Poem from the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times (Kokin wakashū)

These two poem cards were once part of a set of thirty-six such cards, which may have been pasted onto folding screens. The cards were a collaboration between the widely celebrated calligrapher Hōn’ami Kōetsu who brushed ancient Japanese poems on cards decorated by the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu. Today, the thirteen extant cards are dispersed in collections worldwide. Both are well-known classical poems. The one written on a full moon reads: “In the harbor / where the waters converge / the waves are deep red as the / floating autumn leaves swirl and eddy.” And at the other: “The autumn moon shines brilliantly / upon the mountains / illuminating every / fallen colored leaf.”