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Nobleman Watching Servant Throw Bundles of Brush into a Waterfall


滝に薪を投げる (七滝の伝説ヵ)
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Japanese
Edo period

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Horizontal ôban; 24.7 x 37.2 cm (9 3/4 x 14 5/8 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.17507
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.17507 (ôban), 21.7883 (ebangire), 21.10266 (ôban)

Possibly related to the legend of the Nanataki falls in present-day Akita prefecture. A powerful landowner named Magozaemon had brushwood thrown into the falls precisely because it was forbidden (in order to show off his power) and was struck down with illness by the angry dragon in the waterfall. He repented and founded a shrine there.
Signed Unsigned
無款
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.