Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)

Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)

Katsushika Hokusai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This poem by the early tenth century poet Kiyohara no Fukayabu, originally appearing in the "Summer" section of the Kokin waka shū, laments the fleeting moon and is paired with Hokusai's imagined scene of a night's outing on a pleasure boat to escape the heat: Natsu no yo wa mada yohi nagara akenuru no kumo no izu ko ni tsuki ya doruran A summer's night in twilight still barely begun the moon must be somewhere awake, too, in amongst the clouds.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Kiyohara no Fukayabu, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)

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.