Page 169 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

The most famous collection of poetry in Japan is the One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets,
assembled by Fujiwara no Teika in the mid-thirteenth century. Treating the experiences and tribulations
of life, these poems remain part of popular culture; they are still frequently quoted and are the subject
of a New Year's card game. In a series of woodblock prints Hokusai reinterpreted these respected poems
from a lower-class perspective, through the eyes of a wet nurse. By the nineteenth century literacy was
widespread and books were easily available, either for sale or through lending libraries. Not everyone
was privy to the subtleties of the poetic art form, however. Hokusai's wet nurse filtered the poems
through her life experiences, sometimes interpreting their imagery literally, sometimes expanding on
the feeling they imparted to her. Occasionally she became inextricably entangled in a comical homonym.

i68 The humorous use of homonyms, particularly in poetry, was a well-explored device for satire in the Edo
period, especially in ukiyoe.
Using the wet nurse as interpreter, Hokusai created images that were somewhat disrespectful
toward ancient culture and the aristocracy, and by extension, the entire ruling class. These poetic images
interpreted by a lower-class laborer were sold to the lower classes, and they expressed the iconoclastic
attitude popular among merchants and artisans of the time. Satire and sly humor were among the
few avenues for protest open to these people.
Many of the scenes in this series are anachronistic, peopled with Hokusai's contemporaries
rather than those of the original poets. Of the scenes with a contemporary bent toward satire, one of
the most amusing is the illustration of a poem by the Empress Jitó (cat. 100). The poem refers to the

cat. 102
Katsushika Hokusai,
illustrating the poem
by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro,
from One Hundred
Poems by One Hundred Poets
as Explained by the Wet Nurse,
c. 1835-1836,
color woodblock print,
approx. 26 x 38 (ioV4 x 15),
Machida City Museum of
Graphic Arts