
Emperor Tenji (628–681) reigned from 668 to 671, during which he established Japan’s first code of civil law. This scene is based on the story that while the emperor was traveling in the countryside, a sudden shower forced him to take shelter in a flimsy, temporary hut in a rice field. His poem expresses his sympathy for his subjects who must work and endure every day under such conditions.
Coarse the rush-mat roof
Sheltering the harvest hut
Of the autumn rice field—
And my sleeves are growing wet
With the moisture dripping through.
(Translated by Clay MacCauley)

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