By Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), signed Hokusai manji hitsu 北斎 卍 筆 with seal
Japan, c. 1830, Edo period (1615-1868)

Published and Exhibited: The Fine Art Society, Catalogue of a Collection of Drawings and Engravings by Hokusai, London, 1890, no. 190.

Constructed of three hinoki (cypress) wood panels joined together, boldly painted in ink, watercolors, pigments, gouache, and gold. The striking image depicts Minamoto no Yoshitsune standing with a triumphant expression on his face, leaning over a large bow, as he watches the writhing dragon struggle, an arrow shot through its head. Wearing a finely decorated jinbaori (jacket) and yoroi (armor), the jacket decorated with a variant of the sasa-rindo mon, the warrior’s head is covered by an eboshi, a large sword wrapped in a fur scabbard to the side, the hinoki wood ground sprinkled with gold accents lending to the effect of this dramatic composition.

Signed to the bottom left corner HOKUSAI Manji hitsu [Painted by Manji Hokusai].

Framed behind glass.

Image SIZE 39 x 54 cm, SIZE incl. frame 45.3 x 60.7 cm

Condition: Very good condition. Considering the age and material, the pigments are remarkably well preserved. The wood with natural imperfections including few expected age cracks and light wear to corners.

Provenance:
- Ex-collection John Macallan Swan.
- Ex-collection Monsieur B., Japanese art expert and collector, who lived in Japan between 1980 and 2000.
- Asium, Japon et peintres d'Asie, 12 December 2019, Paris, lot 698.
- French private collection, acquired from the above.

The reverse inscribed, ‘J. M. Swan, Esq, 3 Acacia Rd, St John’s Wood’, and with an old label from the Fine Art Society, another inscribed by John Macallan Swan, ‘by Hokusai, Japanese Warrior Prince fighting dragon (legend)’, and two inventory labels inscribed ‘Swan 3’.

John Macallan Swan (1847-1910), the previous owner of the present piece, was an English painter and sculptor. He studied at the Beaux Arts in Paris among others in the studios of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Emmanuel Frémiet. He was awarded the First Class Gold Medal for his painting and sculpture at the Paris International Exhibition in 1900. A master of the oil, watercolor and pastel mediums, an accomplished painter and a skillful draughtsman, he ranked also as a sculptor of ability, having worked in nearly every material. He treated the human figure with notable power, but it were his representations of the larger wild animals, mainly the felidae, that chiefly established his reputation.

There is some debate as to when Hokusai first used the prefix manji in his signature, but it is generally accepted that he started using this art name in Bunsei 9 (1826). Hokusai was an avid Buddhist, and his friends used to refer to him as “manji san”. From 1834 onwards, at the age of 75, he used the signature Gakyo Rojin Manji (old man manji mad about paintings). This period from 1830 towards the end of his life is regarded as this great artist’s peak, a time where he also created the most iconic image of Japanese art – The Great Wave of Kanagawa (1831).

The present ema, likely made on commission by Hokusai for a Shinto shrine, is to be considered extremely rare as there are only very few examples of ema signed by Hokusai in existence. The most famous example, depicting Susano no Mikoto Making a Pact with the Spirits of Disease, was unfortunately destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and a restored version of this large panel is currently displayed in the main building of the Ushijima Shrine.

Wooden votive tablets called ema were made for display at shrines affiliated with Japan’s native religion, Shinto. Ema were placed by individuals as personal prayers. They would be displayed in the open air where gods could see them, or hung in pairs, guarding the entrance to the shrine’s main worship hall.

Auction comparison:
Compare a related painting of a dragon ascending Mount Fuji, By Katsushika Hokusai, dated 1840, signed Gakyo Rojin manji hitsu yowai hachijuichi (Brush of Manji, old man crazy to paint, aged 81), at Bonhams, Fine Japanese Art, 7 November 2019, London, lot 154 (sold for GBP 187,563 or approximately 280,000 EUR converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing).