Amagoi Komachi: The Poetess Who Called the Rain, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi | 雨乞小町

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) was a master of many genres, and this large-format print of the Amagoi Komachi legend, made in the late 1830s to early 1840s, shows his dramatic imagination at its most elegant. The signature Chourou Kuniyoshi hitsu in the upper right, with Chourou being one of his best-known go, confirms the artist's hand.

The subject is one of the most beloved legends of Ono no Komachi, the great court poetess of the Heian era and one of the Six Poetic Immortals. When a severe drought struck the land, Komachi prayed for rain at the Shinsen'en garden in the palace grounds, and the waka she composed there, "Kotowariya hi no shita naraba teri mo seme saritote wa mata ame ga shita to wa," is said to have darkened the sky at once, sending down a downpour that saved the nation.

Kuniyoshi catches the moment just before the storm breaks. Komachi raises a great fan as if waiting out the wind, her noble purple garment embroidered with powerful dragons that visually link her to the dragon gods who govern the rain. Behind her, an attendant strains to hold a great orange umbrella against the gusts, the rippling waters of the garden pond behind them in Kuniyoshi's restless, dynamic linework.

Impressions of the design are held by the British Museum, and the print is a beautiful example of Kuniyoshi's mid-period mitate beauty and history prints, in which a legend of poetry and prayer becomes pure theatrical motion.