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Image Not Available for The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)
The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)
Image Not Available for The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)

The Poem of Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi), from the series One Hundred Poets, One Verse Each, as Told by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)

Dateca. 1838
Maker Katsushika Hokusai Japanese, 1760 - 1849
Label TextHokusai created a series of prints that draw inspiration from poems written almost 1000 years earlier. In this print, a courtier is traveling through a rice field with his attendants at dawn, which is indicated by the red clouds at the far end of a wide-open field. The melancholy feeling resonates well with the poem inscribed in the poem card at the upper right: Though I reveal my love as sparingly as the sparse reeds that grow in low bamboo fields, it overwhelms me—why is it that I must love her so? —Sangi Hitoshi (Minamoto no Hitoshi, 880–951) Translation by Joshua Mostow, from Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image.
Object number2010.47.4
Provenance[Christie’s, New York, Apr. 26, 1995, lot no. 170]; likely purchased at auction by [Peter Gilder, Arts and Designs of Japan, San Francisco, California]; private collection; [Christie’s, New York, An Important Collection of Japanese Prints, Mar. 25, 2003, sale no. 1298, lot no. 99, reproduced p. 62]; purchased at auction by Allan Kollar, Seattle, Washington, 2003; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2010
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Apr. 1 - July 4, 2010. Text by Catherine Roche. Cat. no. 49, reproduced p. 72. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Legends, Tales, Poetry: Visual Narrative in Japanese Art, Dec. 22, 2012 - July 21, 2013. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Tabaimo: Utsutsushi Utsushi, Nov. 11, 2016 - Feb. 26, 2017. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Apr. 30 - July 18, 2021].
Credit LineGift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
DimensionsSheet size: 10 1/4 x 14 3/4 in. (26 x 37.5 cm)
MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper
Photo: Colleen Kollar Zorn
Katsushika Hokusai
ca. 1830-32
Object number: 2010.47.1