Kisen Hōshi

For this autumnal scene Hiroshige was inspired by a poem by Kisen Ho_shi, a 9th century Buddhist priest who lived in the mountains near Uji, southeast of Kyoto. Hiroshige included the poem in the upper portion of the print: Lowly hut is mine southeast of the capital-- Thus I choose to dwell; And the world in which I live men have named a Mount of Gloom. The melancholy tone of the poem is echoed by Hiroshige's portrait of the poet shown here in a windswept landscape with maple leaves swirling about him. His attention appears to be taken with the sorrowful cry of a deer, shown here in the distance.