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“Mount Utsu” (Utsu no yama), from The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari)

Painting by Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese
Inscribed by Takeuchi Toshiharu Japanese
ca. 1634
Not on view
This poem card comes from a set of more than twenty surviving sheets, each of which is illustrated with a scene from the tenth-century Tales of Ise and accompanied by a poem from the relevant chapter inscribed by a calligrapher of the day. In this episode, a courtier traveling on Mount Utsu (literally, “mountain of sadness”) meets an itinerant monk on his way to Kyoto and asks him to give his regards to a lover in the distant capital.

Suruga naru
Utsu no yamabe no
utsutsu ni mo yume ni mo hito ni
awanu narikeri

Amid the “sad hills”
of Mount Utsu
in Suruga Province,
I cannot meet my lover,
not even in my dreams.
—Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: “Mount Utsu” (Utsu no yama), from The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari)
  • Artist: Painting by Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese, ca. 1570–ca. 1640)
  • Artist: Inscribed by Takeuchi Toshiharu (Japanese, 1611–1647)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: ca. 1634
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Poem card (shikishi) mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 9 11/16 × 8 3/16 in. (24.6 × 20.8 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 49 5/16 × 16 11/16 in. (125.3 × 42.4 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 49 5/16 × 18 3/8 in. (125.3 × 46.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.300.88
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Red and White Poppies, Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan
Red and White Poppies
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White Heron, Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan
White Heron
Tawaraya Sōtatsu
early 17th century
White Hollyhocks, Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan
White Hollyhocks
Tawaraya Sōtatsu
17th century
Boats upon Waves, Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese, Six-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on paper, Japan
Boats upon Waves
Tawaraya Sōtatsu
mid- to late 17th century
Royal Visit to Ōhara, from The Tale of the Heike, Tawaraya Sōtatsu Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper, Japan
Royal Visit to Ōhara, from The Tale of the Heike
Tawaraya Sōtatsu
first half of the 17th century

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