Galerie Mont No Kakinomoto Hitomaro – Hokusai^ Hokusai

Hokusai offers a visual interpretation of a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, depicting fishermen laboriously hauling their long net up a steep mountain. Wisps of smoke rise from a fire, turning from red to white. In a house in the background, a man watches the fishermen work tirelessly.

The link between the poem and the scene is subtle. It seems that Hokusai finds a correlation between the hard work of the fishermen, the long, dragging tail of a mountain pheasant and the poet’s long, sleepless night. The composition is intense, dominated by the active fishermen and the dramatic smoke. The shades of blue and green-blue contrast with the reddish-brown of the mountain.

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