Poems from Shūi gusō (拾遺愚草) and Shin kokin wakashū (新古今和歌集)

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“Saigyō” (left), “Teika” (right)

Catalogue information

Edo period, 18th century (before 1719)

Small album with six paintings and poems; ink, color, and gold on paper

Each painting 15.9 x 14.8 cm (6 1/4 x 5 7/8 in.)

Donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Art by the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation in 2015

Poem by Fujiwara Teika (藤原定家; 1162–1241), from his Shūi gusō

Mountain cherries fall / from the sky at dawn, / like a snowstorm / over the unknown mountains.

Poem by Priest Saigyō (西行; 1118–1190)

Ah, how many drops of dew / will spill / from leaves of grass— / fall winds are rising / on Miyagino plain.