Hokusai’s Horses

Shogi Chess Board.

I ought to have posted this several weeks ago for the advent of the Year of the Horse. Umazukushi is a series of wood-block prints by Katsushika Hokusai created to celebrate another Year of the Horse, 1822. Umazukushi (also Uma-zukushi) is usually translated as “A Selection of Horses”, and this is what Hokusai gives us, albeit in a cryptic manner since most of the prints are still-life views of household objects. Each print features a short poem—the series was commissioned by a group of poets—while each picture contains a reference to horses. The allusions aren’t always easy to decipher for the non-Japanese, especially when looking back over two centuries. The Japanese robin, for example, is known as the “horse bird” as a result of its singing voice which was regarded as sounding like the neighing of a horse. I’m still not sure about some of the other prints. A complete description of the references would be useful but my searches so far have failed to turn up anything.