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“Sixth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”

Ogata Kenzan Japanese
1743
Not on view
These small paintings, each inscribed with two poems, were separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals that are symbolic of the months of the year. For the sixth month the poems celebrate tokonatsu (wild pinks) and the cormorant, a bird used for night fishing, a familiar sight on the waterways of Kyoto where iron fire baskets were suspended from the prows of fishing boats. The poems read:

Even though most people
dread the sixth month
since the sun is so bright,
if wild pinks are in bloom
then it does have its charms.
On these short nights,
flames in iron baskets
on cormorant fishing boats
pass by quickly and light up
the sky of the sixth month.
Even though most people
dread the sixth month
since the sun is so bright,
if wild pinks are in bloom
then it does have its charms.

On these short nights,
flames in iron baskets
on cormorant fishing boats
pass by quickly and light up
the sky of the sixth month.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 尾形乾山筆　定家詠十二ヶ月和歌 花鳥図　『拾遺愚草』　より六月
  • Title: “Sixth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”
  • Artist: Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663–1743)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1743
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 6 1/4 x 9 1/8 in. (15.9 x 23.2 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 43 1/4 x 19 in. (109.9 x 48.3 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 43 1/4 x 20 5/8 in. (109.9 x 52.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.268.66
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”

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