Autumn Ivy

Ogata Kenzan Japanese
after 1732
Not on view
Born into Kyoto’s cultured merchant class, Kenzan was best known for his ceramic wares but was also a highly regarded calligrapher. Kenzan’s individualistic, expressive inscription of a poem referring to future winds scattering crimson leaves of ivy, recalls a famous scene from the tenth-century Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), in which a courtier, exiled from the capital, encounters an itinerant monk on an ivy- strewn path on Mount Utsu.

Kakaru shimo
waga aki naranu
matsukaze y
chiru o urami no
tsuta no momijiba

Though not yet
winds through the pines
blow all around
and I dread they’ll scatter
the crimson leaves of ivy.
–Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 蔦紅葉図
  • Title: Autumn Ivy
  • Artist: Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663–1743)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: after 1732
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 8 3/8 x 10 7/8 in. (21.3 x 27.6 cm)
    Overall: 44 7/8 x 22 1/4 in. (114 x 56.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.268.67
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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