Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Mud hen and sweet iris (Shobu ni kuina), Edo Period

Maker

Title

Mud hen and sweet iris (Shobu ni kuina)

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink, color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 23.3 x 17.1 cm (9 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription verso, bottom right in pencil:X2977/[Japanese Characters][text and poems] Shobu ni kuina (title); poem:Tsugihashi no/ato o mizu ta no/kuina kana (A mud hen and plank bridge, the time for planting rice)Tsugihashi is a bridge with planks making reference to the Yatsuhashi (eight-plank) bridge and iris in Tales of Ise. Ato o indicates that once the bird flies away it does not look back. Mizu ta (water field) means the wet field at the time for planting rice. The kuina is known for its distinctive voice. The linking of the three images, mud hen, wet field and iris indicates early summer and also allude to Yoshida Kenko's Tsuretsuregusa (Essays in Idleness).

Signature: Signed on each | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Publisher's seal | Sei ~ in circle; censor's seal | kiwame

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.349A

Mud hen and sweet iris (Shobu ni kuina)

Inscription verso, bottom right in pencil:X2977/[Japanese Characters][text and poems] Shobu ni kuina (title); poem:Tsugihashi no/ato o mizu ta no/kuina kana (A mud hen and plank bridge, the time for planting rice)Tsugihashi is a bridge with planks making reference to the Yatsuhashi (eight-plank) bridge and iris in Tales of Ise. Ato o indicates that once the bird flies away it does not look back. Mizu ta (water field) means the wet field at the time for planting rice. The kuina is known for its distinctive voice. The linking of the three images, mud hen, wet field and iris indicates early summer and also allude to Yoshida Kenko's Tsuretsuregusa (Essays in Idleness).

Signature: Signed on each | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Publisher's seal | Sei ~ in circle; censor's seal | kiwame

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo
The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Mud hen and sweet iris (Shobu ni kuina) with the accession number of 34.349A. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.