Jade Rabbit: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon

October 10, 1889

One Hundred Aspects of the Moon was one of Yoshitoshi’s most successful series, printed over a period of seven years with new designs released every few months to an eager public. The subjects drew on Chinese and Japanese folklore, history, and literature and often included elements of the supernatural, an obsession of Yoshitoshi’s later in life. This print refers to a Chinese story of an immortal monkey king, shown dancing with a jeweled hare that, according to legend, lives on the moon.