The Priest Kisen

Catalog note / 解説

This print was conserved with the support of the Robert F. Lange Foundation. Considered to be one of Japan's greatest woodblock print artists, Kuniyoshi created a series of a hundred prints based on the renowned poetry collection known as Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets), compiled by the famous poet Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241). The anthology was also the subject of many prints by such artists as Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), both from the same school of print design as Kuniyoshi. The author of the poem depicted in this print is Kisen, a Heian-period Buddhist monk and poet of whom little is known except that he lived near Mount Uji in p…