Woman Catching Fireflies

A young woman seated on a bamboo bench beneath a willow holds a fan aloft as she watches fireflies flit by; beside her is a small lacquer box she will use to hold the captured insects. The haikai (17-syllable poem) boldly inscribed in the open space of the composition complements the scene by providing a more specific setting and poetic mood:

昏黄の鐘　心もいさむ　蛍狩り

Kure no kane
kokoro mo isamu
hotaru-gari

As the temple bell resounds
at sunset, spirits are lifted—
hunting for fireflies.

—Trans. John T. Carpenter

In premodern Japan, temple bells were struck to mark the end of day, and during the summer it means that at dusk fireflies would appear. The pastime of “firefly hunting” (hotaru-gari) as referred to in the inscription was a favorite early summertime pastime in the countryside, often near a stream, where the glittering insects would congregate at dusk. In Japanese poetry since ancient times, fireflies served as symbols of feverish love.

Although firmly affiliated with the Torii workshop in Edo, which specialized in actor prints, Kiyohiro was also known for his elegant and suggestive depictions of bijin (“beautiful women”), as here, and wakashu (male youths). All of his works seem to have been published from between about 1751 until the early 1760s, and he worked almost exclusively in two- and three-color prints called benizuri-e, literally, “crimson printed picture.” The pictures were usually printed in pink(beni) and light green, and sometimes other colors were added, either printed or by hand.