A poem wraps the finger dimpled surface of this pale glazed hira-chawan decorated with a poem enclosed in a rare signed wooden box by Otagaki Rengetsu.It is 13.5 cm (5-1/2 inches) diameter, 5.2 cm (2 inches) tall.There is single gold lacquer line extending from the rim.The poem reads:
Aoyanagi no nabiku wo mire ba / Seeing green willows sway gently
Sue nagaki miyo no hajime no / at the beginning of a long imperial reign...
Haru no hatsukaze / the first wind of spring
Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) was born into a samurai family, she was adopted into the Otagaki family soon after birth, and served as a lady in waiting in Kameoka Castle in her formative years, where she received an education worthy of a Lady of means. Reputed to be incredibly beautiful, she was married and bore three children; however, her husband and all children died before she was twenty. Remarried she bore another daughter, however that child too perished and her husband died while she was just 32. Inconsolable, she cut off her hair to join the nunnery at Chion-in Temple, where she renounced the world and received the name Rengetsu (Lotus Moon). However, this was not the end, but only the beginning of a career as artist and poet which would propel her to the top of the 19th century Japan literati art world.
