Ono no Tofu and the Frog, Torii Kiyohiro, c. 1758
color woodcut, h 383mm × w 172mm More details
Brooding about whether to give up his career as a court calligrapher, Ono no Tofu sees a frog trying to jump onto a willow branch. After many failed attempts, the frog finally succeeds. This perseverance inspires the later very famous calligrapher to never to give up. This early two-colour print in pink and green dates from just before the invention of the multi-colour print in Japan.
