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

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

Katsushika Hokusai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Abe no Nakamaro (698–770) composed this poem in China, in his longing for home: Amanohara furisake mireba Kasuga naru Mikasa no yama ni ideshi tsuki ka mo It might be the moon that shone above Mount Mikasa in Nara that I see in this faraway land when now I look across the vast fields of the stars.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from the series One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki)Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, 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.