Vernissage
Passing the Bamboo Grove

Suzuki Harunobu

Japanese, 1724–1770

Passing the Bamboo Grove, 1868–1912

Color woodblock print

34.7 × 21.3 cm (13 ¾ × 8 ½ in.)

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore

The young woman in this print likely stands in for Meng Zong, one of the Chinese Twenty Four Paragons of Filial Piety. Legend has it he went out in the dead of winter to dig bamboo shoots for his aged parents. Harunobu designed a calendar print for the year 1765 with a more explicit allusion to the theme. It shows a young woman actively digging for bamboo shoots. The first state of this print was privately issued as a calendar print for 1766, with the months of the year depicted in the woman's sash. It was illegal to sell any type of calendar without a government license, and a second state with the calendar replaced with a checked pattern was produced so that the print could be sold commercially. This print is several centimeters taller than the original, which together with its bright colors, indicates that it is a later reproduction.

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See it on the Cleveland Museum of Art's website

More by Suzuki Harunobu

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Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei)
Righteousness, from The Five Virtues
Courtesan Dreaming of her Childhood
Young Man Playing Football
The Courtesan (From A Collection of Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara)
Young Woman Admiring a Snow Rabbit
Woman (Bijin) Looking at the Moon's Reflection, from the series Mu Tamagawa
Woman Watching Young Couple Embrace on a Veranda
Woman and Maid Servant
A Girl Dressing in Pink
Benevolence, from The Five Virtues
Young Woman Walking in Snow with Umbrella