The Hidden Moon (Kakureta tsuki)
by Ansei Uchima
- Date:
- 1959
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; edition 19/50
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
The Hidden Moon (Kakureta tsuki) is a 1959 color woodblock print, edition 19 of 50, that depicts the moon concealed behind cloud, mist, or mountain — a subject with deep roots in Japanese aesthetics. The hidden moon (oborozuki, kakureta tsuki) is valued in Japanese poetry and painting precisely because it is not fully visible: the partial concealment intensifies beauty, engaging the viewer's imagination to complete what nature withholds. This aesthetic of incompleteness runs through the entire Japanese artistic tradition, from the asymmetric arrangements of ikebana to the deliberately unfinished quality of certain tea ceramics. Uchima's abstract treatment renders the moon as a suggested rather than depicted presence.
More Prints by Ansei Uchima
More Moonlight Prints
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Matsushima in Moonlight (Tsuki no Matsushima)
1919
Color woodblock print
Kiyozumi Garden in Moonlight
January 1938
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Hidden Moon (Kakureta tsuki) was created by Ansei Uchima (内間安瑆) in 1959.
The Hidden Moon (Kakureta tsuki) depicts moonlight and night scenes.