Section of a Poem Scroll with Underpainting of Lotus – (Hon'ami Kōetsu) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Hon'ami Kōetsu

Date: 1615

Size: 33 x 58 cm

Technique: Silver

Kōetsu’s innovative calligraphic style is celebrated for the way in which it plays with a reader’s expectations. Sometimes he inscribes kana characters in complex archaic forms so that they resemble kanji (Chinese characters); other times, he renders kanji in such an abbreviated and delicate manner that at first glance they resemble kana. A characteristic of his handwriting is the sudden and conspicuous variations in widths of strokes (which, according to orthodox brush styles, would usually be more modulated). Kōetsu was also a master of the art of “scattered writing” (chirashigaki) in which columns of text were rendered in varying lengths to create an attractive arrangement on the page. This work originally was part of a much longer handscroll and has been remounted as a hanging scroll. The three waka (thirty-one-syllable court verse) are from the famous anthology One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu), compiled by Fujiwara no Teika in the early thirteenth century as a guide to poetry composition. The poems read, from right to left, as follows: Hito wa isa kokoro mo shirazu furusato wa hana zo mukashi no ka ni nioikeru Though people’s feelingsmay have changed,in this place from my past,the plum blossomsstill have the scent of long ago. [signed] Ki no Tsurayuki (ca. 872–945) Natsu no yo wa mada yoi nagara akenuru o kumo no izuko ni tsuki yadoruramu While evening lingers onthis summer night,dawn has already arrived—where, amid the clouds,could the moon be hiding? [signed] Kiyowara no Fukayabu (active early 10th century) Shiratsuyu no kaze ni fukeishiku aki no no wa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo chirikeru Glistening drops of dew,scattered by the windacross autumn plains,appear like unstrung jewelsscattered everywhere. [signed] Fun’ya no Asayasu (active late 9th century) —Trans. John T. Carpenter