Ôtagaki RENGETSU
(Japan 1791–1875)
- Title
- Calligraphy: (poem)
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
-
Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 →
Japan
Meiji period 1868 - 1912 → Japan - Year
- 19th century
- Media category
- Calligraphy
- Materials used
- hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
-
29.4 x 41.0cm image; 114.8 x 50.0 x 56.5cm scroll [height x width x rod]
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1994
- Accession number
- 19.1994
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
From an early age Rengetsu showed talents for poetry and swordsmanship. She married young, but as her husband died in 1823, and her four children also died at young ages, she entered the Buddhist priesthood and adopted the name Rengetsu, meaning Lotus Moon. She dedicated the rest of her life to writing poetry and making pottery, known as Rengetsu ware. This poem reads:
'The evening is fragrant with plum blossoms
Oh, this fragrance!
It penetrates the black sleeves of my nun's habit
Even though I have renounced the world,
I enjoy dressing myself in this aromatic midnight scent.'Art Gallery Handbook, 1999. pg. 282.
- Bibliography (4)
-
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Art of the Brush - Chinese & Japanese painting calligraphy, Sydney, 1995, 3 (illus.), 17.
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 282 (colour illus.).
'The aesthetic of transience', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 201 (colour illus.).
Melanie Eastburn (Australia) (Author), Lucie Folan (Australia), Robin Maxwell (Australia), Black robe white mist: art of the Japanese Buddhist nun Rengetsu, Australia, 2007, 24 (colour illus.). cat.no.29
- Exhibition history (2)
-
Art of the brush, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Sep 1995–12 Nov 1995.
Black Robe, White Mist Otagaki Rengetsu, National Gallery of Australia, 08 Sep 2007–27 Jan 2008.
