Yamaoka Tesshu, 6-Panel Screen (Request for help with translation)

Iaido dude · September 23

This is a gorgeous work in outstanding condition by Yamaoka currently being offered in auction that I cannot find a reference for in published books, prior online auctions or well-known online collections. Many of his work of this kind consists of of a set of 6-panel screens. This is one screen, which may suggest that it has been separated from the original set. Or it may have been intended as a single screen. I suspect that the translation may help solve this mystery. As usual, Yamaoka's cursive script, while consistent, is highly idiosyncratic. I find it very hard to decipher, although I am trying to learn his style from a famous poem that he brushed to provide instruction on calligraphy for his wife. Some of the challenge is also how he connects kanji or hiragana characters. This work is clearly pure kanji, which suggests that it is a poem or Ch'an teaching. He was classically trained in Chinese literature, poetry, and Ch'an writings.