Otagaki Rengetsu Fan ("White Chrysanthemums...")

[Iaido dude]

Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875). This fan was originally mounted on a scroll that was presumably damaged. Fortunately, the fan itself was preserved by cutting it free of the scroll. It was auctioned as an unmounted cutout. I cut away several layers of backing paper and trimmed along the edges to give a free margin. Eventually, it will be remounted. For now, I intend to mount it loosely on a thin hinoki veneer, which can then be affixed to a biyobu for display during tea ceremony or on a shoji screen.

 

This is a lovely poem with painting in her distinctive man'yogana script, which is vivid and very well-preserved in this example.

 

 

Translation from Rengetsu Foundation (https://rengetsu.org/poetry_db/index.php).

 

white chrysanthemums

near my pillow

scent the night...

in my dreams how many

autumns did I pass through?

shiragiku no (白ぎくの)

makura ni chikaku (まくらにちかく)

kaoru yo wa (かをるよハ)

yume mo ikuyo no (夢もいくよの)

aki ka he nu ran (秋かへぬらん)

Edited Sunday at 05:34 PM by Iaido dude