Album of Twelve Waka from Poetry Competition of Poets of Different Eras
Calligraphy traditionally attributed to Emperor Go-Yōzei Japanese
This extravagant album encapsulates a millennium of Japanese courtly aesthetic priorities and features brush writing in various aristocratic styles. While the poetic texts reward careful reading, the paper on which they appear vies for our attention. The abstract and natural motifs that decorate its surface are rendered in gold and silver powders as well as ink, colors, and cut foil.
The album contains a dozen pairs of waka, with the poet’s name given to the right of each text. All were drawn from a famous compilation of classical waka entitled Poetry Competition of Poets of Different Eras (Jidai fudō uta-awase). Authentication slips were later added to identify each calligrapher. However, it is likely that most, if not all, of these attributions are speculative.
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