Orchids in Full Bloom

Artist Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820)

Dateca. 1812

MediumColor woodblock print

Dimensions7 3/4 × 10 3/4 inches (19.7 × 27.3 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Joanna Haab Schoff, Class of 1955

Terms

Surimono
Color woodblock print
Poetry
Orchids
Japanese

Object number2011.017.002

Label CopyCommissioned by Poets of Suwa for a Midsummer, ca. early 1810s Te no uchi ni It leaves darkness Yami wo nokoshite In the palm of my hand— Tobu hotaru The departing firefly —Sei’i Hitai kara I awake from a dream Yume wa sametari Emerging from my forehead Natsu no tsuki The moon of summer —Banshi Hototogisu At the sight Tonde yuku ni mo Of the cuckoo flying off— Aita kuchi My jaw drops —Jukujin Hototogisu The cuckoo cries— Naku ya shinobu no A message to the house Yado-dayori With shinobu plants —Sobaku Oto suru wa Making that sound Keshi no kara nari The husks of poppies— Aoarashi A storm of blue —Den’nen This midsummer surimono, with its seasonally appropriate image of orchids in full bloom, was commissioned by haikai poets of the Suwa region, well north of Edo. As in many haikai surimono, their poetry has no direct relationship to the image, as though each poem was produced as an independent reaction to changes in the natural world, the only thematic relation between them being the season. Nevertheless, we can appreciate poetry and illustration as sharing in the same spirit and mode, with a minute focus on the details of nature.

Collections