Blowing Soap Bubbles Under the Plum Blossom
Suzuki Harunobu Japanese
Edo period (1615–1868)
Not on view
In this print the device is again employed of a classical poem incorporated into a cloudlike formation at the top. The poem reads, freely:
"I do not want my mind to be tainted
by the smell and color of the plums,
but the wind stealthily carries
the mysterious scent and color into my sleeve."
Under a plum blossom tree, a mother blows bubbles as her son watches with amusement. The use of the plum, a symbol of sexuality and eroticism, coupled with the mother's activity and the child's celebratory dancing, seems to suggest the act of procreation and the value of maternity.
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