Chinese Poem on Fishing and Zen
Brushed in flamboyant, yet fully controlled brushwork on gorgeous orange-red dyed paper, the eminent Zen monk-literatus Ōsen Keisan has inscribed a quatrain of a Chinese poem as his wont in a combination of standard, semi-cursive, and cursive scripts. It can be deciphered and tentatively translated as follows:
屋似蘆花浅水舟、釣無眞贋只天遊、
禪河敎海掣鯨手、春雨爲絲状月鈎、
My hut resembles a shallow-water skiff
amid the reeds and flowers,
Where I pass my time fishing idly,
just enjoying nature.
From the river of Zen, into the ocean of Buddhist Law,
I try to reel in a whale,
Using fine spring rain as a fishing line
with the hook of the crescent moon.
Osen Keisan was a monk of the Rinzai Zen sect, and a prominent figure in the Gozan Bungaku literary salon culture of the five high-ranking Zen temples of Kyoto of the day. He was an aide and close confidant of the eighth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa (1436–1490), and advised him on both foreign affairs and literature.
屋似蘆花浅水舟、釣無眞贋只天遊、
禪河敎海掣鯨手、春雨爲絲状月鈎、
My hut resembles a shallow-water skiff
amid the reeds and flowers,
Where I pass my time fishing idly,
just enjoying nature.
From the river of Zen, into the ocean of Buddhist Law,
I try to reel in a whale,
Using fine spring rain as a fishing line
with the hook of the crescent moon.
Osen Keisan was a monk of the Rinzai Zen sect, and a prominent figure in the Gozan Bungaku literary salon culture of the five high-ranking Zen temples of Kyoto of the day. He was an aide and close confidant of the eighth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa (1436–1490), and advised him on both foreign affairs and literature.
Artwork Details
- 横川景三 七言絶句
- Title: Chinese Poem on Fishing and Zen
- Artist: Ōsen Keisan (Japanese, 1429–1493)
- Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
- Date: late 15th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll: ink on paper decorated in gold
- Dimensions: Image: 8 5/8 × 19 11/16 in. (21.9 × 50 cm)
Overall with mounting: 43 3/4 × 22 5/8 in. (111.1 × 57.5 cm) - Classification: Calligraphy
- Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2021
- Object Number: 2021.398.11
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Ōsen Keisan
late 15th century
Sesson Shūkei
1550s
Shikibu Terutada
mid-16th century
Uto Gyoshi
mid- to late 16th century
Sesson Shūkei
ca. 1555–61
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