One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki), Ki no Tomonori

Object Details

• Artist

  Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)

• Label

  The poet Ki no Tomonori (circa 850-905) assisted in compiling the Kokinshu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems).

  hisakata no In these spring days

  hikari nodokeki with the tranquil light encompassing

  haru no hi ni the four directions

  shizu-kokoro naku why should the blossoms scatter

  hana no chiruramu with uneasy hearts?

  In Hokusai's illustration, the phrase haru no hi, meaning "days of spring," seems to have been interpreted as "fires of spring." Both day(s) and fire(s) have the same sound, hi, in Japanese. As cherry blossoms fall like snow from the tree above, workers apply pitch to the bottoms of boats brought ashore for the winter.

  (Translation by Joshua Mostow, Pictures of the Heart. University of Hawaii Press, 1996, 240)

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Hokusai: Mad About Painting (November 20, 2019 to January 9, 2022)

  Hokusai (October 25, 2005 to May 14, 2006)

  Hokusai Bicentennial Exhibition (March 30, 1960 to August 16, 1961)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Katsushika, Hokusai

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Boats and boating, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Cherry blossom, Hanshita-e

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Drawings