Ono no Komachi Praying for Rain Possibly 1615 - 1868

Curator: This woodblock print, possibly created between 1615 and 1868, is called "Ono no Komachi Praying for Rain" and attributed to Suzuki Harunobu. Editor: My first impression is one of graceful supplication mixed with a bit of, dare I say, whimsy. The composition has such a delicate balance of figures and text, as if a fleeting moment is captured. Curator: Precisely. It captures a reimagining of the poet Ono no Komachi, famous for her beauty and talent, as a rainmaker. See the vessel she carries? It holds sacred texts meant to call upon the dragon king for rain during a drought. It’s fascinating how Harunobu blends portraiture with a narrative scene steeped in cultural memory. Editor: The umbrella held over her companion intrigues me. It shelters him from the very rain she's trying to summon. Isn't it a powerful emblem, this visual representation? A symbol of human mediation, even resistance, in the face of larger elemental forces? Or, maybe it’s merely practical. Curator: Maybe a touch of both? Ukiyo-e prints often playfully mixed the sacred with the everyday. I feel like the artist enjoys the ambiguity, inviting viewers to complete the story, imbuing their own hopes, fears, or mundane routines. Editor: And the lines of text above seem to echo this sense of the everyday seeping into ritual! It could be the sound of the wind, whispers of the prayer or merely embellishment to give form and context. These add a palpable weight and meaning to the work as a whole. Curator: Agreed, there's a sense of a collective memory encoded into these cultural motifs. It makes you wonder what future viewers might infer from *our* everyday iconography, don't you think? Editor: Indeed! We build our stories on layers upon layers of meaning, hoping, maybe, to spark rain of a different sort - of empathy, perhaps, and connection.