The Call of the Cuckoo from above the Clouds (parody of Minamoto no Yorimasa)

Suzuki Harunobu · c. 1766

Medium

Color woodblock print; chuban

Original size

28.6 × 21.6 cm (11 1/4 × 8 1/2 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Rococo

One of Suzuki Harunobu's most quietly poetic works, this print transposes the heroic legend of Minamoto no Yorimasa — the warrior-poet who felled a mythical creature in the night sky — into the tender, intimate world of Edo-period everyday life, replacing armour and valor with the grace of a bijin listening for a cuckoo's distant call. Harunobu is widely credited as the artist who brought the full-color woodblock print, known as nishiki-e, to maturity around 1765, and this chuban-format work is a fine example of what set his style apart: subtle color gradations, figures of almost dreamlike delicacy, and a gift for finding pathos in fleeting moments. His mitate-e, or parody pictures, were a favourite device — layering classical literary allusions beneath deceptively simple domestic scenes in a way that rewarded viewers who caught the reference. The print belongs to a tradition that emerged partly through the cultured poetry clubs of Edo, whose members commissioned elaborate prints as calendar gifts, elevating the woodblock medium into something approaching fine art. Rendered here in oil on canvas, the hand-painted reproduction preserves the quiet mood and refined palette of the original, translating Harunobu's gossamer line and layered color into a form that carries real physical presence on the wall.