From the series Scenes of the Seven Komachi

Ono no Komachi, one of Japan’s most famous poets, lived over 1,100 years ago. This print refers to one of seven well known episodes of Komachi’s life and loves. She is shown under the flowering cherry trees of Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, where she is said to have exchanged poems with the Buddhist priest Henjō.

The poem on the print (by a later poet) reads:

Come what may, from my
body I seem to loose the
sash to no avail –
since the waterfall has not
changed its appearance at all!

Purchased 1950

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Flowering cherry trees grow wild in Japan but have also been been cultivated for hundreds of years. The delicate blossom shows the onset of spring but also, as it blooms briefly, Japanese people have interpreted it as a symbol of the transience of life.

Purchased 1958

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An oiran (high-ranking courtesan) reads a letter written from top to bottom, right to left. Outside a cherry blooms. In the licensed pleasure quarters of Japan’s capital city, Edo (Tokyo), brothel owners clubbed together to plant cherry trees along the main avenue to encourage customers to visit.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series Modern Flower Notes

This scene might be set in Mukojima, an area on the banks of the Sumida river in Edo (Tokyo) that was famous for its brightly coloured cherry trees with double blossoms. Josiah Conder, a British architect who worked in Japan from the late 1870s described the trees there as “almost artificial in their luxurious fullness”.

Visitors to Mukojima would stroll under the cherry blossom and have picnics with rice wine. This print is probably part of a ‘triptych’, a set of three prints making a larger design.

Given by Mrs M. Chattock, 1949

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From the series Famous Views of Kyoto

Arashiyama, to the west of Kyoto, has been a famous spot for cherry blossom viewing since the Emperor Kameyama planted the hillsides with cherry trees 700 years ago.

In this image, a boatman and people on the bank gaze up at the flowers. Petals float down on the water, a reminder of the short-lived nature of the blossom and of life itself.

Purchased 1949

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In 1625 a high-ranking Buddhist monk called Tenkai (1536-1643) oversaw the construction of the Tōeizan Temple in Edo (Tokyo). He loved cherry blossoms and had trees brought from Yoshino, 500km to the south, to plant in the temple grounds.

Cherry trees from the Yoshino area have white blossom tinged with pink. They are in full bloom for about a week before the petals start to fall. Today the grounds of Tōeizan Temple form part of Ueno Park, a popular tourist attraction in Tokyo.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series Famous Places in Edo

Around 1720 the eighth Shogun (military dictator), Tokugawa Yoshimune, ordered about a thousand cherry trees, red pines, azaleas and maples to be planted at Asuka Hill, in the north of Edo (Tokyo).

It became a popular place for citizens of the capital, such as the party of children here, to appreciate the changing seasons.

Today Asuka Hill is a public park, a favourite spot for viewing cherry blossom as well as other seasonal flowers such as azaleas and hydrangeas.

Purchased 1949

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A girl and an older woman play hide and seek, perhaps at a cherry blossom viewing party. The five-petal cherry flowers, with their distinctive notched tips, are echoed in the design on the girl’s kimono.

This print is a surimono, a small print with a square format. This type of print was often privately commissioned by individuals for special occasions or by poetry societies to illustrate the winning poem in a poetry contest.

Purchased 1954

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From an untitled series Six Jewel Rivers

On the bank behind the paddling women are yellow mountain roses, called yamabuki (‘mountain breath’) in Japanese, kerria in English. The Ide River near Kyoto was a famous place to view these golden flowers which were linked with money, but also viewed as melancholy as they were thought to bear no fruit.

The poem refers to an episode in the tenth
century Tales of Ise:

I’ll halt my pony
and water him again,
where the yellow kerria flowers
mingle dew with the
Ide Jewel River

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series Famous Places in Edo

Kameido Tenjin Shrine in Edo (Tokyo) remains to this day a famous spot to view wisteria in late spring. Visitors to the shrine used to empty their cups of sake (rice wine) at the base of the largest wisteria, believing that it would make it grow even more impressive.

Japanese aristocrats held gatherings to celebrate wisteria blossoms over a thousand years ago. Images of wisteria are popular in Japanese family crests and other decorative arts.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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In Japan irises symbolise early summer. The flowers may also remind people of a tenth-century poetry collection, the Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari).

