Summer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at Yatsuhashi

Summer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at Yatsuhashi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This samurai woman’s summer robe evokes water—light blue fabric with irises and zigzagging plank bridges. The composition refers to an episode from The Tales of Ise and the Noh play derived from it, Irises, in which an exiled ninth-century poet—alluded to on this robe by a courtier’s hat and a fan near the hem—and his friends leave the capital. Pausing at Yatsuhashi, where bridges cross eight channels of a river, they admire the irises growing in the riverbank. Inspired, the poet composes a poem in which each line begins with one of the five syllables of the word for “iris,” ka-ki-tsu-ba-ta. Karagoromo / kitsutsu narenishi / tsuma shi areba / harubaru kinuru / tabi o shi zo omou. I wear robes with well-worn hems, / Reminding me of my dear wife / I fondly think of always, / So as my sojourn stretches on / Ever farther from home, / Sadness fills my thoughts. —translated by John T. Carpenter

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Summer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at YatsuhashiSummer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at YatsuhashiSummer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at YatsuhashiSummer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at YatsuhashiSummer Robe (Katabira) with Irises at Yatsuhashi

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.