Young man
Katsushika Hokusai è飾åæ (1760-1849)
ca. 1795-1798
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1903.130
Tags
Charles Lang Freer collectionEdo period (1615 - 1868)JapanJapanese Artukiyo-ewoman
About this artwork
At first glance, the figure here appears to be a woman, but the hairstyle confirms that this is a handsome young man, known during the Edo period as a wakashu. The surcoat (haori) and bamboo hat (kasa) suggest he is on an outing about town. The composition and the depiction of the figure in full profile, otherwise unusual in Japanese painting, are typical of Hokusai's work during his Sori period. An illustration in the catalogue of the Hokusai exhibition organized in Tokyo in 1900 by American sc...