The Poem of Ariwara no Narihira (Ariwara no Narihira Ason)

Katsushika Hokusai

ca. 1838

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Seattle Art Museum

Hokusai created a series of prints that draw inspiration from poems written almost 1000 years earlier. A delightful autumn scene is depicted in this print: villagers are crossing a bridge under which maple leaves in scarlet color are floating on the river. It captures the spirit of a poem by Ariwara no Narihira, which is inscribed in the cartouche at the upper right: Unheard of even in the legendary age of the awesome gods: Tatsuta River in scarlet and the water flowing under it. —Ariwara no Narihira (825–880) Translation by Joshua Mostow, from Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakuni Isshu in Word and Image. Gift of Mary and Allan Kollar