A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)

A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)

Suzuki Harunobu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A young woman watches her male companion make the final moves in a game of shōgi (Japanese chess) next to an andon floor lamp signaling nighttime and a fan indicating summer. The series to which this print belongs links classical poems by thirty-six of the most famous poets of ancient and medieval times with up-to-date images of young men and women in fashionable garb. The ancient poem by Fujiwara no Kanesuke (877–933)—better known by his court title Chūnagon (Middle Captain)—complements the languorous mood of the image: Mijika yo no fukeyuku mama ni Takasago no mine no matsukaze fuku ka to zo kiku As this short night deepens, is that the soughing of the wind through pines on the slopes of Mount Tagasago we hear? —Trans. John T. Carpenter

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)A Young Woman and Man Playing Shōgi (Japanese Chess); Chūnagon Kanesuke, from a series alluding to the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen)

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.