The Chofu Jewel River, one of the Six Jewel Rivers (Mu Tamagawa)

The Chofu Jewel River, one of the Six Jewel Rivers (Mu Tamagawa) is a Katsushika Hokusai ukiyo-e print of about 1801 in the Art Institute of Chicago. The Six Jewel Rivers (Mu Tamagawa) were a classical poetic subject, a set of six rivers, each in a different province, gathered together by tradition as ideal sites for seasonal verse. The Chofu Tamagawa in Settsu Province was associated with cloth-fulling and the rhythmic labor of beating fabric on stones, an image that lent itself to autumn poetry about loneliness and devoted waiting. Hokusai treats the subject with quiet dignity, organizing figures, river, and surroundings into a balanced composition that honors the literary tradition without overstating its emblematic content. The print belongs to the broader kyoka-album world in which Edo ukiyo-e and classical poetry mingled freely, and Katsushika Hokusai produced several treatments of the Mu Tamagawa over his long career. The drawing is consistent with the figural style of his contemporary Tokaido and surimono sheets, while the spatial arrangement looks forward to the more elaborate landscapes of his late career. As a ukiyo-e print, this Chofu Jewel River shows how thoroughly Hokusai had internalized classical poetic geography and translated it into Edo print culture. The Art Institute of Chicago impression preserves the delicate registration and soft color of the original printing, allowing modern viewers to appreciate both the literary subject and the artist's quietly authoritative handling.