Meng Zong, from the series Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety

Harunobu treated a popular paragon theme with great innovation here, applying the playfully subversive spirit of ukiyo-e to the story of Meng Zong (J.: Mōsō), a boy whose filial piety prompted heaven to cause the sprouting of spring bamboo shoots in the dead of winter for his ill mother. The story is incorporated in a New Year's calendar print of bijin, or beautiful women. Combining a popular subject with the associations of a holiday, he made the virtuous theme entertaining to a general Edo audience.
Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725–1770)
Edo period (1615–1868)