Artist: Katsushika Hokusai

Title: The Bay of Noboto in Shimosa Province

Date: c. 1830 - 1834

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Source: Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description:

The print depicts people cheerfully gathering clams at low tide at the beach at Noboto on a summer day. Two men happily retreat with their full baskets, while another approaches the beach. A woman and a man with empty baskets are perhaps wondering if their spot is good; two children are seen playing their own games; and two men in the distance dig into the sand with their flat baskets. It is probably a day in early summer. Noboto, a small fishing village, was located on the east coast of the bay of Edo, but outside the city proper. The beach at Noboto had shallow water for a good distance, an ideal place for people to dig clams. There was a small shrine on the hill above the beach, and the two torii gates most likely belonged to it. Snow-covered Mount Fuji is seen through the larger torii. The composition is simple, only accentuated by these gates. The color scheme is also simple, using dark green and yellow-green, pale and dark blues, and brown for the torii and the roofs of the buildings. (The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, HOKUSAI AND HIROSHIGE – Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts: The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1998 Page 87. Cat. 38)

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