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 October 12 by Iaido dude

[Iaido dude]

Here is another translation, which I like better. Lines 2 and 3 are shown with the correct kanji as they appear in the inscription.

 

when white chrysanthemums

by my pillow

perfume the dark

dreams of many autumn nights

come back to me

 

shira giku no (志らぎくの)

makura ni chikaku (枕にちかく)

kaoru yo wa (かをるよハ)

yume mo iku yo no (夢もいくよの)

aki kaenu ran (秋かへぬらん)

 

Translation by Sayumi Takahashi in: Black Robe White Mist--art of the Japnaese Buddhist nun Rengetsu. M. Eastburn, L. Folan, and R. Maxwell; National Gallery of Australia (2007), pg. 69