In one episode the hero Ariwara no Narihira and his followers stop to rest at a marsh full of irises. Narihira composes a poem:

I have a beloved wife
Familiar as the skirt
Of a well-worn robe
And so this distant journeying
Fills my heart with grief

In Japanese the first syllables of each line
form the word for iris, kakitsubata.

Given by Mrs M. Chattock, 1949

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The fifth day of the fifth month was traditionally a special festival for boys, Tango no Sekku or Boy’s Day. Streamers in the shape of carp are flown outside houses, one for each male child in the family. The carp is a symbol of strength and success and so the streamers represent a wish for the health and prosperity of the boys.

In 1948 the Japanese government renamed the festival Children’s Day and carp streamers are now flown for girls as well as boys.

Given by Mrs M. Chattock, 1949

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Kintoki, also known as Kintarō (‘golden boy’), was the hero of a popular folk-tale.

A child of superhuman strength, he was raised by a witch in the mountains where he had wild animals as playmates. Kintoki’s skin is often shown as red, a symbol of his health and he is shown wrestling a carp to demonstrate his strength.

In Japan people often display dolls or images of Kintoki for Children’s Day, the fifth day of the fifth month. The hope is that children of the family (especially boys) will grow up to be as strong as Kintoki.

Purchased 1954

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At the time of Boy’s Day or Tango no Sekku festival in the fifth month, it was the custom to fly kites representing the twelfth-century hero Asahina Saburo. He was said to have exceptional ability in
the arts of warfare as well as swimming.

Given by Mrs M. Chattock, 1949

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From the series Night Traders in Summer

Lanterns are popular for evening use in the summer festivals of O-bon and Tanabata. An actor in a cotton kimono is shown in the role of a lantern seller, mopping himself in the summer heat.

Purchased 1950

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From the series One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets

The festival of Tanabata, on the seventh day of the seventh month celebrates the annual reunion of the star lovers the Herdsman and the Heavenly Weaver. They are separated by the Milky Way for the rest of the year.

This print illustrates a poem by the scholar Ōtomo no Yakamochi (about 718- 785) included in the famous anthology of the series title.

The grain of the woodblock used for the sky shows clearly here, which means that the print was rubbed down when the block was brand new.

Purchased, 1958

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From the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road

Chiryū in Aichi Prefecture was the 39th post station on the Tōkaidō, the eastern sea route between the capital Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto in the south. It was known for its horse fair which took place each year in late April or early May.

Purchased, 1949

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Three women are caught in the pelting rain of a summer shower. They have stowed their sandals in their sashes to keep them dry. Their umbrellas are marked with the name of a restaurant, Chūshuntei Tagawaya, whose owners may have commissioned the print.

Given by Mrs M. Chattock, 1949

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From the series Genji in Fashionable Modern Guise

Morning Glory is a summer flower. The Japanese name is asagao which literally means ‘morning face’ referring to how the flower opens and is freshest first thing in the morning.

This print refers to a chapter in The Tale of Genji, an eleventh-century novel written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting at the court. The hero Prince Genji tries to woo a princess called Asagao. He sends her a Morning Glory flower along with a poem:

I do not forget the morning glory I saw.
Will the years, I wonder, have taken it past its bloom?

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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The peony blooms in summer and is a symbol of female beauty. In this image the flowers reflect and emphasise the young woman’s attractiveness.

Courtesans working in the capital’s Yoshiwara pleasure district were sometimes nicknamed ‘Edo Sparrows’. It may be that the sparrow out of its cage is a metaphor for a courtesan escaping her place of work, or perhaps an ordinary woman escaping her everyday life.

Purchased 1954

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From the series Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji

Tropical storms are common in the seas off Japan, particularly in late summer. The small, solid form of Mount Fuji contrasts with the surging waves. Fishermen in the three boats flatten down to stay on board.

Scholars Julyan H.E. Cartwright and Hisami Nakamura have studied the image in detail and concluded that the large wave is a type known as a ‘plunging breaker’, not a tsunami caused by an earthquake or volcanic eruption. They estimate that the wave shown would have been between ten and twelve metres high.

