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百人一首　藤原元真|Poem by Fujiwara no Motozane (ca. 860) from the Series Thirty-Six Poets

Suzuki Harunobu

1768

ink

paper

From the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Romanticism Ukiyo-e 18th Century Bird

Dominant colour

百人一首　藤原元真|Poem by Fujiwara no Motozane (ca. 860) from the Series Thirty-Six Poets is a 1768 ink by Suzuki Harunobu, a Romanticism work, depicting Bird, held at Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Suzuki Harunobu
When & what style?: 1768 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Metropolitan Museum of Art

About this work

This print shows a woman in a striped robe and a child kneeling beside her. The woman holds a fan and a pole with a bucket at the end. Behind them, a tree with bare branches stands next to a fence. A small bird perches on the ground to the left. The artist used a trick called *karazuri*—raised lines in the paper—to create shading without extra ink. The poem above them is written in Japanese, but it’s not clear what it says. Look up technique: cross-hatching to see how artists build shadows with lines.