Artist: Katsushika Hokusai
Date: 1846
Size: 59 x 30 cm
Technique: Silk
Shōki (Chinese: Zhong Kui) was a scholar of early seventh-century China who committed suicide after being cheated out of the first rank in civil service examinations, yet who was buried with honors after the emperor heard the tragic tale. To show his gratitude, Shōki appeared as an exorcist in a dream of a subsequent Chinese emperor and vowed to quell demons and banish disease.In Japan, auspicious images of Shōki were displayed for the Boys’ Day Festival, celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month. Here, the artist Katsushika Hokusai, aged eighty-seven, painted with red pigment, as that color was thought to have magical efficacy in warding off smallpox.
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