29 Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1798 – 1861 The Cuckoo Poem by Minamoto no Kintada as a Lesson for Women

from the series Sanjurokkasen dojo kyokun kagami (Thirty-six Poets: A Moral Mirror for Women and Children)
publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (Jakurindo)

This refined print depicts a graceful woman accompanied by a poem by Minamoto no Kintada no Ason (10th century), one of the Thirty-six Immortal Poets.
Inscribed poem:

Yukiyarade / yamaji kurashitsu / hototogisu / ima hitokoe no / kikamahohisa ni
“I cannot go on,
Night falls upon the mountain path,
The cuckoo calls;
How I long to hear
Its voice once more.”

The work intertwines feminine beauty with the spiritual resonance of classical poetry, reflecting the Edo-period ideals of culture, refinement, and moral education.
Kuniyoshi’s Sanjurokkasen dojo kyokun kagami series unites literary elegance and ethical reflection, celebrating the poetic harmony between emotion, virtue, and aesthetic grace.