Yoshitoshi 芳年: Horin Temple Moon (SOLD)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) 芳年
Title: Horin Temple Moon
Series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon 月百姿
Date: 1890

The beautiful young court lady Yokobue has just returned from Hôrin Temple, where her young lover would not see her, afraid it would break his determination to become a monk. She covers her eyes as her robes are buffeted by the wind; she is heartbroken. It is an autumn evening with a full moon above, with grey clouds sweeping across the sky. The grasses bend in the wind and a vine at left shows the darkness of incoming winter. Stevenson even interprets the two pines in the background that are intertwined and receding into the darkness as symbols of the two lovers whose hope of being together also recedes. In this telling of the story, Yokubue decides to become a nun after this scene. There is lead orange pigment in the lining of her inner robe. 

Condition: Very good impression and condition. Excellent color.  Backed.
Dimensions: ôban 36.2 x 24.5 cm
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Literature: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (San Francisco: San Francisco Graphic Society, 1992), number 89. See British Museum, Portland Art Museum.
Seal: Taiso
Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOC202T