Waka Poem: “Across the fields and hills…”

Ōtagaki Rengetsu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Otagaki Rengetsu took vows as a Buddhist nun, but is better remembered as one of the foremost waka poets of the nineteenth century, an ink painter, a skilled calligrapher in a refreshingly simple and elegant style, and a prolific potter who inscribed poems into ceramic teaware. A daughter of a courtesan of the licensed brothel quarters and wealthy samurai, she was adopted at a young age into the Ōtagaki clan, and became a lady-in-waiting at Kameoka Castle. She married twice and had five children, but after the death of her second husband in 1823 and the tragic death of all her children she became a nun, taking the Buddhist sobriquet Rengetsu (“Lotus Moon”). She lived in huts in various temple precincts until 1865, when she settled at the Jinkō’in temple, where she lived as nun and created art for the remainder of her life. She became an intimate friend of and mentor to the great Literati artist Tomioka Tessai, and they often collaborated on works. Here the poem, calligraphy and painting are all by Rengetsu. The poem reads: のに山にうかれうかれてかえるさを ねやまでおくる秋のよの月 No ni yama ni ukare ukarete kaerusa o neya made okuru aki no yo no tsuki Across the fields and hills my spirits buoyed with joy— Making my way back, accompanied to my bedroom, by this autumn’s night moon. (Trans. John T. Carpenter)

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art