Page 122 - September 21 2021 Important Japanese Art Christie's NYC

153 KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849) 154 KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)

Poem by Lady Ise Chunagon Yakamochi (The Poet Chunagon Yakamochi)

Woodblock print, from the series Hyakunin Woodblock print, from the series Hyakunin
isshu uba ga etoki (One hundred poems isshu uba-ga etoki (One hundred poems
explained by the nurse), sigend Zen Hokusai explained by the nurse), signed Saki no Hokusai
manji, published by Iseya Sanjiro (Eijudo), circa manji, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi
1835-36 (Eijudo), circa 1835-36
Horizontal oban: 9√ x 14Ω in. (25.1 x 36.8 cm.) Horizontal oban: 9¡ x 14Ω in. (23.8 x 36.8 cm.)

$18,000-25,000 $7,000-9,000 Kasasagi no
wataseru hashi ni
The series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse was Chinese boats sit off a rocky shoreline - the roofs of a coastal oku shimo no
based on the famous anthology of poems compiled in 1235, village are just visible within the towering rocks. Two figures shiroki o mireba
the Hyakuin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred dressed in Chinese clothes on board a boat point towards a small yo zo fukinikeri
Poets). Clearly one hundred prints were intended for this series, flock of birds. How the night deepens.
however only twenty-seven are known. A ribbon of the whitest frost
The poem by Otomo no Yakamochi has been translated by Peter
is stretched across
MacMillan, One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Translation of
the bridge of magpie wings
the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (New York, 2008), p. 9:
the lovers will cross.