Both Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, and the pine tree, which as an evergreen represents longevity, are motifs used to convey congratulations. This work was created to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Yi Un of the Yi royal family of Korea, which became part of the royal family of Japan due to Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910, and Princess Masako, the first daughter of Japanese imperial family member Prince Nashimoto-no-miya- Morimasa-oh. Given that context, the painting celebrates the wedding of these two individuals, and at the same time, it seems that Mount Fuji and the sun might symbolize Japan, while the pine and moon might symbolize the Korean Peninsula. In this way, this set of two paintings may have had the same (political) meaning as the marriage itself, that of a symbol of Japan and Korea being combined as one.
(HIBINO Miyon)
Both Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain, and the pine tree, which as an evergreen represents longevity, are motifs used to convey congratulations. This work was created to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Yi Un of the Yi royal family of Korea, which became part of the royal family of Japan due to Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910, and Princess Masako, the first daughter of Japanese imperial family member Prince Nashimoto-no-miya- Morimasa-oh. Given that context, the painting celebrates the wedding of these two individuals, and at the same time, it seems that Mount Fuji and the sun might symbolize Japan, while the pine and moon might symbolize the Korean Peninsula. In this way, this set of two paintings may have had the same (political) meaning as the marriage itself, that of a symbol of Japan and Korea being combined as one.
(HIBINO Miyon)