HOKUSAI AND PROBABLY A PUPIL: SHITA-E FOR THE PRINT ‘ABE NO NAKAMARO’ FROM THE SERIES HYAKUNIN ISSHU UBA GA ETOKI (One Hundred Poems for One Hundred Poets, as Told by the Wet Nurse). Sumi ink on fine paper, 1835–1836. (Small tear at the top). DIM. 27.4 × 38.7 CM (10 13/16 × 15 1/4 IN.) Published in: BAFJ, 15, pp. 40–41. This famous series of prints illustrates an equally famous classical anthology of Japanese poetry compiled in the 13th century by Fujiwara no Teika, which brings together one hundred poems by one hundred different authors. Hokusai’s intention was to produce one hundred prints, but the series remained unfinished. Only twenty-seven were printed by mid-1836, whilst fifty-five hanshita-e have been recorded that did not result in a woodblock print. This shita-e is arguably the most famous print in the series, illustrating poem VII. Its subject is the poet Abe no Nakamaro, who set off at a very young age to study the mysteries of poetry in China, where he was noted for his talent as a poet. He attempted to return to Japan at around the age of fifty but was shipwrecked, and ended his life in China. The poem associated with this shita-e, expressing his longing for his homeland, can be translated as follows: ‘When I gaze at the moon in the vast sky, is it truly the same moon that rose in Kasuga above Mount Mikasa?’ It is interesting to note that, in the print, the moon visible in the sky of the shita-e has disappeared, replaced by its reflection in the water. This latter version was most certainly intended by Hokusai, as this evolution of the work is entirely in keeping with his style. It makes the shita-e all the more interesting in terms of the artist’s creative process. Bernard Rousseau, however, does not consider it to be solely the work of Hokusai. According to him, the background, the two boats, the tree and the rocks on which Abe no Nakamaro stands display “that thick line attributed to Hokusai, whilst the rest is rendered in a fine, precise line, attributed to a pupil. ” (BAFJ, p. 40). A few lines further on, Bernard Rousseau reveals the name of this pupil: Katsushika Isai, whom he identified thanks to the Curtis Album held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, and about whom he wrote an article (Bulletin de l’Association Franco-Japonaise, no. 139, pp. 4–16). He believes that Isai may have assisted Hokusai at a time when the Master was probably not at his best, particularly with regard to this series of prints.