Irori (Hearth)

This print is by Kiyohara Hitoshi (清原斉; 1896 - 1956) and is known as Irori (囲炉裏; Hearth). He published several children’s picture books in the 1930s–1950s in addition to producing nihonga (日本画) or “Japanese style-paintings.”

A print showing four children and a cat around an irori (囲炉裏; traditional hearth fired with charcoal). The child behind the irori on the left side is facing forward with their head turned at a slight angle to the right. The child is wearing a kimono that has dark green and purple-pink splotches on a light green background with another garment overtop, haori that has a blue, red, and yellow maple pattern on a pink background. The child on the left side is lying on his stomach resting his head on his hand with his right leg up in the air. He is wearing a yellow-orange scarf on his head and a turquoise coat over yellow and red pants. The black striped grey cat looking at the irori has a red bow around its neck. On the right side, one child is combing the hair of the other kneeling in front. The child getting its hair combed is wearing red kimono and pink chanchanko (sleeveless padded vest). The child combing the hair is wearing haori that has a red and green striped pattern on a yellow background on top of green and pink patterned kimono. There is a lamp hanging above them; and a pot hanging over the irori. The artist’s vertically rectangular, red seal, ひとし appears on the lower right corner. The print is horizontally rectangular.