Ogata Gekko (1859-1920), Thunderstorm, Meiji period, late 19th century

Bungei Kurabu [Literary Club] was a major literary jounrnal published by Hakubunkan in 1895-1933. The journals included artwork by leading artists of the Meiji period, including Ogata Gekko, Takeuchi Keishu (1861-1943), Tomioka Eisen (1864-1905), Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908), amongst others.

Kuchi-e were a specific genre of woodblock-printed frontispiece illustrations produced for publication in Japanese novels and literary magazines during the late 19th - early 20th century. Kuchi-e are predominantly of bijin (beautiful women) of the day. As with the present lot, most kuchi-e have two folds resulting from the way in which they were inserted into publications.

In this design, a woman under a mosquito net covers her ears due to loud thunder.