print BM-1927-0413-0.14

Period:Unknown Production date:1833 (circa)
Materials:paper
Technique:woodblock, colour,
Subjects:fish waterfall/cascade
Dimensions:Height: 68.50 centimetres (Mount) Height: 52.20 centimetres (Print) Width: 50.60 centimetres (Mount) Width: 23.20 centimetres (Print)

Description:
Colour woodblock print. Two carp leaping up waterfall. Signed.
IMG


Comments:Smith 1988This is a ‘kakemonoe’, or print in the form of a hanging scroll. The Chinese legend was that carp which could ascend the Yellow River falls would turn into dragons. In Japan the ascending carp became a symbol of courage and was used especially for Boys’ Day (5 May). This print is in Hokusai’s ‘Chinese’ style. The signature is ‘The former Hokusai, changing his name to Iitsu’. Clark 2017The phrase ‘ascending dragon gate’ (tōryūmon) denotes the gateway to success in life. The name comes from a legend about carp gathering below the rapids known as ‘Dragon Gate’ (Chinese: longmen, Japanese: ryūmon) in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China. Many of the fish cannot continue any further, but if a carp can climb the rapids, it becomes a dragon. Numerous pictures were therefore produced of carp climbing waterfalls, as a way of signifying success in life. Thisimage may be one of them, but Hokusai’s main focus seems to be not the ascending carp, but rather the one down below looking out at us. The continuity in the treatment of the white spray – at the bottom of the waterfall, on the body of the carp and on the yellowish rocks to the right of the picture – demonstrates the attention to fine detail characteristic of Hokusai.