Warbler on a Plum Branch

ca. 1835

Not on view

Poems included on Hiroshige’s bird-and-flower compositions are usually unsigned, but sometimes they are by famous poets, such as this verse by Suganuma Kyokusui (1659–1717), a poet of the samurai class who was a pupil and patron of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). Here, Kyokusui playfully suggests that the warbler (uguisu) pays its yearly taxes in the spring by generously singing a song on the small grove where it lives.

鶯や　二升五合の　藪年貢
Uguisu ya
masumasu hanjō no
yabu nengu

Oh, the warbler!
It pays a generous tithe
for such a tiny grove.
—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

歌川広重画　梅に鶯
Title: Warbler on a Plum Branch
Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1797–1858 Tokyo (Edo))
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: ca. 1835
Culture: Japan
Medium: Woodblock print
Dimensions: 14 1/2 x 5 1/8 in. (36.8 x 13 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Object Number: JP2529
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Small View of Yedo, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Print, Japanese — Small View of Yedo
Utagawa Hiroshige
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Hiratsuka, Nawate Do, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Hiratsuka, Nawate Do
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Yokkaichi, Sanchokawa, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Yokkaichi, Sanchokawa
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Snow on the Sumida River, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Snow on the Sumida River
Utagawa Hiroshige
ca. 1835

Reflections of the Moon in the Rice Fields of Sarashina in Shinshu, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan — Reflections of the Moon in the Rice Fields of Sarashina in Shinshu
Utagawa Hiroshige
ca. 1832

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