The Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic Immortals

The Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic Immortals

Iwasa Matabei

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

For the Japanese elite, poetry was the quintessential literary experience. Idealized and deeply admired, poets were often commemorated in portraiture. In the early eleventh century, Fujiwara Kintō (966–1041) selected thirty-six "immortal" poets from the past, and their images became a popular theme in the yamato-e painting tradition. This picture, originally part of a set of album leaves of the thirty-six poets, is attributed to Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650), a renowned painter who is often credited with originating ukiyo-e genre painting. Portrayed is the poet Mibu no Tadamine (act. ca. 910), accompanied by his famous poem of spring: Is it just because They say this is the day which marks The coming of spring that the mountains Of fair Yoshino are veiled this morning in haze? —trans. Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner, Japanese Court Poetry (Stanford University Press, 1961)

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic ImmortalsThe Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic ImmortalsThe Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic ImmortalsThe Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic ImmortalsThe Poet Mibu no Tadamine, from a set of album leaves illustrating The Thirty-six Poetic Immortals

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.