# Irises

- By: Watanabe Shikō (Japanese, 1683–1755)
- Date: early-mid 1700s
- Medium: pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on gilded paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Painting (each): 154.4 x 360.4 cm (60 13/16 x 141 7/8 in.); Mounted (each): 170.7 x 376.7 cm (67 3/16 x 148 5/16 in.)
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Credit line: Gift of The Norweb Foundation
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1954.603)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1954.603/1954.603_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The subject of this painting comes from a 10th-century text. It tells of a young nobleman’s journey into the lonely countryside, far from the capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto). There he came upon a small stream, the banks of which were covered with blooming irises, on which the artist has chosen to focus our attention. While viewing the beautiful flowers the nobleman composed a poem:

I have a beloved wife, Familiar as the skirt of a well-worn robe, And so this distant journeying Fills my heart with grief.