Over Robe (Uchikake) with Willow and Poem
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Branches of a leafing willow trail down this over robe, which was originally the kosode of a wealthy merchant woman. Semicursive Chinese characters, rendered in orange-red silk embroidery and couched gold threads read, on the front, 梳 (kushikezuri, to comb), 柳 (ryū, willow), and 気 (ki, weather); on the back, from right to left, 鬚 (hige, whiskers), 霽 (harete, to clear), 風 (kaze, wind), and 新 (shin, new). Before the garment was altered, the characters were ordered as a ninth-century poem written in Chinese by a Japanese courtier, Miyako no Yoshika.
Ki harete wa kaze shinryū no kami o kushikezuri,
kōri kiete wa nami kyūtai no hige o arau.
The weather clears, breezes comb the hair of the young willows;
The ice is melting, wavelets wash the whiskers of the old bog moss.
—translated by J. Thomas Rimer and Jonathan Chaves
Ki harete wa kaze shinryū no kami o kushikezuri,
kōri kiete wa nami kyūtai no hige o arau.
The weather clears, breezes comb the hair of the young willows;
The ice is melting, wavelets wash the whiskers of the old bog moss.
—translated by J. Thomas Rimer and Jonathan Chaves
Artwork Details
- 紺縮緬地柳文字模様打掛
- Title: Over Robe (Uchikake) with Willow and Poem
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: second half 18th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Crepe silk with paste-resist dyeing, stencil-dyed dots (suri-bitta), silk embroidery, and couched gold thread
- Dimensions: 63 3/4 × 47 1/4 in. (161.9 × 120 cm)
- Classification: Costumes
- Credit Line: Lent by John C. Weber Collection
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art