Bamboo Shoots
Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo) Japanese
Not on view
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
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