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Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908) was born as Mizuno Kumejiro in Kanda, Tokyo. When he was 13 years old, his father sent him to the nishiki-e printmaking school of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. He was also apprenticed to a ceramic painter. And later he was instructed in traditional Japanese painting by Shibata Hoshu and Watanabe Seitei.
He did a little bit of everything - war prints, illustrations and nevertheless he managed to continue a career as a serious painter and printmaker. In 1887 he was lucky and could get the job formerly held by Yoshitoshi as an illustrator at Yamato shinbun - a Tokyo newspaper. This gave him a stable income.
Mizuno published several series of bijin prints and genre scenes with women and children. Among his publishers were Sato Shotaro and Akiyama Buemon. His representative artworks are "Thirty-six Selected Beauties" and "Fountain Water (Iwa Shimizu zu)".
After 1900 Mizuno Toshikata was a well-recognized illustrator, painter and printmaker. He became teacher of Kaburagi Kiyokata, Arai Kanpo and Ikeda Terukata.
This series is based on the famous anthology of waka poems "Thirty six Master Poets" compiled by Fujiwara-no-Kintou. Master poets has been popular theme for artists. Toshikata depicted 36 beauties from different periods of time from ancient time to the Edo era and the viweres can see the customs and manners of different periods.
This artwork depicts a beauty from the Tennna era (late 17th C). A man and a woman seem be escaping from a sudden rain fall under the tree. The beaury is twisting the wet kimono to dry and the man putting his hands on his head seems to be puzzled by the rain. Although rain is not clearly depicted in this print, bokashi or the wiping technique used to produce gradated tones (shading) on a woodblock print is applied here to create the atmosphere of humid air after the rain. This artwork depicts a scene of ordinary life which can be seen even in the modern time.
Artist's signature and a seal applied on the right below
The title "Sanjyu-rokkasen Amayadori Tennna-koro-fujin" is written in the cartouche in the upper right. Karazuri embossing is applied here.
Good impression and colors
Slight stains
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