Hyakunin Isshu #2: The Woman Hidden in the Poem

Part of Hyakunin Isshu · Episode 2

Empress Jitō’s poem about the arrival of summer is one of the best-known verses in Hyakunin Isshu. Yet Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s nineteenth-century interpretation takes us well beyond the mountain and white robes mentioned in the text. Who was the empress, and what did her reign mean for Japan? Explore the history, imagery and questions hidden behind a familiar seasonal poem.