Title : Abe no Nakamaro

Artist : Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Date : c. 1840

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : This print was conserved with the support of the Robert F. Lange Foundation. When I gaze far out across the plain of heaven I see the same moon that came up over the hill of Mikasa at Kasuga (translated by Helen McCullough) Abe no Nakamaro (690-770) left Japan at the age of sixteen to study in China. There, he served as a court official under Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756) of the Tang dynasty, and became acquainted with several Chinese poets, including the renowned Li Bai (701-762). This poem was composed by Nakamaro in 752, when he decided to finally return to Japan after several decades of working in China. Unfortunately, his boat was caught in a storm and shipwrecked in Vietnam. Nakamaro returned to China and spent the rest of his life there, never setting eyes on his homeland again. His poem, however, was transmitted back to Japan and became a part of the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (905), and later the One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets. This print by Kuniyoshi portrays Nakamaro as he beholds the moon in Meishü, or current day Ningpo (Zhejiang Province, China). Note the distinctively foreign hairstyles and clothing of the children, and the elaborate court robes worn by the gentlemen. The upper right cartouche presents a detailed explanation of Nakamaro's original poem.

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