
This print by Shibata Zeshin was commissioned by the poet Hozan. Created two years later than The Cup of Long Life, it also celebrates longevity. Not only is Zeshin’s age prominently displayed (he signed the print: “the 79-year-old Zeshin”) but the occasion for the print is the commemoration of the 70th birthdays of a number of poets in Hozan’s circle.
The print’s depiction of summer plants enclosed by stylized cloud banks references Tosa-school gold clouds and classical Genji images. These were favored by 19th-century poets, who saw themselves (if half in jest) as later versions of heroes from the classical age of poetry and sensitivity.

Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806

Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858

Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858