"Gessekka" — a Japanese term combining elements that suggest moonflower or lunar flower — places this work within Maki Haku's engagement with classical Japanese poetry and natural imagery filtered through abstraction. His references to natural phenomena are rarely illustrative; instead, a title like "Gessekka" functions as a mood or atmosphere, directing the viewer's attention toward a particular quality of the abstract composition — perhaps its pallor, its coolness, or its quiet luminosity.
![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)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
1919
Color woodblock print
January 1938
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Gessekka was created by Maki Haku (巻白).
Gessekka depicts moonlight, calligraphy, and abstract.
