Waka Poem from Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern with a Design of Moss Ferns

Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu Japanese

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 223

Overlapping fronds of moss ferns (shinobugusa) create a dramatic gold and silver background for a dynamically brushed waka in the distinctive style of Hon’ami Kōetsu, one of the most highly regarded and influential calligraphers of the early seventeenth century. The winter poem from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū) is rendered in the scattered-writing (chirashi-gaki) mode, with staggered columns. It reads:

此河に　もみぢばなかがる　おく山の　
雪げの水ぞ　いまゝさるらし

Tinged autumn leaves
drift along this stream,
So it seems that the snow
must now be melting faster,
deep in the mountains.

Waka Poem from Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern with a Design of Moss Ferns, Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637), Section of a handscroll mounted as hanging scroll; ink on paper with decoration printed in gold and silver, Japan

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Waka Poem from Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern with a Design of Moss Ferns, Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637), Section of a handscroll mounted as hanging scroll; ink on paper with decoration printed in gold and silver, Japan
Waka Poem from Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern with a Design of Moss Ferns, Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637), Section of a handscroll mounted as hanging scroll; ink on paper with decoration printed in gold and silver, Japan

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