Fujiwara no Yoshitaka

Catalog note / 解説

This print depicts a bathhouse. Three men bathe in the tub indoors, and three women and one man on the veranda enjoy the cool air and view the beautiful pond with its birds. Banners of steam rise in white bands. As usual, the water in the Japanese bath is very hot, like a sauna. Fujiwara no Yoshitake (954-974), a handsome nobleman, tragically died of smallpox at age twenty-one. He left a love poem full of pathos: Kimi ga tame For your precious sake, once I thought oshikarazarishi I could die. Inochi sae Now I wish to live with you Nagaku mo gana to a long, long time. Omoikeru kana The connection between the content of the poem and Hokusai's bathing theme seems difficult to understand. It ma…