A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
The Waterfall Where Yoshitsune Washed His Horse at Yoshino in Yamato Province
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1832
What it is
Two men wash a horse in the pool beneath a waterfall at Yoshino, the fall named for the warrior Yoshitsune, who washed his own horse here.
Why it matters
Hokusai’s waterfall series gives falling water the same attention his Fuji views gave the mountain, and each fall carries the story of its place.
What to notice
The water drops in a single sheet of blue lines, and the horse and men below are small and busy against it.
A place keeps the name of the person who stopped there.
The record
- Artist
- Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849)
- Series
- A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
- Date
- c. 1832
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP2927
Impression note. A vertical ōban, about 37 by 26 cm on the Met record. Hokusai’s falling water is carved as long, separate lines, and a clean impression keeps them unbroken from the lip of the fall to the pool. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
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A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)Rōben Waterfall at Ōyama in Sagami ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1827 (date on the Met record) · from $69.00The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.