Japan, 1886This print from the series Kyōdō risshi no motoi (Instructive Models of Lofty Ambition) was designed by Kobayashi Kiyochika in 1886. The scene portrays the young poetess Koshikibu no Naishi tugging at the robe of Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Sadayori. He had come to her room to tease her about being chosen to participate in a poetry contest, taunting her that she would have to ask for her mother's help. Koshikibu was the only child of the famed poet Izumi Shikibu, who was away in the province of Tango at the time. In response to the teasing, Koshikibu delivered a devastating impromptu poem featuring three place names in Tango in geographical order, alongside two puns and word associations. Unable to think of a response, Sadayori flees the room. Koshikibu no Naishi, who served Empress Shōshi, tragically died in 1025 while still in her late twenties. The brilliant poem she composed during this encounter appears in the celebrated anthology Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets).