Monk Kenkō Reading by Lamplight
Attributed to Prince-Abbot Ryōshō Japanese
Not on view
The fluid sketch painting on this scroll represents Monk Kenkō (ca. 1283–ca. 1352), a recluse-literatus best known for his literary miscellany Essays in Idleness (Tsurezuregusa, ca. 1330). The inscription in staggered columns—a device known as scattered writing (chirashi-gaki)—transcribes the memorable opening lines of Chapter 13:
ひとり、ともしびの本に文をひろげて、みぬよの
人をともとするこそ、こよなう藉ぐさむわざなれ。
The pleasantest of all diversions is to sit alone under
the lamp, a book spread out before one, and to make
friends with people of a distant past whom you have
never known.
–Trans. Donald Keene
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