Poetic Tea Bowl by greatest Ōtagaki Rengetsu
Directory: Antiques: Regional Art: Asian: Japanese: Tea Articles: Pre 1900: Item # 1464789
Please refer to our stock # 0552 when inquiring.
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Richard van Norten - by appointment
Avenue Royal - Luxembourg / Europe
We are glad to present you this Edo period chawan by Japans greatest Poet Rengetsu Ōtagaki ( 1791-1875 ).
It shows a 31-syllable poem of herself and her signature tastefully carved onto the tea bowl. The poem says:
おともせず
ふるとも見えぬ
朝じめり
枝おもげ成
青柳のいと
Without a sound
rain falls, also unseen
the morning wetness
in heavily sagging
fronds of green willows.
A custom made high quality black lacquered wooden box and a shifuku are included.
Size: 7 cm height x 12 cm in diameter.
Ōtagaki Rengetsu was a Buddhist nun who is widely regarded to have been one of the greatest Japanese poets of the 19th century. She was also a skilled potter and painter and expert calligrapher.
Born into a samurai family with the surname Tōdō, she was adopted at a young age by the Ōtagaki family. She was a lady in waiting at Kameoka Castle from age 7 to 16, when she was married. However, her husband died in 1823. Ōtagaki joined the temple Chion-in and became a nun, taking Rengetsu ("Lotus Moon") as her Buddhist name. She remained at Chion-in for nearly ten years, and lived in a number of other temples for the following three decades, until 1865, when she settled at the Jinkō-in where she lived out the rest of her life.
Though best known as a waka poet, Rengetsu was also accomplished at dance, sewing, some of the martial arts, and Japanese tea ceremony. She admired and studied under a number of great poets including Ozawa Roan and Ueda Akinari, and later in her life became a close friend and mentor to the artist Tomioka Tessai. A number of Tessai's works, though painted by him, feature calligraphy by Rengetsu.
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