Evening Bell of Dojoji (Dojoji no bansho), no. 1 from the series "Eight Views of Children (Osana hakkei)" c. 1764

Torii Kiyomitsu's woodblock print, made in Japan around the 1760s, depicts young girls enacting a scene from the famous Noh play *Dojoji*, a story about a woman who transforms into a snake and destroys a temple bell. The image is part of a series called *Eight Views of Children*, which reinterprets classical themes through the lens of childhood innocence. Kiyomitsu cleverly draws on the social and cultural currency of Noh theatre, a highly codified and elite art form, to create a playful yet sophisticated visual experience. By representing children in this way, the print engages with contemporary discourses around education, gender, and social roles. To fully understand Kiyomitsu's image, we can look to theatre history, costume design, and the social history of childhood in Edo-period Japan. This kind of approach reminds us that art's meaning is never fixed but is always shaped by the context in which it's made and viewed.