About the Cover of In the Shelter of the Pine

The cover of In the Shelter of the Pine is a woodblock print in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art showing an idealized court lady kneeling at her desk with a selection of shikishi (square cards) and tanzaku (rectangular strips) for writing poetry in front of her. A brush holder and inkstone are to her right, but she has not begun grinding the ink yet and her hands are hidden in the sleeves of her kimono. The print is by the ukiyoe artist and haikai poet Kubo Shunman 窪俊満 (1757-1820) and is dated to Kansei 寛政 7/1795.

Print by Kubo Shunman
Print by Kubo Shunman