Manuscript Version of the “Travel” Section of the Linked Verse (Renga) Collection “Aged Leaves” (Wakuraba), compiled by Sōgi (1421–1502)
Calligraphy by Ryūkō Japanese
Not on view
This scroll of elegant but forceful calligraphy comprises the “Travel” (Tabi) section of the “Aged Leaves” (Wakuraba) poetry anthology, compiled by the great medieval poetry master Sōgi (1421-1502). The type of verse transcribed here is a special kind of linked verse (renga), in which the first three lines of the verse is composed by one poet, and the final two lines by another poet. During an age when printing was still rare, students of poetry had to make their own transcriptions of anthologies for study. Little is known about the calligrapher here, who signed himself Ryūkō, except that he was a renga poet of the Warring States period, who was active in Yamashiro in Kyoto and also the Mizokui district of Settsu (Osaka). Ryūkō was a pupil of the renga master Shōhaku 肖柏 (1443–1527), who had received training from Sōgi, so we can retrace the transmission of this manuscript over three generations.
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