One Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Streams

1 林晴啼鳥響　 早起出門行　 欲汲清溪水　 前山受日明 2 唯有白雲動　 我心歸一聞　 超然窮達外　 獨坐見空山 3 忽有清機發　 吟詩上翠微　 夕陽明古逕　 松色照寒衣 4 獨徃空山夕　 相隨一古琴　 水中天上月　 雨雨照吾心 5 初日照門戸　 一花高立霜　 起來汲寒水　 山色遠蒼蒼 6 我心清不寐　 明月在天閒　 寂寂虚窓外　 秋聲夜動山 7 曲逕通深竹　 故人有幽墅　 思詩坐雨前　 可與青山語 8 颯颯空林葉　 荒村燈火青　 行人不見影　 一犬吠寒星 9 古寺寒燈照　 幽人獨坐長　 夜深如有鬼　 風葉走虚廊 10 山靜雲猶宿　 日高門未開　 落花幽意動　 啼鳥故人來 11 客去柴門寂　 秋心弄物萃　 幽禽啄枯葉　 寒日照孤花 1 Sky over forest clears, singing birds echo, Up early I am out the door to walk. I want to draw water from the clear stream As the mountains ahead receive the sun’s light. 2 Only the white clouds are moving— My heart returns to primal peace. Transcendentally, beyond success and failure, I sit alone to watch deserted hills. 3 Suddenly pure inspiration strikes— Chanting poems I climb the blue-green slopes. Evening sun glows down the ancient path; Pine tree colors illumine my cold robe. 4 Alone I go up the empty mountain–evening, And all I bring is my ancient lute. In stream water, in the sky—two moons, And this pair now glows within my heart. 5 The new sun shines on my gate; One flower grows there, upright through the frost. I rise to draw some cold well water; Mountain colors stretch far away. 6 My mind too clarified for sleep, The moon appears in Heaven. In the silence outside my empty window Autumn sounds are shaking the mountain tonight. 7 A winding path leads deep into bamboo Where a friend has a hidden retreat. Meditating poems we sit as rain comes down; We can discuss them with these mountains of green. 8 Soughing, soughing, leaves in the empty wood; From the deserted village, one lamplight, dim. The traveler sees not a single shadow; Somewhere a dog barks at the cold stars. 9 In the ancient temple, one cold lamp glows; The hidden one sits alone for hours. Deep in the night, there seem to be ghosts: Windblown leaves twirling down empty cloisters. 10 The mountain, calm, last night’s clouds still here; The sun is high, the gate remains unopened. Flowers falling—movement of mysterious meaning; To songs of birds, an old friend now appears. 11 My guest has left, the bramble gate is silent. My autumn heart touches season’s colors. A hidden bird pecks at withered leaves; Cold sunlight illuminates a solitary flower. “One Thousand Mountains and Ten Thousand Streams” was a popular subject of literati painters, and Kodōjin created several versions. In this one, the title adequately relates to the myriad rock formations conceived in shades of light orange separated by negative space filled with different expanses of water. He further enhanced the remarkable scenery by using gray dots to convey the sense of dense foliage growing on the rocks, in places even upside down. Furthermore, Kodōjin added an unusually large number of poems. His paintings generally have one poem and any additional text is prose. Here, however, he inscribed 11 poems, by far the most compared with all of his other paintings. He likely opted for 11 in order to have one poem represent each group of the 1, 000 mountains and streams mentioned in the title.