Princess Nukata

Princess Nukata (Nukata no Okimi) was one of the great poets of early Japan, her waka verses appearing in the Man'yoshu, the eighth-century anthology of Japanese poetry. As a historical woman of literary achievement and dramatic personal history — she was involved with both Emperor Tenji and his brother, later Emperor Temmu — she offered Hanko the combination of historical narrative and female beauty that defined his most ambitious figure work. Depicting this Asuka-era princess in his Meiji nihonga style creates a temporal dialogue across twelve centuries of Japanese culture.