One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki), GoToba'in

Object Details

• Artist

  Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849)

• Label

  In 1836, at the age of seventy-six, Hokusai launched his last major woodblock print series. The subject was an ingenious presentation of an ancient anthology of poetry completed in 1214 by Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241), which contained one hundred works by as many renowned Japanese poets. Thorough knowledge of Hyakunin isshu (The anthology of one hundred poets) continued through the centuries to be a basic element in the repertoire of the literate person. Hokusai amended the title of his series to "The Anthology of one hundred poets as told by the nurse or old woman" and affected the perspective of a simple, uncomplicated old woman through whose eyes we observe the passing scene. These images are juxtaposed with the ancient poems, recorded in small squares in the upper right of each work.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Telling Tales in Japanese Art (November 23, 1996 to August 14, 1997)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  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, Lantern, Art, Animals, Horsemen and horsewomen, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Horses, Hanshita-e, Poets

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Drawings