Chikadee on a Willow Branch

With a prominent white spot on its cheeks, the bird depicted here is easily identified as a chickadee. It perches on a branch of a weeping willow. The yellow fuzzy clusters on the branch are actually the willow's male flowers that bloom in late spring. With a chickadee cheerfully singing on the blooming branch, the design represents the lively energy of the season. Seiki, one of the Matsumura Keibun's best pupils, designed this print for a poetry society to publish its members' poems. One-hundred-and-two poems, an exceptionally large number, suggests that the print was created to commemorate a large meeting or a gathering of poets from several societies.