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Poems from the Shinkokin wakash?

Hon'ami KōetsuEarly 17th century

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, United States

In this scroll Koetsu brushed twelve love poems over gold and silver woodblock-printed designs of ivy, mehishiba (a type of crabgrass), and wisteria. Butterflies were printed in gold and silver in random patterns over the length of the reverse of the scroll. This handscroll was painstakingly restored and remounted in the 1980s because of fire damage that it suffered.

   Out on Udo Beach
Do you fancy you'll beach me
   For good and all?
Watch the waves come rolling in:
Ceaseless the nights I desire!
Shinkokin wakashü 1051
Author unknown

    Down the Eastern Road,
Way out at the end you find
    Hitachi sashes
Buckling sweethearts at the fair-
And here all I beg is a slipknot!
Shinkokin wakashü 1052
Author unknown

    A muddy inlet-
Clearly it will be difficult
    To settle on me;
Still, I hope dark waters show
Some glimmer of my true face.
Shinkokin wakashü 1053
Author unknown

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  • Title: Poems from the Shinkokin wakash?
  • Creator Lifespan: 1558/1637
  • Creator Nationality: Japanese
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: Kyoto, Japan
  • Creator Birth Place: Kyoto, Japan
  • Date: Early 17th century
  • Location: Japan
  • Physical Dimensions: w326.77 x h13.31 in (Overall)
  • Provenance: 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Purchased with funds contributed by the members of the Committee on East Asian Art, 1999
  • Type: Calligraphy
  • Rights: © 2014 Philadelphia Museum of Art. All rights reserved.
  • External Link: Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Medium: Ink, gold, and silver on paper; mounted as a handscroll
  • Artist/Maker: Hon'ami K?etsu, Japanese, 1558 - 1637
Philadelphia Museum of Art

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