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

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

Ogata Kenzan

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These small paintings, each inscribed with two poems, were separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals that are symbolic of the months of the year. For the sixth month the poems celebrate tokonatsu (wild pinks) and the cormorant, a bird used for night fishing, a familiar sight on the waterways of Kyoto where iron fire baskets were suspended from the prows of fishing boats. The poems read: Even though most people dread the sixth month since the sun is so bright, if wild pinks are in bloom then it does have its charms. On these short nights, flames in iron baskets on cormorant fishing boats pass by quickly and light up the sky of the sixth month. Even though most people dread the sixth month since the sun is so bright, if wild pinks are in bloom then it does have its charms. On these short nights, flames in iron baskets on cormorant fishing boats pass by quickly and light up the sky of the sixth month.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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

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