His Own Face Hidden
HOKUSAI'S portrait of himself Tells what his hat was like And his arms and legs. The only faces Are a river and a mountain And two laughing farmers. The smile of Hokusai is under his hat.
Carl Sandburg
HOKUSAI'S portrait of himself Tells what his hat was like And his arms and legs. The only faces Are a river and a mountain And two laughing farmers. The smile of Hokusai is under his hat.
Carl Sandburg notices something strange about Hokusai’s self-portrait: the artist gives no face. We see his hat, arms, and legs, but the actual face is missing. Instead, the only faces in the image belong to a river, a mountain, and two farmers laughing.
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