歌川広重画 山桜に燕|Swallows and Budding Wild Cherry

Utagawa Hiroshige

ca. 1835 · Woodblock print · Asian Art

The poem is unsigned, as is often the case with poems on Hiroshige’s bird-and-flower prints, but the verse is known to be by Takarai Kikaku (Enomoto Kikaku, 1661–1707), a professional poet who numbered among the top disciples of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). Swallows (tsubame) are common subjects in haikai set in spring, as in this example: 山の端に 乙鳥をかへす 入日かな 宝井其角 Yama no ha ni tsubame o kaesu irihi kana The setting sun— over the mountain ridge sends the swallows home. —Trans. John T. Carpenter

Artist

Utagawa Hiroshige

Date

ca. 1835

Medium

Woodblock print

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936