Matsukaze Murasame

Hishikawa Moronobu 菱川師宣

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print and its text present a wittily updated version of the two brine gatherers' tragic love for Yukihira, who was in exile at Suma. At the right he strolls arm in arm with the sisters Matsukaze and Murasame. Despite their droll aristocratic attire, the trio's deportment is that of pleasure-seeking youth in the bustling entertainment quarters of Edo. At the left the two women in contemporary garb who dip buckets are identified as seaweed gatherers ("shiokumi"), the name of a popular Kabuki dance that represented the immortal legend at the time. This print reflects Moronobu's origins as an illustrator of popular books in its humor as well as its compostion.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art