7 Utagawa Kunisada 1786 – 1865 Standing Beauty in a Black Kimono Holding an Infant

from the series Parallels of the Twelve Signs of the Enlightened Spirit (Mitate jūni no kikō)
censor seal: kiwame
publisher: Chōjiya Kichi

An elegant woman in a black kimono cradling a child represents the month of July (shichigatsu), traditionally associated with falconry. In the circular cartouche to the left appears a scene of a courtesan and her young attendant (kamuro) with an umbrella, inscribed “Shichigatsu – Seventh Month.”
The poem on the left side of the print, signed by Shichigatsu Mino (“Mino of the Seventh Month”), reads:
“Morning glory – after four or five days of courtship – you buy a child (or creation).”
This print belongs to Kunisada’s early period, when the artist combined the bijin-ga genre with allegorical and poetic symbolism.