Illustration of Nakamaro's Poem

This is an illustration of the exiled poet Nakamaro's poem 'O can it be that the moon I see wandering out into the wilderness of the sky is the same moon that rises over Mikasa Hill in my own Kasunga?'. From the series 'The One-hundred poems explained by the Nurse'. c. 1839. Nakamaro went to China in 716 but failed to return, one legend maintaining that the Emperor of China was suspicious of his motives and detained him, leaving him to starve to death. In this image Hokusai has suggested imprisonment with the screens and guard of Chinese soldiers.

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