Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)

after 1709

Not on view

The stately, vertical forms of irises set against an angular bridge that sweeps diagonally across both screens refer to an episode in The Ise Stories (Ise monogatari). Exiled from Kyoto after an affair with a high-ranking court lady, the story’s protagonist stops at Yatsuhashi, a place where a stream branches into eight channels, each with its own bridge. The sight of irises prompts him to compose a nostalgic love poem. The first syllable of each line forms the Japanese word for irises (kakitsubata). The English translation, though unable to convey the complex wordplay of the original, is also an acrostic:

Karagoromo
kitsutsu narenishi
tsuma shi areba
harubaru kinuru
tabi o shi zo omou

I wear robes with well-worn hems,
Reminding me of my dear wife
I fondly think of always,

So as my sojourn stretches on

Ever farther from home,

Sadness fills my thoughts.
—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artwork Details

八橋図屏風
Title: Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)
Artist: Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658–1716)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: after 1709
Culture: Japan
Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gold leaf on paper
Dimensions: Image (each screen): 64 7/16 in. x 11ft. 6 3/4 in. (163.7 x 352.4 cm)
Overall (each screen): 70 1/2 in. x 12 ft. 2 1/4 in. (179.1 x 371.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchase, Louisa Eldridge McBurney Gift, 1953
Object Number: 53.7.1, .2
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Ogata Kōrin

In the same medium

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Obi with Iris, Brocaded in silk on gold ground, Japan (Kyoto) — Obi with Iris
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Coal container, Ogata Kōrin Japanese, Wood, metal, mother-of-pearl, lacquer, Japan — Coal container
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Design of Morning–glory and Other Flowers, Ogata Kōrin Japanese, Woodblock print (album leaf); ink and color on paper, Japan — Design of Morning–glory and Other Flowers
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Incense Box with Flowering Plum Tree, Ogata Kōrin Japanese, Gold lacquer with gold hiramaki-e, black lacquer, and mother-of-pearl inlay, Japan — Incense Box with Flowering Plum Tree
Ogata Kōrin
19th century

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