print
- Museum number
- 1937,0710,0.195
- Title
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Object: Washu Yoshino Yoshitsune uma-arai no taki 和州吉野義経馬洗瀧 (The Waterfall Where Yoshitsune Washed in Horse in Yoshino, Yamato Province)
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Series: Shokoku taki-meguri 諸国瀧廻り (Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces)
- Description
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Colour woodblock print. Grooms washing horse in stream. 1 of 2.
- Production date
- 1833 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 37.50 centimetres
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Width: 25.50 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Clark 2017
The print shows a small waterfall in Yoshino where, according to legend, the warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189) washed his horse (uma-arai). There is no direct evidence for this event, although several Yoshino gazetteers contain related accounts. For example, Yoshino-gun meizan zushi, in the early 1800s, notes that ‘there are still horses [descended from] the one ridden by Yoshitsune in the Ōdai mountains’. Evidently, by the early 1800s, there were legends about Yoshitsune coming to Yoshino on horseback. Perhaps Hokusai visited Yoshino, saw the falls, heard the legends and drew the picture? Alternatively, he may simply have fabricated the story (Hinohara 2013). The falls zigzag down the picture, flowing to the left at the top, then switching to the right where the two men are
washing the horse, and then finally back to the left and
out of the picture.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2017 8 July - 13 Aug, London, BM, G35, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
2017 6 Oct - 19 Nov, Osaka, Abeno Harukas Art Museum
2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
- Acquisition date
- 1937
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1937,0710,0.195
