Yamaoka Tesshu (Two Hanging Scrolls of "Old Couple" from Noh Play Takasago 高砂)

[Iaido dude]

Yamaoka Tesshu (山岡 鉄舟), 1836-1888.
Translation (left scroll): John Stevens, The Zen Calligraphy and Painting of Yamaoka Tesshu, 2001.

Omae hyaku made washa,
Kujyuku made,
Tomo ni shiraga no haeru made,
Tesshu koho sho.

You'll reach one hundred,
I'll reach ninety-nine,
As our hair turns white together,
Written by Tesshu koho.

This is a wonderful interpretation of Takasago, a famous Noh play about an old couple. The pair lived for decades in connubial bliss even as they were located in separate villages, and died at a great old age. With just a few brushstrokes, Tesshu has created two elderly lovers who enjoy quiet contentment together.

The husband offers to go first, but the couple, as close in death as in life, will likely pass away within a few days of each other. This kind of Zenga served as good luck charm for married couples. The particular style of depicting Takasago appears to have originated with Tesshu and thereafter become a standard theme in Zenga.

I own two different versions of this beloved subject matter that Yamaoka brushed throughout his most productive period. The one on the left is fairly short and narrow in scale and is a nice example of how he tended to execute this composition. It was likely brushed in 1885.

The one on the right, a very large work, is the only example that I have seen in which Yamaoka brushes the last character differently (hiragana?) rather than kanji and the couple appears to be standing rather than sitting as in all other examples. I'm also not certain that the poem is worded the same as in all of his other versions. Certainly the phrasing is different. The ink is also only thinly and lightly applied to outline the bodies of the standing couple. The rendering is more childlike, almost cartoonish. Perhaps this reflects a declining physical state as he neared his death in 1888 at age 52 from stomach cancer.