return to the archive's SURIMONO overview
return to the archive's SURIMONO overview
archive of sold items
of items sold in the past
view print
view print

GAKUTEI, Yashima
(1786 - 1868)
'Four Companions of Calligraphy for the Ichiyo-ren (Ichiyo poetry club')
Sumi Komachi ('Ink and Komachi')

Signed:                    Gakutei Harunobu
Date:                         c.1825
Size:                         shikishiban






Condition:
Very fine impression, colors and condition.

One of Japan's greatest poets and lady-in-waiting of the Heian court, Ono no Komachi (act. mid-ninth century) is shown washing a book of calligraphy. This scene is based on the No play, Soshi arai Komachi, in which she is accused by a male colleague of copying a poem from the 'Man'yoshu" and passing it off as her own at a po-etry competition. In fact, the preceding night, the envious poet had overheard her reciting this verse and had written it into his own volume of this well known anthology. Seizing this book from her accuser, she plunges it into a tub of water, causing the newly-written ink to run and thereby proving her innocence.

The border consists of patterns of cracked-ice, plum-blossom roun-dels and a crest of the three characters all reading bun. These motifs refer to the Ichiyo poetry club. Despite its title, which cites the number four, there are actually eight prints in this series of alternating Chinese and Japanese subjects, each of which is associated with one of the four 'companions' of calligraphy - ink, inkstone, brush, and paper. The poems take up these themes:
mizu no mo ni
utsureru ume no
ka o soete
arau sôshi ni
nami no ume une
Scented by the plum blossoms
seem reflected in the water,
the ripples splash over
the book being washed.
(poet: Karakutei Kobun)
enarazu mo
nioeru ume no
shitamizu ni
utayomidori no
koe o arawasu

Although he can not use words
the warbler
reveals his song
in the waters that run
beneath the scented plum.
(poet: Karindô)

return to the archive's SURIMONO overview    return to the archive's SURIMONO overview                                                                 view print    view print