Bamboo Shoots

This abbreviated, sketchlike depiction of young bamboo shoots emerging from the earth and the accompanying inscription in cursive script are both the work of Shokusanjin (better known as Ōta Nanpo), a poet and author of fiction. Renowned for his kyōka, or comic verses, Shokusanjin also often collaborated with artists, contributing his own poetry and calligraphy to their paintings or prints (see 1975.268.112; 2015.300.142a–c; 2018.914.2; 2020.117a–c; 2020.393.3). Also surviving are many examples of works featuring poetic inscriptions by Shokusanjin and multiple fellow poets (see 1975.268.128; 1975.268.132; 2014.727; 2019.419.1; 2019.420.28).

The auspicious poem here, written when he was seventy-one, may celebrate the large family of a friend.

竹の子の　そのたけのこの　たけの子の
子の／＼末も　しげるめでたさ

[…] 七十一翁蜀山人並画

Take no ko no
take no ko no
take no ko no
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!

—Calligraphy and painting by Shokusanjin,
old man of 71 years […]

(Trans. John T. Carpenter)