Poem by Minamoto no Muneyuki from the series One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets Explained by the Nurse

百人一首　うはかゑとき　源宗于朝臣

1835–36

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎

(Japanese, 1760–1849)

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Medium

Color woodblock print

Measurements

24.2 x 35.3 cm (9 1/2 x 13 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.327

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

This impression of Hokusai's print has a fold along its center, indicating that it may have once been placed in an album of the book format.

Description

Katsushika Hokusai designed this print series from the perspective of a confused nurse attempting to illustrate classical poetry but missing the subtle allusions. This interpretation creates what would have been considered a comical disconnect between poem and image. The poem on this print reads as follows:

In the mountain village,
it is in winter that my loneliness
increases most,
when I think of how both have dried up,
the grasses and people’s visits.
—Translation by Joshua Mostow

While nobleman Minamoto no Muneyuki (died 939) wrote of dying grasses, the nurse imagines instead a lively scene of hunters warming themselves around a fire.