Morning Prayer

A large, reddish-brown round low table sits at the center of the horizontal canvas. On the left, a mother draws a small child close and bows her head, one hand to her forehead, while on the right three children lower their heads toward a book open on the table. Light from a window lattice falls on the mother's back, and a cat sits in the lower right, looking out at the viewer. The date 1906 is inscribed in the lower right.

Hayashi Takejiro was a Christian, and he is said to have told people that the painting depicts his own family's prayers. A framed portrait and what appears to be a military sword are painted on the wall, and because the work was made during the Russo-Japanese War, some read it as a prayer for a family member sent to the front. However, no record has been confirmed in which the artist stated such an intention.

In 1907 the work was accepted to the first Ministry of Education Art Exhibition (Bunten). It is an early example of an oil painting made in Sapporo being shown in a nationwide, government-sponsored exhibition. Hayashi taught drawing for many years at Sapporo First Middle School and sent many of his students on to careers in art.

The work is owned by the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art and is sometimes shown in collection exhibitions that introduce the history of art in Hokkaido. Exhibition schedules can be checked on the museum's website.