Purchased 1954

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From the series Toys of Children in the Four Seasons

The summer toys symbolise wishes for the health and happiness of the baby. The charms on the bamboo branch include a mask of Okame, the goddess of long life and laughter as well as strips of paper called tanzaku. It was the custom to write wishes on tanzaku, often as poems, at the time of the Tanabata Festival on the seventh day of the seventh month.

In the wooden bucket, wrapped in white paper, is a flat wooden bat for playing hanetsuki, a type of badminton. Seeds of the soapberry tree with feathers attached, like those decorating the woman’s kimono, were traditionally used as shuttlecocks. Playing hanetsuki had the symbolic meaning of batting away bad luck, mosquitoes and disease.

Purchased 1954

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From the series Famous Views of Kyoto

In the summer months Kyoto is very hot and humid. The Kamo River that runs through the city is a favourite place to cool down. Small restaurants and picnic platforms are put up along the banks and on areas of dry riverbed in July and August.

These outdoor eateries serve a series of summer festivals in Kyoto. The first is Gion Festival which originated in the city in the ninth century to ward off plague and natural disasters. People also celebrate Tanabata, on the seventh day of the seventh month and O-bon, a Buddhist festival where people honour their ancestors.

Purchased 1949

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From the series Snow, Moon, and Flowers at Famous Places

Sweetfish, ayu in Japanese, are small freshwater fish. They are caught and grilled as delicacies in the summer and early autumn. For Japanese people the word ayu will often bring back happy memories of meals with family and friends at this time of year.

In the old lunar calendar, the autumn moon was celebrated on Jugoya, the fifteenth day of the eighth month. This was regarded as the harvest moon and displays and offerings were put out to invoke a good harvest.

Purchased 1949

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From the series Eight Views of  Ōmi

In Japan moon-viewing has been a popular seasonal event for centuries. It is a common theme in Japanese poetry. Ishiyama Temple, on a mountainside overlooking Lake Biwa, was a famous spot for viewing the moon. It has a special pavilion built for this purpose.

There is a story that Murasaki Shikibu started to write her famous novel, The Tale of Genji at the temple in the eighth month, AD 1004, on the night of the full moon.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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In Japan and China migrating geese, especially when flying in front of a full moon, are traditional symbols of the eighth lunar month marking the beginning of autumn.

The poem reads:

Will it come again –
another night like this one?
Wild geese and the moon.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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Foxes were believed to be the messengers of Inari, the Shinto god of rice, fertility and prosperity. People would pray to Inari for a good harvest and success in many aspects of their lives.

Beneath an autumn moon a fox, disguised as an old woman, inspects a trap baited with a fish.

There is a stack of harvested rice behind her, along with pampas grass, one of the Seven Flowers of Autumn, a group of plants traditionally associated with the season.

Purchased 1949

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This depicts a kabuki actor playing the role of Kuzunoha, a fox disguised as a woman. In the story, Kuzunoha in her fox form is saved by Yasuna, a court astrologer. Kuzunoha visits him in the form of a woman and they fall in love and have a child, Abe no Seimei, who has magical powers.

The name Kuzunoha mean ‘leaf of the kudzu’, Japanese arrowroot, a plant associated with autumn. The selection of foliage in the lower left corner, including chrysanthemum, grasses and bush clover, confirms that the scene is set in autumn.

Purchased 1954

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Orange persimmons ripening on trees are a sign of autumn in Japan. Dried persimmons, hoshigaki, are a popular gift at New Year where they symbolise good luck and long life. This print is the left-hand image of a triptych made of three prints.

Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), credited with reviving Japanese poetry traditions at the end of the nineteenth century, wrote this haiku:

Consider me
as one who loved poetry
and persimmons

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series Women in Benkei-checked Fabrics

The Chrysanthemum Festival, Chōyō, was held on the ninth day of the ninth month in the old lunar calendar. The flower was believed to be medicinal and people drank tea or wine infused with its petals. As its blooms last longer than most flowers, the chrysanthemum also became a symbol of long life.

This print series is a parody of the life of the warrior monk Benkei, who sometimes wore bold checks like this. This image refers to a time when Benkei’s master ordered him to write a notice to protect an ancient plum tree. Viewers would understand this from the verse on the print and the woman writing a label.

