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Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎

Cuckoo and Azaleas (子規杜鵑花 Hototogisu satsuki)

Maker

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849, b. in Edo, Japan)
Nishimuraya Yohachi 西村屋与八 (1759–1869, in Edo, Japan), publisher

Title

Cuckoo and Azaleas (子規杜鵑花 Hototogisu satsuki)
Untitled (known as Small Flowers)
Untitled (known as Small flowers)

Period

Edo Period

Year

ca. 1834

Medium

Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)

Materials

ink and color

Supports

paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan

Dimensions

Chūban: 24.9 x 18.7 cm (9 13/16 x 7 3/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription Text/Poem: 只驚白晝山竹裂　杜宇初聞第一聲　楊誠斎
Translation: Surprised midday by the crack of mountain bamboo, the cuckoo makes its first cry. Poem by Yang Chengzhai

Signature: 前北斎為一筆 Zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (Brushed by Zen Hokusai Iitsu)

Seals: Publisher's seal: 永壽堂 Eijudō (Nishimuraya Yohachi); Censor's seal: 極kiwame

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.486.2

Type

Prints

Publications

Journal

Feathers, Flowers, Talons, and Fangs: Power and Serenity in Japanese Nature Prints

Exhibition History

Feathers, Flowers, Talons and Fangs

Power and Serenity in Japanese Nature Prints

Feb 02, 2007 – Jun 10, 2007

Label copy

The same Chinese poem (kanshi) by Yang Wanli (1127-1206) appears on both versions of this print (34.386.1 and 34.386.2). The third of six poems in the set entitled "Passing through the Zhenyang Gorge," the group was composed on a journey. Here, the flight of the cuckoo suddenly distracts the poet from his contemplation of the heavens and the river, the subject of the first two lines of the four-line text.

"Roused in broad daylight by the crack of mountain bamboo

I hear the cuckoo's first cry."

Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese, 1760-1849

Polychrome woodblock prints (nishiki-e)

Left:

Cuckoo and Azaleas (Hototogisu, satsuki) from the untitled set of 10 prints known as the

"Small Flowers" series, ca. 1834

Right:

Cuckoo and Azaleas (Hototogisu, satsuki) from the untitled set of 10 prints known as the "Small Flowers"

series, ca. 1834

This is a later-blooming azalea (satsuki) that flowers into early summer. The cuckoo (hototogisu), whose song is associated with early summer and unrequited love, appears frequently in Japanese poetry.

At first glance, these prints appear to be identical. Can you see any differences between them?