Young Woman Viewing Cherry Blossoms as a Mitate of Lady Nakanokimi

Probably imagined by Suzuki Harunobu as a companion to the similar parody of Prince Kaoru (74.1.95), this print likely is a contemporary reimagining of Lady Nakanokimi from The Tale of Genji. Lady Nakanokimi is the true love of Prince Kaoru (the boy raised as Genji’s son) but is betrothed to his best friend. In chapter 48, “Early Ferns, ” Prince Kaoru sends a carriage to transport Lady Nakanokimi to her purification ceremony that comes before the marriage ceremony. The carriages used by aristocrats in classical Japan, however, were the type of stately oxen-pulled lacquer carriages seen in many of the paintings in this exhibition. Here, the artist Suzuki Harunobu transforms Nakanokimi into a contemporary woman, wearing fashionable clothing, smoking a pipe, and riding in the type of palanquin (covered seat carried by servants) commonly seen in the 1700s when this print was created.