Kitayama moon

Toyohara Sumiaki was a poet and court musician of the Emperor Go-Kashiwabara (1500-1525), especially skilled in the shō, a type of flute. Gagaku, or elegant music, is the name given to traditional Japanese court music. Sumiaki wrote an important work, Taigenshō, on gagaku music. One night, Sumiaki goes for a walk by moonlight and is surrounded by wolves. He is able to charm them and escape by playing his flute. Stevenson notes that the depiction of the wolves in this print is directly copied from an earlier Kuniyoshi print (click to see this print).