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Your galleryFujiwara no Yasumasa Playing His Flute in the Moonlight
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Follow the line of the flute from Yasumasa’s lips toward the robber at the right, his hand on his sword, half hidden in the tall grass.
Legend tells that the robber Hakamadare Yasusuke stalked Fujiwara no Yasumasa, a famous poet and flute player of the Heian period, one moonlit night, but was so taken with Yasumasa’s music and composure that he followed him home without a fight. About 1883 Yoshitoshi spread the scene across three sheets, with the moon at the left and the crouching robber at the right, and set the poet’s windblown robes against the robber’s braced stance.
Color woodblock print; ōban triptych · 73 × 37 cm · Art Institute of Chicago
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Fujiwara no Yasumasa Playing His Flute in the Moonlight
- Artist
- Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Japanese, 1839-1892
- Date
- About 1883
- Medium
- Color woodblock print; ōban triptych
- Dimensions
- 73 × 37 cm (28 3/4 × 14 5/8 in.); Mat: 57.2 × 95.3 cm (22 1/2 × 37 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Frederick W. Gookin Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.