Japanese Print "Cherry Blossoms" by Kitagawa Utamaro
Artist:Kitagawa Utamaro
Title:Cherry Blossoms
Date:about 1803
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Source:Worcester Art Museum
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Description:
This print is one of three from Utamaro I’s series Flowers of Edo: Young Women Ballad Singers, which compares beauties and their shamisen (a traditional Japanese stringed instrument) to plants from the four seasons. The young woman here is likened to cherry blossoms, and her features would have been considered the height of beauty in Utamaro I’s day. She prepares to play her instrument, tuning it while a book of musical instruction lays open behind her. Visual clues in her costume subtly underline her connections to these frothy spring flowers, including the pale pink folds peeking out from under her outmost kimono. There are also small sprigs of flowers in her hair.