The Burke Collection
Scene from Oku no hosomichi (奥の細道)
Click to enlarge
318-1

Artist

Yosa Buson

(与謝蕪村; 1716–1783)

Catalogue information

Edo period, ca. 1780

Folding fan, mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

18 x 48.4 cm (7 1/8 x 19 in.)

Donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York by the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation in 2015

Literature

Murase 1975, no. 74
Murase, Miyeko
1975
Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

See full bibliography

;
L. Cunningham 1984, pp. 58–59, no. 18
Cunningham, Louisa [L. Cunningham]
1984
The Spirit of Place: Japanese Paintings and Prints of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. Exh. cat. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery.

See full bibliography

;
Gitter and Fister 1985, no. 17
Gitter, Kurt A., and Pat Fister
1985
Japanese Fan Paintings from Western Collections. Exh. cat. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art.

See full bibliography

;
Avitabile 1990, no. 93
Avitabile, Gunhild
1990
[Editor]. Die Kunst des alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection, New York. Exh. cat. Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.

See full bibliography

;
Murase 2000, no. 156.
Murase, Miyeko
2000
Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

See full bibliography

See also

This artwork was published as catalogue entry 318 in Volume I of Art through a Lifetime.

Additional details

D318-1
D318-1

Text

Shōō Oku nikki // There was a huge chestnut tree on the outskirts of this post town, and a priest was living in seclusion under its shade. When I stood there in front of the tree, I felt as if I were in the midst of the deep mountains where this priest [Saigyō] had picked horse chestnuts. I took a piece of paper and wrote as follows: The chestnut is a holy tree, for the Chinese ideograph for chestnut is Tree placed directly below West, the direction of the holy land. The priest Gyōki is said to have used it for his walking stick and chief support of his house. // The chestnut by the eaves / in magnificent bloom / passes unnoticed / by men of this world.

Signature

Buson

Seals

Chōkō; Shunsei


Supplementary Transcriptions

Text

蕉翁奧日記。

Signature

蕪村

Seals

長庚（白朱文長方印）(intaglio/relief, rectangle)
春星（白朱文長方印）(intaglio/relief, rectangle)