Poem by Sangi Takamura from the series One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu no uchi) 「参議篁」 『百人一首之内』

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1798-1861)

• Label

  A poem from the collection, One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each (Hyakunin isshu), inspired this print from a series by Kuniyoshi. The poem was composed by the courtier Sangi Ono no Takamura (802-852), the leading poet of his time, who was esteemed for his knowledge of Chinese literature and his ability to compose poetry in Chinese. The imagery chosen to illustrate the poem refers to its composition just as the poet was setting out by boat for Oki Island, where he was exiled in 837 for refusing to join a diplomatic mission to China. The poem reads:

  O, tell her, at least,

  that I have rowed out, heading toward

  the innumerable isles

  of the ocean's wide plain,

  you fishing boats of the sea-folk!

  Translation of poem by Joshua S. Mostow (Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin isshu in Word and Image [Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996])

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection (September 15, 2002 to January 9, 2003)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  The Anne van Biema Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Name

  Utagawa, Kuniyoshi

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Boats and boating, Art, Oban, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Anne van Biema collection, Ukiyo-e, Poetry

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints