Taira no Kanemori, from the series Nishiki hyakunin isshu azuma-ori (Eastern Brocade of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets)
Artist
Katsukawa Shunsho
(Japanese, 1726–1793)
Date1775
MediumColor woodblock print
DimensionsSheet: 10 7/16 × 7 1/4 inches (26.5 × 18.4 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineGift of Mark and Kyoko Selden
Terms
- Prints
- Japanese
- Color woodblock print
Object number2015.063.037
Label CopyEach page in this anthology of Japan’s one hundred greatest poets combines a portrait and a poem. Saigyo (1118–1190), though born into a samurai family, renounced his life of privilege to became a Buddhist priest-poet. Between his numerous travels around Japan, he lived in a simple grass hut near the Shingon Buddhist temples of Mount Koya. References to the moon appear frequently in Saigyo’s poetry; here the moon becomes a conduit for feelings of loss:
Nageke tote Should I blame the moon
Tsuki ya wa mono o For bringing forth this sadness,
Omowasuru As if it pictured grief?
Kakochi gao naru Lifting up my troubled face,
Waga namida kana I regard it through my tears.
(“Moon," curated by Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum August 25, 2018-January 13, 2019)Collections
