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Description
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting a woman closing a bamboo gate to a moonlit garden, while a man inside the building looks out a partially opened window. In The Tale of the Heike, a low-ranking lady-in-waiting, Yokobue, fell in love with the courtier Takiguchi-no-Tokiyori. Tokiyori wished to marry her, but his father rejected the match, wishing Tokiyori to marry a lady of higher rank. Tokiyori refused, and becoming a Buddhist monk retired to a hermitage. Yokobue went in search of him, and arriving at the temple asked for Tokiyori. Tokiyori refused to meet with her because he had already taken his vows. Cikanobu has depicted the moment of rejection as Yokobue turns away from the temple gate while Tokiyori, eyes downcast, turns away from the window. He went on to Mt. Kōya and became the respected priest Takiguchi. Yokobue became a nun and died soon afterward.(Bruce Coats, Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints, p. 161.)
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