Poetry Slips (Tanzaku)
Artist/Culture
Otagaki Rengetsu
(Japanese, 1791–1875)
Date1791–1895
Mediumcalligraphy mounted on a two-panel tea screen
Dimensions69.5 x 188 cm (27 3/8 x 74 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineAsiatic Art Various Donors and Member's Council Fund
Object number1987.1
Label TextThe Buddhist Nun Rengetsu is one of Japan's most important woman artists. Excelling in the arts of calligraphy, painting, pottery and poetry, she reflects traditional classical values at a time when the Japanese were negating those values in an effort to embrace the West. Rengetsu's poetry, painting and pottery have a simple directness that is refreshing. Her calligraphy is free, unconventional, and elegant. Executed with incisive, controlled wiry lines, it is sensitive, graceful and distinctive.
Display of calligraphy of any style has been part of tea ceremony since its beginning in the sixteenth century. Rengetsu's calligraphy fits into the tradition of courtly elegance. Although modern, it is of the same spirit as kohitsu, or ancient writings. This type of calligraphy combines delicacy of writing with subtle elaborateness of expression to evoke an atmosphere of delicate refinement. When ancient calligraphy of this type is unavailable, modern writing in the same spirit is used in the tea room.
An admirer of Ozawa Roan (1723-1821), Rengetsu followed his principle of expressing feelings directly and using images from everyday life in her poetry. She is best known for her poems in the classical Japanese waka form which are written in a meter of 5-7-5-7-7. The translations of the poems follow.ProvenanceBelinda Sweet, Kensington CAOn View
Not on view
