Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River

Japan

Not on view

The poem on the outside of the lid is rendered in fine hiramaki-e, imitating calligraphy in ink. The inside of the box is embellished with colorful maple leaves in a river on nashiji ground. The poem, by Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158–1237), is about the Tatsuta River in Nara Prefecture:

Tatsuta gawa
momiji o tozuru
usugō ri
wataraba kore mo
naka ya taenan

On Tatsuta River
a layer of red maple leaves
is trapped within thin ice,
and if we were to go across
the brocade would be torn.

—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan

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Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan
Writing Box with Portrait of Fujiwara no Ietaka and His Poem about the Tatsuta River, Lacquered wood with gold and silver hiramaki-e, togidashimaki-e, and red lacquer on silver ground, Japan

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