four lines of calligraphy of varying sizes on silver paper with ivy leaves in gold

Poem from the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū), early 1610s

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In addition to Chinese characters, the Japanese writing system uses two forms of syllabaries (characters that represent a syllable): hiragana and katakana. The two written syllabaries developed from Chinese characters used to phonetically represent Japanese. Prior to the 1100s, each script style was associated with certain types of writing; for example, Chinese writing was used for scholarly texts, with annotations in katakana; novels and Japanese poetry employed hiragana and Chinese characters.

This poem is written with a mix of kanji (Chinese characters) and variants of hiragana called hentaigana. The larger, thicker characters—mostly kanji—provide visual accents to the poem. Taken from the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū), the poem reads: “The autumn moon shines brilliantly / upon the mountains / illuminating every / fallen colored leaf.”

Details
Title
Poem from the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū)
Artist Life
1558 - 1637
Role
Calligrapher
Accession Number
2015.79.80
Provenance
Ōkura Setsu Gatōdō Co., Ltd. until 1964 Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation
Catalogue Raisonne
Murase, Art through a Lifetime, no. 176
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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four lines of calligraphy of varying sizes on silver paper with ivy leaves in gold