Bamboo Shoots
This abbreviated, sketchlike depiction of young bamboo shoots emerging from the earth and the accompanying inscription in cursive script are the work of Shokusanjin (better known as Ōta Nanpo), a poet and author of fiction. Renowned for his kyōka, or comic verses, Shokusanjin often collaborated with artists, contributing his own poetry and calligraphy to their paintings or prints. The auspicious poem here, written when he was seventy-one, may celebrate the large family of a friend.
Take no ko no
mata take no ko no
take no ko no
shoots ko no ko no sue mo
shigeru medetasa
Bamboo shoots and
more bamboo shoots,
and then shoots of shoots
and their offspring too—
all thankfully flourishing!
—trans. John T. Carpenter
Take no ko no
mata take no ko no
take no ko no
shoots ko no ko no sue mo
shigeru medetasa
Bamboo shoots and
more bamboo shoots,
and then shoots of shoots
and their offspring too—
all thankfully flourishing!
—trans. John T. Carpenter
Artwork Details
- 蜀山人(大田南畝)筆 筍図
- Title: Bamboo Shoots
- Artist: Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo) (Japanese, 1749–1823)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1820
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
- Dimensions: 38 1/8 x 13 5/16 in. (96.8 x 33.8 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: 1975.268.134
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo)
1819
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1814
Chōbunsai Eishi
early 19th century
Sakai Ōho
ca. 1839
Unidentified artist
early 19th century
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