- Museum number
- 1910,0418,0.194
- Title
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Object: Tokusa-kari 木賊苅 (The Reed Gatherer)
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Series: Shiika shashin kyo 詩哥冩真鏡 (True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poems)
- Description
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Colour woodblock print, diptych. One from series of ten prints based on well-known Chinese and Japanese poems. Reed-gatherer crossing foot-bridge over stream; marshland in background and full-moon in sky. Inscribed, signed, sealed and marked.
- Production date
- 1833-1834 (c.)
- Dimensions
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Height: 50.50 centimetres (Print)
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Height: 68.50 centimetres (mount)
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Width: 23 centimetres (Print)
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Width: 50.60 centimetres (mount)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Smith 1988
This is from a series of ten prints, in hanging-scroll format, entitled 'A Realistic Mirror of Poets' (or 'Poetry' -the title is punning), based on well-known Chinese and Japanese poems. This subject is based on the No drama 'Tokusa Kari', where an old reed-gatherer seeks and finds his lost child in the mountains of Shinano. The No chant refers to the autumn moon emerging from the trees on Mount Sonohara. The signature is 'Brushed by the former Hokusai, changing his name to Iitsu'.
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Clark 2017
An old man heads home alone carrying the day’s harvest of reeds, with a rising full moon lighting his way. As the title indicates, this print relates to the Noh drama Tokusa (Reeds), in which an old reed gatherer in remote Shinano province (present-day Nagano prefecture) is reunited with his long-lost son. After the man has performed a mad dance to expel his years of grief, the two vow to enter the Buddhist clergy together. In preparing this design, Hokusai may have had in mind a poem by Minamoto no Nakamasa (active late 1000s – early 1100s) quoted in the play: ‘Through the trees / on Mt Engen / where they gather reeds / appears the polished full moon / of an autumn night’ (Tokusa karu / Engenyama no / ki no ma yori / migakare izuru / aki no yo no tsuki) (trans. Alfred Haft). This is one of the most atmospheric prints in the series, with low evening mist, a running stream and a pair of water birds to emphasize the old man’s quiet isolation.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2014 Oct- 2015 Jan, Paris, Reunion des musees nationaux Grand Palais, 'Hokusai'
2017 Apr-Jul, London, BM, Japanese Galleries, 'Japan Prehistory to the Present'
2017 6 Oct - 19 Nov, Osaka, Abeno Harukas Art Museum
2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
2023–2024 Oct-Jan, Santa Ana, CA, USA, Bowers Museum, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Tokusa-kari (no play)
- Acquisition date
- 1910
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1910,0418,0.194
