Poem from the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū), early 1610s
Hon'ami Kōetsu; Artist: Underpainting by Tawaraya Sōtatsuexpand_more
Ink and gold on silver-decorated paperexpand_more
Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundationexpand_more 2015.79.80
Not on Viewexpand_more
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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