Overview

The poems from Wakan roeishû (Collection of Japanese and Chinese Verses) were inscribed on seventy-two sheets of colored poem paper and affixed on a pair of folding screens. These elegant poem papers have been patterned with underdrawing motifs of flying clouds, flowing water, grasses, and flowers, in gold and silver paint on colored paper of red, yellow, white, and other shades. A willow tree and cherry tree are depicted on the right-hand screen, and maple trees with wisteria decorate the left-hand screen. The calligraphy is accepted as the work of the Cloistered Prince Sonchô (1552-97), founder of a branch of the Shôren-in school of calligraphy. The relaxed expansiveness characteristic of Momoyama period (1573-1615) calligraphy is beautifully captured in this representative work.