Abe no Nakamaro

The nobleman Abe no Nakamaro (698-770) sits leaning against a balustrade on the terrace of a Chinese palace, gazing at the moon. Four attendants arrive with dishes of food. Aged sixteen Nakamaro accompanied a Japanese envoy to China but was refused permission to return home, remaining in China for the rest of his life. He developed a succesful career, eventually becoming a regional governor. The scene in the print is known to relate to a poem he wrote longing to see his home in Japan again.
The same print is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 21.6673; and the British Museum, museum no. 1910,0418,0.190.