Artwork Page for The Minister Toru Daijin Standing by a Lake Beneath a Crescent Moon, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry

Details / Information for The Minister Toru Daijin Standing by a Lake Beneath a Crescent Moon, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry

The Minister Toru Daijin Standing by a Lake Beneath a Crescent Moon, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry

1834–35

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎

(Japanese, 1760–1849)
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
color woodblock print
Measurements
Overall: 52 x 23 cm (20 1/2 x 9 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade 1916.1142
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

A high-ranking minister, Toru (822–895) was the son of an emperor. In this scene, he enjoys the company of two other men in his landscape garden overlooking the water. Here Hokusai may have illustrated a poem by Toru that mentions boats floating on the water in bright moonlight, shaded by the pines.
A vertically oriented woodblock print features three men with light skin tones on a shore. At the left stands Toru Daijin in a patterned cream robe; two men sit nearby. Dark pine branches reach up in the foreground. Beyond them, boats float on a lake beneath a crescent moon and a sky divided into peach and blue bands. Japanese calligraphy is placed in blocks at the top left and right center.

The Minister Toru Daijin Standing by a Lake Beneath a Crescent Moon, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry

1834–35

Katsushika Hokusai

(Japanese, 1760–1849)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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