“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”

“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”

Ogata Kenzan

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kenzan, brother of the painter and designer Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716), was born into a wealthy merchant family in Kyoto. He is best known for his ceramic wares, having studied with the great Kyoto potter Nonomura Ninsei (active ca. 1646–94), but he was also a gifted painter and calligrapher. He took these poems from the Shūigusō (Gleaning of Worthless Weeds), a collection of verse by the poet and calligrapher Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241). They read: Robes of white cloth should be aired out, they say, just when summer arrives and deutzia flowers in bloom cause the hedge to droop. In the village of Shinobu where the cuckoo dwells, its cry is now heard, while we await next month when deutzia flowers bloom.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”“Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”

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.