Catalog record · 目録番号 51284
Abe no Nakamaro
Catalog note / 解説
Hokusai depicts poet Abe no Nakamaro (710-790) as a person of importance. Nakamaro was sent to China to discover the secrets of the Chinese calendar. The Chinese Emperor however, captured him. Hokusai’s print depicts Chinese soldiers with lances and banners who have come to take Nakamaro to prison. However, they bow and wait for him to complete his tanka. Winds blow fiercely from the east suggesting the presence of Nakamaro’s homeland, but they also prevent him from sailing there. In another bold stroke by the artist, Hokusai depicts the moon as the central object of the poem in the reflection of the water rather than in the sky. By doing so he deliberately avoided the obvious. (from “100 P…
Image record / 画像情報
AIC · Edo period, c. 1833 · aic
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