Katsushika Hokusai - Poem by Motoyoshi Shinnō, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse - ca. 1839 - STICKER Vinyl Kiss-Cut Decal

This Edo-period woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai pairs a classical Japanese poem with a quiet roadside scene, dated to around 1839.

Visual Elements & Composition

Deep blue and a pale peach sky set the tone, with chestnut brown, sage green and ochre straw filling the foreground. A diagonal horse silhouette, loaded with a bundle of straw, cuts across the frame and gives the scene its movement. A traveler kneels on a cobbled path, while two women shelter beneath rounded parasols. Wooden stakes rise from the bay, anchoring the lower edge. A rectangular cartouche carries the characters 百人一首, the title that links the series to the classical anthology of one hundred poems.

Meaning & Symbolism

The poem is by Motoyoshi Shinnō, a prince and poet of the Heian court, whose verse was later gathered into the Hyakunin Isshu. Hokusai's series takes that canon and explains each poem through an image drawn from everyday Edo life, so the travelers, parasols and working horse become the visual commentary on the words. The result is reflective and scholarly, with the poetry leading and the landscape giving it weight.

On the Kiss-Cut Stickers

A kiss-cut sticker is cut to its own outline, so the print's diagonal horse, the parasols and the cartouche read as a single silhouette rather than a framed rectangle. The composition holds together at close range, where the cobbled path and the characters in the cartouche can be taken in one at a time. For fans of Hokusai and of Edo-period woodblock prints, this is a way to carry a piece of classical poetry onto a laptop, notebook or journal.