2-745-044 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Minister Toru Daijin Standing by a Lake Beneath a Crescent Moon, from the series A True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poetry, 1834-1835. A high-ranking minister, Toru (822-895) was the son of an emperor. In this scene, he enjoys the company of two other men in his landscape garden overlooking the water. Here Hokusai may have illustrated a poem by Toru that mentions boats floating on the water in bright moonlight, shaded by the pines.