Panel with Hiragana Syllabary Poem (Iroha uta)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The poem on this silk panel, designed by the famed Mingei (Japanese Folk Crafts) movement textile artist Serizawa Keisuke, is the Iroha uta. Written around the eleventh century, it contains each of the forty-seven characters of the Japanese syllabary only once, but still follows the standard seven-five pattern of Japanese poetry. The characters on the panel should be read from right to left. Memorized by school children and used as an ordering system to trace sequences, the Iroha uta is comparable to the Western “ABC.” This well-known poem with its quintessentially Japanese kana characters was a favored pattern of Serizawa. He often used vibrantly colored Iroha uta characters on kimono and obi.
Artwork Details
- いろは文様パネル
- Title: Panel with Hiragana Syllabary Poem (Iroha uta)
- Artist: Serizawa Keisuke (Japanese, 1895–1984)
- Period: Shōwa period (1926–89)
- Date: ca. 1960s
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Stencil-dyed (katazome) raw silk
- Dimensions: 25 3/4 × 13 3/4 in. (65.4 × 34.9 cm)
- Classification: Textiles
- Credit Line: Lent by John C. Weber Collection
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art