Yellow Bird on Branch, Tachihara Shunsa

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Tachihara Shunsa studied Chinese poetry, painting, and calligraphy under her father Tachihara Kyōsho (1785-1840), a Confucian scholar. It is believed that at the age of fourteen or fifteen she also studied painting under the noted painter Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841). She became a lady-in-waiting to the wife of the lord of Kaga (Ishikawa Prefecture), whom she served until her relatively early death.

This painting is inscribed "Playfully painted by Shunsa," and it is indeed executed in a light-hearted manner with loose and free brushwork. It is possible that the painting was done on the spur of the moment at the request of a friend. The rich range of colors and the bird itself, posed as if caught in mid-song, convey a soft, warm beauty.