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Poems about Plum Blossoms, from the “Sekido-bon Version of Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern”

Traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari Japanese
mid- to late 11th century
Not on view
A thirty-one-syllable poem on early spring appears inscribed on blue-dyed paper in an elegant, flowing script—mostly kana. It is from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū), the first imperially commissioned anthology of waka, compiled around 905 by the courtier-poet Ki no Tsurayuki. This page, remounted as a hanging scroll, was once bound into an edition known as the Sekido-bon, with pages dyed various colors. The poem reads:

くるとあくと　めかぬものを　むめの花
いつの人まに　うつろひむ「ら」む

At dusk and dawn,
I could not stop gazing
upon the plum blossoms—
so when was the moment
they started to fade?

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 伝藤原行成筆　『古今和歌集』　関戸本
  • Title: Poems about Plum Blossoms, from the “Sekido-bon Version of Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern”
  • Artist: Traditionally attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari (Japanese, 972–1027)
  • Period: Heian period (794–1185)
  • Date: mid- to late 11th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Page from a bound booklet mounted as a hanging scroll; ink on dyed paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 8 3/8 × 6 7/8 in. (21.3 × 17.5 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 54 1/2 × 15 3/4 in. (138.5 × 40 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 54 1/2 × 17 3/4 in. (138.4 × 45.1 cm)
  • Classification: Calligraphy
  • Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.396.1
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Four Poems from the Sekido Version of the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Sekido-bon Kokin wakashū) , Fujiwara no Yukinari 藤原行成 Japanese, Two pages from a booklet mounted as hanging scroll; ink on dyed paper, Japan

Four Poems from the Sekido Version of the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Sekido-bon Kokin wakashū)

Fujiwara no Yukinari 藤原行成
mid- to late 11th century
Three Poems from the Later Collection of Japanese Poems (Gosen wakashū), Monk Saigyō Japanese, Page from a booklet, mounted as hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan
Three Poems from the Later Collection of Japanese Poems (Gosen wakashū)
Monk Saigyō
late 12th century
”Abiding nowhere, the awakened mind arises”, Musō Soseki Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan
”Abiding nowhere, the awakened mind arises”
Musō Soseki
early to mid-14th century
Three Poems from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū), one of the Araki Fragments (Araki-gire), Fujiwara no Yukinari (Kōzei) Japanese, Page from a booklet mounted as a hanging scroll; ink on paper, Japan
Three Poems from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū), one of the Araki Fragments (Araki-gire)
Fujiwara no Yukinari (Kōzei)
11th century
Portrait of Shun'oku Myōha, Unidentified artist Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk, Japan
Portrait of Shun'oku Myōha
Unidentified artist
ca. 1383

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