Minneapolis Institute of Art

Chang E Flees to the Moon

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; Publisher: Akiyama Buemon

Date

1885

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

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. Asia

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