Here is the second in this year's Hyaku-nin Isshu series, 'Ono no Komachi'. I suppose that if there was a survey to find the best-known and most-loved of all old Japanese poems, this would be the undisputed winner:

See how the blossoms
That are falling about me
Fade after long rain
While, quietly as in prayer,
I have gazed my life away.

In a recent book in English discussing the Hyaku-nin Isshu, as a demonstration of just how wide a variety of interpretations of the poem were possible, the author introduced no less than 23 translations of this poem. Which one was the 'right' one? I suppose such a question has no meaning. Japanese poetry of this type is noted for its lack of explicitness. You take the images, and the suggestive hints, and make of them what you will ...

This picture is one of those that attracted me when I first saw the Shunsho book. Although the old volume that I saw in the museum was very faded, with the original colours being practically invisible, it was nonetheless a fabulous design, and I couldn't wait to make it into a full-sized print. I think that most of the colours I have used are quite close to the original (although I think that they will not fade quite so much!). I used 11 colour blocks in making this print, with some of them being applied twice to give a deeper colour. The hair alone uses three different blocks.

I very much enjoyed making this print, and I hope you enjoy studying it. We've had two quite dramatic poses now, and next month we'll 'quieten' things down a bit, with the print of Dainagon Tsunenobu.

Spring 1989

Translation - Tom Galt 1982