Lanterns, plum blossom and rain
Suzuki Harunobu
Woodblock prints from Edo in the 1760s, the years when Harunobu made some of the first full-colour prints. Slender young women in quiet scenes: one holding a lantern up to plum blossom against a black night, two sharing a yellow umbrella in a storm, women playing the shamisen while men peer in through a lattice window, tea things on a red stand on a rainy night, and a woman alone at a shrine at the hour of the ox.
As a puzzle
Gentle and spare. Start with the figures and their patterned robes, then the red railing, the red stand and the yellow umbrella. Around them the grounds are plain: pale walls and floors, rain in fine grey lines, and the black night behind the plum blossom, which is the slowest stretch. The figures are slight and the pictures small and quiet, so keep the count moderate.
A good size here: 40–150 pieces.
Also filed under Ukiyo-e
Subjects here: NightFlowersLandscapesEveryday LifeInteriors
7 pictures, pick one to build
Palindromic Poems (Kaibunka): Kyo ca. 1768 
Woman Admiring Plum Blossoms at Night ca. 1766 
A Young Man and Women in the Moor of Musashino; Parody of the Akuta River episode of the Tale of Ise (Ise monogatari) Attributed to Suzuki Harunobu, ca. 1765–66 
Night Rain at the Double-Shelf Stand, from the series Eight Parlor Views (Zashiki hakkei) ca. 1766 
Visit to a Shrine at the Hour of the Ox (Ushi no toki mairi) 1765 
The Watchers and the Watched 1764–72 
Two Women in a Storm 1764–72