Teabowl with Moonflower (Yūgao) and Poem
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Combining poetry, painting, calligraphy, and pottery, Ogata Kenzan achieved an innovative style with a potent visual effect. Against a black background that suggests a nocturnal scene, white flowers and deep green leaves glisten. As the name “moonflower” suggests, these blossoms open only briefly at night. The flower refers to the mysterious Lady Yūgao, featured in Chapter 4, “The Lady of the Evening Faces” (Yūgao), and symbolizes her fleeting life, cut short at the hands of Lady Rokujō’s jealous spirit. The waka inscribed on the teabowl reads:
Yorite dani
Tsuyu no hikari ya
Ika ni tomo
Omoi mo wakanu
Hana no yūgao
Upon approaching
In the glistening dew;
How unexpected,
The blossoming
Of the evening face.
—Translation by Richard Wilson
Yorite dani
Tsuyu no hikari ya
Ika ni tomo
Omoi mo wakanu
Hana no yūgao
Upon approaching
In the glistening dew;
How unexpected,
The blossoming
Of the evening face.
—Translation by Richard Wilson
Artwork Details
- 尾形乾山作 色絵夕顔図黒茶碗
- Title: Teabowl with Moonflower (Yūgao) and Poem
- Artist: Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663–1743)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 18th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Stoneware with polychrome overglaze enamels
- Dimensions: H. 3 9/16 in. (9 cm); Diam. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics
- Credit Line: Lent by Museum Yamato Bunkakan
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art