Purchased 1950

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From the series Famous Views of Kyoto

The red leaves of maple trees are a key symbol of autumn in Japan. The Tsūten Bridge at the Tōfukuji Temple in Kyoto is one of the most famous places to view the trees.

Maple-viewing in autumn, or momiji-gari, is almost as popular as cherry-blossom viewing is in spring. Like the picnickers in this image, people make special trips to appreciate the seasonal colours.

Purchased, 1949

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From the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in the Provinces

This autumn view of Tōfukuji Temple is made from crepe paper, chirimengami. The image would first be printed in the normal way using a different woodblock for each colour. Then it would be dampened and pressed between cardboard moulds incised with grooves. This process was repeated up to ten times to texture the paper.

On the bridge and walkways in this design one can make out sightseers come to admire the autumn colours.

Purchased 1949

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From the series Famous Places in Edo and Murasaki’s Genji

A fashionable young beauty takes a ferry ride across the Sumida River in Edo (Tokyo). Her umbrella and high clogs protect her from the snow.

This print series is inspired by chapters of the eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji. Ukifune is the unrecognised daughter of a prince. She is forced to choose between two lovers and throws herself into a river in despair.

Purchased, 1949

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From the series Famous Restaurants of Edo

In winter it was popular to admire snow at famous sights. As with cherry blossom viewing, food and drink were often part of these trips. The scene shows snow viewers at the Uekiya Restaurant near Mokubo-ji, a Buddhist temple.

The print may have been commissioned by members of a poetry circle. The satirical poem in the fan shape reads:

The pine tree’s nose
pokes fun at the gardener’s skill

Purchased, 1949

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The season is represented by the snowy landscape on the standing screen. Outside a plum tree blossoms, a sign that winter is ending.

The print contains lucky symbols for the year to come. On the ground is a bat for hanetsuki, a game, similar to badminton, played at New Year to ward off evil.

The kitten with its raised paw looks like a maneki-neko ‘beckoning cat’. These were popular charms which people believed would attract customers and wealth. The grey circular patterns on the child’s kimono are formed of cranes, symbols of long life, but they also resemble motifs known as ‘wish-granting jewels’.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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A girl proudly carries a rabbit she has made out of snow. In Japanese mythology a rabbit lived on the moon and so a rabbit is a lunar symbol.

This design represents the poetic grouping of the Three Beauties of Nature – snow, moon and flowers (setsugekka). All three are admired for short periods and are reminders of the transience of life. The cherry blossom on the girl’s kimono
represents the ‘flowers’ as well as the coming of spring.

The snow has been embossed by rubbing the dampened paper onto a carved woodblock without any ink.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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Hanetsuki, a game like badminton, was traditionally played by girls and women at New Year. The longer a player could keep the shuttlecock in the air, the more luck and protection from mosquitoes she would have in the coming year.

On either side of the players are New Year entrance decorations, kadomatsu, made from pine, bamboo and rope. People believed that these would act as temporary homes for helpful deities.

Purchased, 1954

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From the series Seven Komachi in the Floating World

An elegant pair of women visit Sekidera Temple. Their sashes, tied at the front, show that they are courtesans (high class prostitutes).

The print parodies an episode in the life of Ono no Komachi, a ninth-century poet famous for her romances. Komachi stayed at Sekidera as a ragged old woman and bemoaned the past:

Wretch that I am –
A floating water weed,
Broken from its roots –
If a stream should beckon,
I would follow it, I think

Purchased, 1954

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From the album Men’s Stamping Dance

In Japan’s Shinto religion horses have been revered since ancient times. People believed that they were mounts for the gods and could act as messengers between gods and humans. Horses were also thought to be able to control rainfall.

At the beginning of the year an Emperor or wealthy patron might pay for a horse to be presented to the gods to ensure good fortune and a plentiful harvest. The animal would then live at the shrine.

A white horse was linked with the sun and fine weather. In times of drought, black horses would sometimes be presented to encourage black clouds and rainfall.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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On the second day of the New Year, it was customary to do a series of ‘first things’. People might make a first visit to a temple to pray for good fortune, practise their first calligraphy of the year or make their first purchases.

