Jade Rabbit

The Piece
An oversized heavyweight 305gsm 100% organic cotton T-shirt. Yoshitoshi’s image is reproduced across the back, with the PHAVOS™ mark placed inside the moon.

The Artwork
The back print reproduces Gyokuto Songoku (玉兎 孫悟空), usually translated as Jade Rabbit and Sun Wukong, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Created in October 1889 for One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, the colour woodblock print places Sun Wukong and the white rabbit against an enormous full moon.

The Story
The scene comes from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. The Jade Rabbit belongs to the moon and is associated with pounding an elixir there. In the story, the rabbit leaves the lunar realm, assumes the identity of a princess and attempts to marry the travelling monk Xuanzang. Sun Wukong sees through the disguise and confronts the rabbit.

The Artist
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) worked through the transition from late Edo Japan into the Meiji era. His prints drew on history, theatre, literature, folklore and supernatural stories, and One Hundred Aspects of the Moon became one of the major series of his final years.

The PHAVOS™ Interpretation
The intervention enters through the moon. Yoshitoshi makes the lunar disc the dominant field of the composition; PHAVOS™ places its mark inside that existing focal point instead of adding a second competing graphic. The rest of the scene remains intact around it.

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