Unlined Summer Kimono (Hito-e) with Landscape and Poem
Not on view
This light, unlined robe (hito-e) is designed for summer. On a blue background, flowers and plants of the four seasons appear in landscape settings. Spring flowers are represented along the hem; above them we see wisteria and other summer plants; toward the middle appear autumnal maple leaves; and around the neckline and on the sleeves are winter pine-sapling motifs.
The characters of a felicitous poem celebrating longevity and happiness make their way from the front to the back of the robe:
[front]
Toshi o iwau
yorozuyo no kame
Celebrating old age, turtles
live for ten thousand years,
[back]
tsuru no ko wa
chiyo o kotobuku
hana nare ya
and the offspring of cranes
for a thousand years—
flourishing in their long lives.
—Trans. Monika Bincsik
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