Ariwara no Narihira, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poems

Katsushika HokusaiWW-1825-031971

1825·Color woodblock print; nagaban·50.3 × 21.3 cm (19 13/16 × 8 7/16 in.)

This image appears to relate to a scene described in the ninety-fourth poem in the One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets series by Privy Councilor Masatsune; it is not clear why the poem has been attributed to the much more famous Narihira: <blockquote> From Mount Yoshino Blows a chill autumnal wind, In the deepening night. Cold the ancient hamlet is; Sounds of beating cloth I hear. (Translated by Clay MacCauley) </blockquote>

Catalogue

Year: 1825
Medium: Color woodblock print; nagaban
Dimensions: 50.3 × 21.3 cm (19 13/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Katsushika Hokusai

Artist

Katsushika Hokusai

Painting

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji includes the iconic print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ukiyo-e from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. His works had a significant influence on Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet during the wave of Japonisme that spread across Europe in the late 19th century.

Tokyo, Japan

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Poem by Gon-Chunagon Masafusa (Oe no Masafusa), from the series “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets Explained by a Wet Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)”

1921 · Color woodblock print

WW-1921-018489