The women here seem to be buying new combs. Fashions in combs and hair ornaments changed constantly during the Edo period (1603–1868).

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Japanese people believed that foxes were the supernatural messengers of Inari, the god of rice and good fortune. In this print there are green stacks of harvested rice.

A legend said that on New Year’s Eve all the foxes in the area around Edo (Tokyo) gathered at the Inari Shrine, Ōji to hold a ceremony of renewal for the coming year.

According to the story, the foxes changed into formal clothes for the event under a big tree called the Changing Tree. It was said that each fox emitted a pinkish flame or ‘fox-fire’.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

One Hundred Famous Views of Edo was one of Hiroshige’s most successful print series. The artist depicted famous sites in the capital city, Edo (Tokyo) throughout the seasons.

There are 119 prints in the series which was published over three years, 1856-59. Hiroshige produced over three designs a month which he then passed to carvers and printers to complete. After his death in October 1858 his pupil Hiroshige II completed the remaining designs.

Twenty prints relate to winter and this is one of
the snow scenes in which Hiroshige I excelled.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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A common kingfisher, known as a ‘river cicada’ in Japan because of its whirring wings, is paired with viburnum which flowers in late spring.

With their bright plumage kingfishers were linked with vanity. The poem reads:

The kingfisher,
preening its feathers
in a mirror of water.

Purchased, 1949

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Rose mallow, a type of hibiscus, blooms from late summer to the beginning of winter.

The flowers open white, then change to pink before darkening to a purplish-pink after a few days. Perhaps because of this they are popular flowers in haiku.

The poem here reads:

At the break of day
dew-drenched, its petals drop –
the rose mallow.

Purchased, 1949

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In ancient times the camellia, with its evergreen leaves and beautiful, sturdy flowers, was viewed as sacred in Japan.

The grouping of sparrows, snow and camellias was a common theme in art, representing the end of winter.

It was considered lucky to see the ‘first sparrow’ at New Year and this is one of the seasonal phrases used in Japanese poetry such as haiku, short verses made up of about seventeen syllables.

Purchased, 1949

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Camellia plants were used to make a range of products. People used oil from its seeds to dress their hair. Woodblock carvers used the oil to make print designs on paper more transparent for carving through.

Purchased 1949

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The nandina or nanten bush is native to Japan and its red berries are a symbol of winter. In Japanese its name sounds the same as ‘overturning misfortune’.

People believed that evergreen Nadina leaves would bring long life. Branches are sometimes included in New Year decorations and flower arrangements.

Purchased 1949

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An ancient story tells of a three-legged crow that carried a vital message to Japan’s legendary first emperor, Jimmu. Crows are therefore one of the symbols of Japan’s imperial family.

Crows are also associated with the autumn and winter. Those in this print are shown with a full moon, a symbol of autumn.

Purchased 1949

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These wood-block printed illustrations are probably from a painting manual. These books were popular ways for artists to learn how to depict nature accurately.

The print of the thistle is remarkably realistic, it looks almost as if the paper has been rubbed down on a real flower.

Purchased 1949

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In Chinese and Japanese art, cockerels stand for male strength and fighting spirit. They are often shown in pairings with peonies, symbols of female beauty.

Purchased 1959

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The woman holds a cage, probably for a cricket. In the capital Edo (Tokyo) in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a craze for collecting crickets. People loved hearing the cricket’s song which they associated with early autumn.

The seasonal flowers on the woman’s kimono reinforce the idea that the scene here depicts the end of summer (lilies), turning to autumn (chrysanthemums).

In 1842 the Japanese government banned woodblock prints depicting courtesans (prostitutes), sometimes called ‘Edo sparrows’. The sparrows on the woman’s fan may allude to this.

Purchased 1949

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Dragonflies breed in shallow water such as rice paddies. Here a pair of dragonflies hovers around some ripe stalks of rice. In Japanese poetry, dragonflies are used to evoke late summer or early autumn.

The insects are considered lucky because they always fly forwards. Also, the Japanese words for some species sound the same as ‘victory’.

