Asian Japanese Poem on Love Calligraphy Pine Tree Tissue Paper

Section of a Handscroll with Waka Poem and Underpainting of Pines, early 17th century, Calligrapher Hon'ami Kōetsu, Underpainting attributed to Tawaraya Sōtatsu Poem: "As evening descends, it becomes ever harder to dry my tear-soaked sleeve, as the autumn dew also dampens it drop by drop. . The calligraphy is in the distinctive style of Hon’ami Kōetsu, rendered in a dynamic yet ever so elegant array of “scattered writing” (chirashigaki) rhythmically composed in nine columns—some long, some comprising but a single character—that playfully regroups the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure of the poem into a new composition"