Minamoto no Töru

Catalog note / 解説

The subject of this print derives from a Noh play, Töru, written by Zeami, a Noh actor and a celebrated Noh playwright of the early Muromachi period (1392-1573). Töru, a poet, was the son of a ninth-century emperor. The prince served as Minister of the Left in the imperial court. He had an extravagant flair for landscape gardening; he built a pavilion near the Kamo River and a vast garden designed in imitation of Shiogama Bay in Oshu province (present-day Miyagi prefecture), the best-known scenic area around Matsuhima Bay. Daily he carried salt water from the Osaka Bay to his pond, where he kept a variety of fish and shellfish. Here the minister, with his fan over his shoulder, appears to b…