Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) - Lot 41

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Lot n° 41
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Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) - Lot 41
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) Oban yoko-e, from the series Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki (百人一首 うはかゑとき), One Hundred Poems Told by the Nurse, plate of the poem by Tenchi Tenno. Signed Saki Hokusai Publisher Eijudo. Kiwame censor seal. Circa 1835-36. (Minor restorations). Size: 25 x 37.3 cm This is the first drawing in an unfinished series by Hokusai, One Hundred Poems Told by the Nurse, which was his last major series before he devoted the last years of his life to painting. Of the hundred poems planned, only twenty-seven prints are known to have been completed; for the others, only preparatory drawings remain. Publisher Nishimura Yohachi had commissioned the series, but for reasons unknown, his company, Eijudo, ceased trading at the end of 1835. After publishing only five prints with Nishimura's Eijudo seal in the spring of 1835, the series was taken over by Ise Sanjiro's Iseri publishing house. The twenty-two remaining prints bear a different seal that can also be read as Eijudo, an intriguing nod to the defunct firm. This series was inspired by a famous anthology of poems, the Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets), compiled by the poet Fujiwara no Teika in 1235. The collected verses were (and still are) known to most Japanese in one form or another. Hokusai approaches the poems from the point of view of an uneducated nanny, allowing him to make seemingly naïve mistakes, which add a touch of levity to his interpretations. The poem in the cartouche is by the 7th-century emperor Tenchi Tenno. According to legend, the emperor was caught in a downpour while traveling through the countryside. He was forced to take shelter under a roof where freshly harvested rice was stored, but the rickety roof leaked raindrops onto the emperor's sleeves: 秋の田の かりほの庵の 苫をあらみ わが衣手は 露にぬれつつ Aki no ta no Kario no io no Toma wo arami Waga koromode wa Tsuyu ni nure-tsutsu Frustrated is the rush roof Sheltering the harvest Of the autumn rice field And my sleeves are wet With tears escaping This poem testifies to the Emperor's empathy for his hard-working people. Although it describes the rain moistening his sleeves, the image of wet sleeves was a common metaphor for weeping (the word "tsuyu" can mean "dewdrops" or "tears"). References A similar example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Accession no. 11.30179
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