Mibu no Tadamine (no. 37), from the series A Pictorial Commentary on One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu eshō: Mibu no Tadamine)

As with other prints in this series, a Japanese poet of ancient times is playfully represented by a woman posed in an early modern setting and garbed in gorgeous contemporary kimono. Here she is seated before a raised tokonoma (display alcove) performing with a kokyū, the only traditional Japanese string instrument played with a bow. The title on the handscroll at the top tells us that this from a series of a hundred prints, each representing a poet from the celebrated poetry anthology, One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu, compiled by the courtier-poet and literary arbiter Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) in the early thirteenth century). But there is a playful twist to each of the depictions, since the celebrated poets of ancient times, whether male or female, are shown as contemporary women. This kind of parody, referred to as yatsushi, often presented historical figures in contemporary dress, members of court society as commoners, and men as women. The level of sexual innuendo was part of the appeal of such prints. It is clear that Kunisada was inspired by the pioneering woodblock- illustrated book Eastern Brocade of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Nishiki hyakunin isshu azuma-ori, 1775) by Katsukawa Shunshō published nearly seventy years before, which included the same roster of poets and their canonical poems. The Met fortunately has a copy of this influential volume, which helped popularize the famous poetry anthology, and it is interesting to observe how Shunshō respected the gender and social class of each poet, and garbed each in court or ecclesiastical robes befitting their actual status (2013.821).

In the scroll at the top of the composition, including the title of the series, is a lengthy text with commentary explicating the meaning of the waka (31-syllable court poem written in five lines of 5–7–5–7–7 syllables respectively). The text of the verse is written on a pair of karuta poem cards, which would have been used in a parlor game in which poem cards of the Hyakunin isshu are scattered about on the floor. Participants try to match the first three lines of a famous poem on one card with the final two lines on another. Here the waka (Hyakunin isshu no. 30) by Mibu no Tadamine (active 898–920) reads as follows:

Upper poem card:
有明の　つれなくみえし　わかれより
Ariake no
tsurenaku mieshi
wakare yori

Lower poem card:
あかつきばかり　うきものはなし
akatsuki bakari
uki mono wa nashi

There is nothing sadder
than that time before daybreak,
when we had to say farewell
and the cold-hearted morning
moon could still be seen.
(Trans. John T. Carpenter)

The poem is usually interpreted as a man’s poem for a “morning-after” missive sent to his lover, though some medieval critics interpreted it as the lover (rather than the moon) who was “cold-hearted” and not allowing the rendezvous to happen at all.

Although all the designs in this series of one-hundred hundred prints were issued as individual sheets (each signed and sealed), there are several instances where consecutive designs relate to one another, but only occasionally with elements that connect the compositions. This print can form the left-hand sheet of a triptych comprised of design number 35 on the right featuring a poem by Kiyowara no Fukayabu and a beauty playing a koto; and design number 36 as the center sheet with a poem by Bunya no Asayasu and a beauty playing a shakuhachi. When viewed together, the three women form an ensemble in concert.