Lot 97A
East Asia, Japan, Edo period, ca. 1780 CE. A wonderful ensemble of 4 strips of tanzaku paper inscribed with lines from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, a classical Japanese anthology of 100 Japanese poems or waka, and set in modern frames. Hyakunin Isshu can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem [each]." The most famous and standard version was compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (11621241) while he lived in the Ogura district of Kyoto. It is therefore also known as Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Written by Saionji Kintsune (1171-1244), the first poem translates to, "On a stormy day, the cherry blossoms that blow about in the garden are falling like snow. Those cherry blossoms will continue to bloom forever, but it is myself who will gradually fade away like those flowers." Size without frame (all about the same): 2.25" W x 14.25" H (5.7 cm x 36.2 cm); with frame: 7.25" W x 19.25" H (18.4 cm x 48.9 cm)
The second is by Sutokunin (1119-1164) and reads, "The rapids of the river flow so fast that the rapids, choked by rocks, split into two. But just as it becomes one again, even though I am separated from that person I love, I am sure we will meet again someday. "Next, the third poem was penned by Mother of the Right Captain Michitsuna (935-995) and states, "Do you know how long it takes for the dawn of night when you sleep alone and lovely, grieving? You probably don't know." The final inscription by Harumichi no Tsuraki (d. 920) translates to, "There is a fence hung by the wind on a river in the mountains to stop the flow. It was a group of autumn leaves that could not fully flow."
In the 18th century, Hyakunin Isshu were very popular and were used in each household for tea ceremonies as well as a part of education. Even today, Japanese children as young as 10 years old learn these tanka poems as part of their Japanese language education and play a traditional game called karuta using cards with these poems written on them.
Provenance: private Virginia, USA collection; ex-Yokoyama Inc., Kyoto, Japan
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#178397
- Condition: Some light bending to edges and corners of paper, but all are otherwise intact and excellent with good preservation of pigments. All are set in modern frames with black cloth backing and suspension wires on verso for display. Each is accompanied by an envelope on the verso of the frame with 2 corresponding tanka poem cards.
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