Title : Hakurakuten (Bo Juyi)

Artist : Katsushika Hokusai

Date : c. 1833 - 1834

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : The Japanese love of poems and their poets extended to the poets of China. Such admiration led the Japanese to deify both Chinese and Japanese poets and to think of them in one another's company in the world of imagination. Some Noh plays deal with such fantasy events. In this print, based on the Noh play Hakurakuten, Hokusai presents a scene of a poetry competition between a Chinese poet Sumiyoshi, disguised as a fisherman. The two gods speak to each other in a poetic dialogue. Bo Juyi spoke first: Green moss covers, like a cloth, the sides of rocks. White cloud, like a sash, wraps the flanks of mountains. Sumiyoshi instantly replied: Rocks clad in green moss wear no sash of cloud The mountain wears a sash on its flanks barren of moss. Sumiyoshi, goes on to explain that in Japan, not only people but also nightingales and frogs love to compose poems. Bo Juyi went back to China, much impressed. In this print, Bo Juyi and his attendants have just landed on Japan's shore, anchoring their ship nearby. Noticing the poor fisherman close at hand, he immediately began the poetry dialogue. The tall, rocky peaks in the distance allude to the China that the poet left. (Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, “Hokusai and Hiroshige”, 1998)

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