This work is included in Yokoyama Taikan, a volume recognized as Taikan’s catalog raisonné. According to this book, the present work was painted in 1905 when Taikan was thirty-seven years old. A year earlier in 1904, Taikan travelled to the United States with Hishida Shunso, Rokkaku Shisui, and Okakura Tenshin from February to August. While in the United States, Taikan, Shunso, and Shisui held a number of three-man shows in New York and Boston. This work might be composed after Taikan’s return to Japan. It resembles the atmosphere of the work exhibited in the United States with the same title. While it does not represent the moon straightly, depiction of the moon-lit sky across the mountain clearly illustrates the scenery of the moonrise. The box inscription was written after Taikan’s revision some forty years later.

Yokoyama Taikan (nihonga painter; 1868–1958)
Ibaraki-born nihonga painter. His real name is Hidemaro. Became a dicsiple of Okakura Tenshin and Hashimoto Gaho. Assisted Tenshin in the founding of Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute), and played an active role as the core member. Also appointed to a jury in Bunten (Ministry of Education Art Exhibition). Played an influential role in the modern nihonga history from Meiji to postwar era. Designated as an Imperial Court Artist and a Person of Cultural Merit, and received the Order of Culture.