Karsumaru Mitsuhiro was a distinguished poet and a major figure in the inner circles of Emperor Go-Mizunoo. Karasumaru Mitsuhiro, offspring of a wealthy Kyoto family was a master of poetry, calligraphy, and tea ceremony. On this scroll he put together three poems about famous places and views in and near Osaka. – The poems are written in a rather casual style giving these lines a private feel as if they were done just for himself. At Suminoe on the ebb tide and the sea is fa

Takuan Soho was the prototypical early Edo monk scholar with a sharp, witty, and untamed spirit. Dressed in a monk’s robe he pursued erudition in the broadest sense. He not only studied Buddhist texts but also the Chinese classics. Takuan also excelled in various arts. He was a painter, poet, writer, calligrapher, gardener, and a tea master. And he was the advisor, confidant, and the teacher of noblemen, among them the famous swordsman Yagyu Munenori and, some say the legenda

No doubt that Shibata Zeshin was the most prominent lacquer artist of the nineteenth century. And Ikeda Taishin (1825–1903) was his most accomplished and most promising student. But in February of 1856 he left. Taishin left his master, his workshop, his master's house where he has been living for mor than twenty years. And Taishin left for his Grand Tour. A year later he returned and established his own studio in Asakusa, just around the corner from Zeshin. Taishin's first st

Rengetsu’s life slowed down at around the age of 75. The long years of travelling, moving, and drifting came to an end in the small...

"A fascinating study of word and art forms intrinsic to the cultural, social, and spiritual beliefs of Asia. - Traces of Words: Art and...