Ferns Writing Box (shidakusa suzuribako)

This lacquer writing box—complete with ink cake and water dropper—features a design of ferns. A faint textile pattern is barely visible underneath the overall black lacquer on the cover (not shown), which is also adorned with inlaid mother-of-pearl letters that read “Michinoku no,” the first line of a poem from the 13th-century anthology A Hundred Verses of Old Japan (Ogura hyakunin isshū). The entire poem reads: Ah! Why does my love distract my thoughts,Disordering my will?I am like the pattern on the clothOf Michinoku Hill,All in confusion still. Michinoku Hill is located outside Kyoto and was known for textile production as well as the ferns that grew there and presumably inspired the box’s inlaid decoration.