, yet showing the steady, monumental treatment of female figures that became Kiyonaga's signature within the Torii school.