Poems on “Wind” from Japanese and Chinese and Poems to Sing Horie Yorinao (T?gen) Japanese 1670 This section of a handscroll of Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing (Wakan r?eish?) was brushed by Horie T?gen (or Yorinao) a celebrated calligrapher of the late seventeenth century who served as local retainer (hanshi) of the daimyo clan that ruled the Marugame fief of Sanuki province (modern-day Kawagawa prefecture) on Shikoku. Even though raised in a samurai household, T?gen practiced j?daiy?, archaic script type harkening back to the peak of Heian-period court culture of the eleventh and twelfth
Poems on “Wind” from Japanese and Chinese and Poems to Sing Horie Yorinao (T?gen) Japanese 1670 This section of a handscroll of Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing (Wakan r?eish?) was brushed by Horie T?gen (or Yorinao) a celebrated calligrapher of the late seventeenth century who served as local retainer (hanshi) of the daimyo clan that ruled the Marugame fief of Sanuki province (modern-day Kawagawa prefecture) on Shikoku. Even though raised in a samurai household, T?gen practiced j?daiy?, archaic script type harkening back to the peak of Heian-period court culture of the eleventh and twelfth century. He then developing his own distinctive handwriting style, as shown here that combines courtly elegance—without any cloying—and a certain bravado. The underpainting shows highly stylized maiden flowers (ominaeshi). The two poems transcribed here belong a section of the Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing anthology entitled “Wind” (Kaze ?), and comprises a couplet of seven-syllable Chinese verse, and a single waka (31-syllable court verse). The first poem, in archaic Chinese, was composed by not very well known courtier-scholar Fujiwara no Yukikatsu (Yukifuji, fl. ca. 960): ? ???????????????? Kaze Kanshu no te no uchi ni fukite todomarazu Jokun ga tsuka no ue ni ?gi de nao kakareri Wind In the hands of the ruler of Han, it blows without ceasing: Above the grave of Master Xu it fans what hangs there still. At first glance, the verse does not specifically mention “wind” but alludes to Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, was said to have wielded a “three-foot sword,” which he boasted allowed him to conquer all the Chinese empire; the wind here is compared to its sharpness. The second part of the couplet refers to sword left by Li Kong to dangle over the grave of his friend Xu Jun. Though not specifically mentioned, in the first line, the sword is a metaphor for the wind, and in the second line it fans the sword left dangling from the tree. The
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