Chang E Flees to the Moon

Chang E Flees to the Moon

Yoshitoshi, 1885

Download1880 × 2741 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Yoshitoshi (Japanese, 1839–1892)
Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Size: 12 15/16 × 8 3/4 in. (32.86 × 22.23 cm) (image, vertical ōban)
Museum: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Rights: Public Domain Mark

According to Chinese legend, the archer Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns whose combined heat threatened to destroy the earth. As a reward, the Queen Mother of the West gave Hou Yi an elixir of immortality. Hou Yi's wife, Chang-E, unwittingly drank the potion herself. Rising to the moon, she has live there ever since within the crystal walls of her Cold Palace. During the eighth lunar cycle each year, when the Chinese believe that the moon is at its fullest, they make offerings to Chang-E in the form of small round cakes and sphere-shaped fruit. Although the story of Chang-E is not popular in Japan, Yoshitoshi drew upon the Chinese legend for this design.

Text: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), CC BY 4.0.

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