Kenzan, brother of the painter and designer Ogata Kŏrin (1658–1716), is best known as a potter but was also a gifted painter and calligrapher. This small painting was separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals symbolic of the twelve months, each inscribed with two poems. The poems were taken from the Shǔigusŏ, a collection of verse by the influential poet and calligrapher Fujiwara Teika (1162–1241).For the sixth month, the poems celebrate tokonatsu (wild pinks) and the cormorant, a bird used for night fishing: Ōkata no hikage ni itō minazuki no sora sae oshiki tokonatsu no hana Mijika yo no ukawa ni noboru kagaribi no hayaku sugiyuku minazuki no sora Even though most peopledread the sixth month,since the sun is so bright,if wild pinks are in bloomthen it does have its charms. On these short summer nights,flames in iron basketson cormorant fishing boatspass by quickly and light upthe sky of the sixth month. —Trans. John T. Carpenter
