Otagaki Rengetsu | Incense container

Since this turtle
overflows its measure
of 10,000 years
how long shall
the one who keeps it live?
 
buy now
email@bachmanneckenstein.com 
 
Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875)
Incense container (Kogo) 
Unglazed ceramic
Height 2.7 cm (1 in.)
Length 6.6 cm (2 ½ in.)
Original box (tomobako) with poem. 
And collectors' box with label.
 
Compare to a similar incense container: Black robe white mist: art of the Japanese Buddhist nun Rengetsu, National Gallery of Australia exhibition catalogue, Melanie Eastburn, Lucie Folan, Robyn Maxwell (ed.), 2007, no.89, ill. p.72.