The Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals
Painting by Studio of Kano Takanobu Japanese
Inscriptions by Konoe Nobutada Japanese
This pair of screens portraying the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals is one of the earliest and finest surviving examples of the subject in the full-size folding-screen format. In compiling his roster of thirty-six eminent Japanese poets, the courtier-poet Fujiwara no Kintō (966–1041) sought to identify those who had been the most esteemed in the composition of waka, or court poetry. Two were famous monks, five were court ladies, and the rest were men of the court.
The leftmost poem on the right-hand screen is by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (ca. 660–724):
ほのぼのと あかしのうらの 朝霧に
しまがくれゆく 船をしぞおもふ
Dimly, dimly
through the morning mist
across the bay of Akashi,
my thoughts follow the boat
now hidden beyond the islands.
The rightmost poem on the left-hand screen is by Ki no Tsurayuki (872–945):
桜ちる 木のしたかせは 寒からて
空にしられぬ 雪ぞふりけり
Cherry blossoms scatter
in the breezes not chilly,
a type of snow flurries
unknown to the heavens
continue to fall.
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