Teika’s Ten Styles of Japanese Poetry

early 18th century

Not on view

Two types of poetry cards—shikishi, almost square, and tanzaku, tall and narrowly rectangular in shape—have been used to transcribe waka poems since ancient times. The unusual examples here are paired on gold-leaf-backed leaves of a large album. Most remarkably, the borders of the tanzaku have colorfully painted floral motifs meticulously cut out to create vibrant eye-catching “frames.” Eight of the pairs have the same waka inscribed—by different hands, in different styles—on both cards. The poems selected for this album categorizedwaka according to the distinctive styles advocated by the early medieval courtier-poetand literary arbiter Fujiwara no Teika (or Sadaie, 1162–1241).

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

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Exhibition History

定家十体画帖
Title: Teika’s Ten Styles of Japanese Poetry
Artist: Unidentified Artist
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: early 18th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Album of ten leaves; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: Paintings: 14 3/16 × 3 15/16 in. (36 × 10 cm)
Calligraphy: 7 7/8 × 7 1/16 in. (20 × 18 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019
Object Number: 2019.420.22
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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