Usa Hachiman Shrine — 宇佐八幡社景 和気清麿朝臣

A print from Gekko zuihitsu depicting Wake no Kiyomaro at the Usa Hachiman Shrine in Buzen Province (modern Ōita Prefecture). The Japanese title — 宇佐八幡社景 和気清麿朝臣 — pairs the place ("view of Usa Hachiman Shrine") with the historical figure ("the courtier Wake no Kiyomaro"), framing the design as a meisho-e of the shrine and a portrait of the Nara-period official who, sent there in 769 to consult the oracle, returned with the verdict that prevented the monk Dōkyō from usurping the imperial line. Gekko sets Kiyomaro before the shrine precincts in formal court dress; the architecture is handled with the restrained linework typical of his historical sheets, and color is applied flatly to robes and pigmented earth tones to the surrounding ground. The subject is one Gekko returned to more than once in the Gekko zuihitsu albums, and impressions of this design exist in several states reflecting separate printings of the series.