Writing Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Writing Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Imaginary portraits of Genji author Murasaki Shikibu had a precedent in images of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (died ca. 715), one of Japan’s greatest poets, shown on this writing box. Hitomaro leans on an armrest, immersed in thought, a pose first used in portraits of the author from the Kamakura period (1185–1333). His most famous waka (thirty-one-syllable poem), anthologized in the Kokinshū (compiled in 905), was prominently referenced in Genji: In dawn’s first dim light, my thoughts follow a small boat, going island-hid through the morning fog and mist at Akashi-no-ura. —Translation by H. C. McCullough The interior is decorated with a scene of distant sails and the coastal pines of Akashi Bay.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Writing Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no HitomaroWriting Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no HitomaroWriting Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no HitomaroWriting Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no HitomaroWriting Box (Suzuribako) with the Poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.