Japanese Woodblock Prints

Japanese Woodblock Prints

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 22. Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | Poem by Fujiwara no Yoshitaka | Edo period, 19th century .

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | Poem by Fujiwara no Yoshitaka | Edo period, 19th century

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Lot Closed

December 19, 01:22 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 10,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Poem by Fujiwara no Yoshitaka

Edo period, 19th century


woodblock print, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki), signed Saki no Hokusai Manji (Manji, the former Hokusai), censor's seal kiwame (approved), published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo), circa 1835-36


Horizontal oban: 24 x 36.6 cm., 9½ x 14⅜ in.

The poem by Fujiwara no Yoshitaka (954-974) has been translated by Peter MacMillan in One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse, (London, 2016), p. 15:


I thought I would give up my life

to hold you in my arms,

but after a night together,

I find myself wishing

that I could live for ever.


Kimi ga tame

oshikarazarishi

inochi sae

nagaku mogana to

omoikeru kana


For a similar impression of the same print in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 11.17677, go to:

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/209289