Mitate-e, or parody pictures, is a genre that was popular in Edo-period among cultured class. Mitate-e adopted contemporary Edo fashion and manners to depict classical Japanese and Chinese stories or famous events. The viewers at the time enjoyed trying to identify the origins.
This print, as the title suggests, refers to the story of Ono no Tofu, an influential poet of Heian Period. In this well-known episode of his life, Ono no Tofu was inspired by a frog, which successfully jumped onto a willow twig after numbers of failed attempts, to make unremitting endeavor while he stood by the stream questioning his talent of writing. Harunobu demonstrated, instead of a male, a beautiful young lady in elegant kimono. He also created another design where he presented the very moment of the frog’s jumping.
For the same design in the collection of Museum of Fine Arts Boston, go to https://collections.mfa.org/objects/178048/young-woman-imitating-ono-no-tofu?ctx=fc3a4f50-7a09-4b71-b529-deba2a0c3180=44
For the same design in the collection of Tokyo National Museum, go to https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collectionItems/view/12f08f3c06a62af80737925634848303/21425?lang=eng