Ono no Komachi

Catalog note / 解説

In this 'uchiwa-e' (rigid fan print) design Hiroshige depicts the famous ninth-century poetess Ono no Komachi. The elegant scene shows her awake in her room at night. The 'waka' (31 syllable) poem in the red cartouche reads: 'Omoitsutsu / Nureba ya hito no / Mietsuran / Yume to shiriseba / Samezaramashi o' (It must have been because I fell asleep tormented by longing that my lover appeared to me / Had I known it was a dream, I should never have awakened). Ono no Komachi has been described as the first Japanese to have recreated in poetry the torment of frustrated passion. Her renown was such that she was included both among the tenth-century 'Rokkasen' (Six Poetic Geniuses) and the eleventh…