41. Moon over the pine forest of Mio

The warrior surveying the scene is Takeda Shingen (1521-1573), warlord and daimyo of the land-locked Kai province that includes Mount Fuji. He eventually conquered a large part of his region, including Suruga province that gave him access to the sea. Takeda sits here looking at Mount Fuji across Suruga Bay. The poem reads: “On the coast at Kiyomi, even the sky bars the way - the moon is blocked by the Mio pine groves.” There is some mystification around his death in 1573. According to one story, it was kept secret for some time in order to confuse the enemy. This is the subject of the film “Kagemusha” (1980) by Akira Kurosawa. (printed in 1886.)