Fujiwara Sanekata no Ason

Fujiwara Sanekata no Ason, dated to 1835, belongs to Katsushika Hokusai's series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki), an ambitious project to illustrate the classical Heian and early medieval anthology of one hundred poems by one hundred poets. The poet Fujiwara no Sanekata, an aristocrat of the late tenth century, is the subject of this design, which interprets the courtly imagery of his anthologised verse through Hokusai's late-period landscape sensibility. Rather than depict the poet directly, Hokusai imagines a contemporary or rural scene that resonates with the spirit of the poem, a strategy of figurative explication that gives the series its distinctive layered character. As a ukiyo-e print, the design is built on careful Edo ukiyo-e colour printing and includes the cartouche where the original poem is set. Many designs in the series were planned but not all were issued during Hokusai's lifetime, and the project remains a partial undertaking that nonetheless represents one of his most refined late achievements. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London preserves an impression of this print, supporting close study of the publisher Eijudo's craftsmanship and the role of literature in early nineteenth-century commercial publishing. The series offers an essential entry point to understanding the dialogue between classical poetry and popular pictorial culture in late Edo society.