17. The moon at high tide (Ideshio no tsuki)

In this scene from the Noh play Takasago, an old couple stands on the beach before they get into a boat and sail away to Sumiyoshi. He is looking at the moon, and she is checking the tide. They are Jo and Uba, spirits of two paired pine trees, one located in Takasago and one in distant Sumiyoshi. The couple symbolises the happiness and fulfillment of a long, faithful marriage. Stevenson* remarks that this design may have been shelved after January 1887 - the "printing date" - and published two months before Yoshitoshi's death, when he was too ill to fulfill new commissions. (published April 1892)