Hokkei, a pupil of Hokusai, started his working life as a fishmonger before training as an artist. He was prolific, designing thousands of prints and illustrating over a hundred books in his lifetime.

Purchased 1949

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From the picture book Selected Insects

This design illustrates poems composed by the artist’s friends after an evening by the river in Edo (Tokyo).

Evening Cicada:

When no one is watching
I fly into your arms,
and you cry like an evening cicada.

Spider:

Sneaking into a lady’s boudoir
the unclothed man resembles
a spider going to the nest.

The spider’s web and the sweetcorn kernels are embossed with ‘blind printing’. The damp paper is rubbed down on a woodblock without ink.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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From the picture book Selected Insects

Friends of the artist Utamaro commissioned him to illustrate their ‘crazy verse’ poems about insects.

Tree cricket:

Under a mosquito net,
she awaits her lover –
still sleepless, she weeps,
enduring the monotonous
chirping of a tree cricket.

Firefly:

Scooping the water
of the Sao River, I become
a firefly who lives close by,
while leaves of reeds decay,
as does love over time.

Purchased 1963 with support from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund

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A Chinese story told how a carp leapt up the rapids of the Yellow River and became a dragon. Carp are symbols of perseverance, as well as fertility, because of the many eggs they lay.

Inscribed on the print are poems by three different poets which refer to carp, cherry blossom, the vigour of a dragon and rivers in Edo (Tokyo). The dragon represents the fifth month of the year in the Japanese monthly cycle of zodiac animals.

Bequeathed by Mrs Sweeting, 1980

Or1980.05.01

From the series Twelve Japanese Zodiac Animals

Macaque monkeys are native to Japan and have a varied diet including insects. In Shinto, Japan’s original religious belief system, macaques were thought to be messengers of the gods.

The concept of the twelve zodiac animals came from China. In both countries monkeys were admired for
being clever and mischievous.

Purchased 1949

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From the book A hundred collected works of Ukiyo-e Kosode designs. Katsukawa Shunsho style.

The two creatures are inuhariko, papiermâché
charms in the form of dogs that people believed would help to ensure safe childbirth. Miniature versions were included in displays of dolls for the Doll’s Festival. This was celebrated on the third day of the third month, to ensure the health of girls. The dark pink blossom (plum) and light pink blossom (cherry) confirm this is a spring design.

The second sleeve design relates to Tanabata, the Star Festival on the seventh day of the seventh month. It depicts tanzaku, folded slips of paper on which people wrote down wishes and poems, particularly romantic ones, for the coming year.

Purchased with the support of the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery

Or2017.16

From the book A hundred collected works of Ukiyo-e Kosode designs. Katsukawa Shunsho style.

These sleeve designs are from a kimono pattern book. Customers could look through designs before commissioning a kimono to be made up to suit the season.

The first design shows an araumi or ‘rough sea’ motif, similar to that in Hokusai’s Great Wave, contrasting with stylised semicircular waves, a pattern known as seigaiha ‘blue sea waves’ that represents waves of good luck. The sleeve behind features delicate flowers, possibly spring plum
blossom.

Purchased with the support of the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery

Or2017.17

From Ransai’s Picture-album, Sections on Chrysanthemums, Plum Trees, Trees and Rocks, Plants and Water, and Birds, volume IV

Three geese are depicted amongst chrysanthemum flowers and reeds below a full moon, all symbols of autumn. The black and grey print imitates the style of ink painting.

Purchased 1949

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From Ransai’s Picture-album, Sections on Chrysanthemums, Plum Trees, Trees and Rocks, Plants and Water, and Birds, volume IV

An eagle swoops low over waves with frightened prey in its claws. Professional and amateur artists copied images from picture-albums like this to perfect their painting skills.

This image would originally have been divided into two pages with a black line outlining each half.

Purchased 1949

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In Japan people read books from right to left. The winter scene on the right illustrates The Three Whites – Mount Fuji, a crane and snow on a pine tree. Together they symbolise long life and relate to
New Year.

On the left two old men gaze out of a window at a view of Mount Fuji, or is it a painting?

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Here, Hokusai’s design of cherry blossom viewing is spread across two pages. The snowy blossom on the trees reflects the snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji.

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