Poem-card from the Shinkokin wakashu (New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times) with Design of Pine on a Beach
calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637)
Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese, c. 1570–c. 1640)
1606
- Medium
- card mounted on a hanging scroll; gold, silver, and ink on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Overall: 132.1 x 43.2 cm (52 x 17 in.); Painting only: 20 x 17.4 cm (7 7/8 x 6 7/8 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Momoyama (1573-1615) - Edo (1615-1868) periods
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Tawaraya Sotatsu and Hon’ami Koetsu are both associated with the founding of the Rimpa school of Japanese painting. In this poem-card––one of 16 that survive––Tawaraya painted the gold and silver design, over which Hon’ami recorded poems from Shinkokin wakashu. The verses read from top to bottom and from right to left: "Even as I gaze, the thought of it is lonely. High in the heavens the moon-capital lies still in the sky of its dawning."
