Swallows and Budding Wild Cherry
Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese
Not on view
The poem is unsigned, as is often the case with poems on Hiroshige’s bird-and-flower prints, but the verse is known to be by Takarai Kikaku (Enomoto Kikaku, 1661–1707), a professional poet who numbered among the top disciples of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). Swallows (tsubame) are common subjects in haikai set in spring, as in this example:
山の端に 乙鳥をかへす 入日かな 宝井其角
Yama no ha ni
tsubame o kaesu
irihi kana
The setting sun—
over the mountain ridge
sends the swallows home.
—Trans. John T. Carpenter
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