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Your galleryA Poem from the Shin Kokinshu
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Compare the heavy, inky characters with the thin, pale ones beside them, then look beneath the writing for the moss-fern leaves printed in gold and silver.
Hon’ami Kōetsu, whom Japan counts among the great calligraphers of his day, wrote this poem over moss-fern patterns that Tawaraya Sōtatsu’s studio printed in gold and silver, using real leaves. The verse, from the Shin Kokinshū anthology of 1205, went with a spray of plum blossoms to the poet’s brother on his appointment as Minister of the Left: early or late, it says, every plum tree flowers in the end. Such sheets recalled court pastimes for Kyoto’s newly rich townspeople.
Fragment of a handscroll mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, gold, silver-colored pigment, and mica on paper · 33.6 × 44.5 cm · Art Institute of Chicago
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Details and source
- Museum title
- A Poem from the Shin Kokinshu with Design of Shinobugusa (Moss Fern)
- Artist
- Hon'ami Kōetsu Japanese, 1558-1637
- Date
- 1605-10
- Medium
- Fragment of a handscroll mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, gold, silver-colored pigment, and mica on paper
- Dimensions
- 33.6 × 44.5 cm (13 1/4 × 17 1/2 in.); With mounting: 121.6 × 57.5 cm (47 7/8 × 22 5/8 in.); Including lower roller: H.: 62.9 cm (24 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Louise Lutz Estate; through prior gift of the Estate of Clara Douglas; purchased with funds provided bys of Frances and Edward Blair, Heather B. and Richard Black, George and Roberta Mann, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Breece III
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Artist’s life 1558–1637
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.