Minister Hong bows to the Heavenly Teacher, Yokoyama Kazan

Exhibition Label:
"The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong
The Chinese novel The Marshes of Mount Liang (called Suikoden in Japanese) became popular in Japan during the Edo period (1615-1868). Chinese literature was particularly fashionable at this time and this novel appealed to many because it was about a band of fearless warriors. The novel begins with an imperial minister ascending a mountain near the capital so that he may meet with a Daoist master. The Chinese emperor had sent Minister Hong with an incense burner to ask the Daoist sage for help in alleviating China of a plague that was devastating the lands. As the minister ascended the misty mountain he came upon a boy on an ox and asked him where he could find the Daoist adept. The boy said he had already left for the capital and so the minister began his descent. He soon realized, though, that the boy on the ox was in fact the Daoist sage he had been seeking.

Archive Label date unknown:
The thirteenth-century novel Shui huchuan begins with a terrible plague which swept the countryside during the reign of Emperor Jen Tsung (1022-1064). The emperor ordered his chief minister of ceremonies, Hung Shin, to beg a great Taoist master to intercede with heaven for them. Here Hung Shin meets a boy riding an ox through the mountain mist, realizing only later that he was actually the sage.

Two versions of the print are shown here. The print on the right, although damaged, is the only known impression from the original edition. On the left is a careful copy published in the 1890s. Both the engraving and the printing technique of the two versions are noticeably different.