KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)

Bushu Tamagawa (The Tama “Jewel” River in Musashi province)

Details
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Bushu Tamagawa (The Tama “Jewel” River in Musashi province)
Woodblock print, from the series Fugaku sanjurokkei (Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji), signed Zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (drawn by Iitsu, formerly Hokusai), published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo)
Horizontal oban: 10 ¼ x 15 in. (26 x 38.1 cm.)

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Takaaki Murakami (村上高明)
Takaaki Murakami (村上高明) Vice President, Specialist and Head of Department | Korean Art

Lot Essay

The Jewel River in Musashi Province (Musashi Tatsukuri) is known as one of the Six Jewel Rivers (Mu Tamagawa) often depicted as a subject of allusive picture (mitate-e) of beauties by many artists.
This river is written in a poem by an unknown poet contained in vol. 14 of the Man'yoshu (Collection of a Myriad Leaves), the anthology of classic verse written before 760:
Tamagawa ni sarasu tetsukuri sarasarani mukashi no fude to sarani omowazu
(When I bleach the softest hand-made cotton in the Jewel River, I recall the love letter I once wrote to you.)

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