A poem-composing contest among various artisans 職人歌合絵巻
date: label: Date
content: 1333-1392
label: Period
content: Nanbokucho period
notes: label: Description
content: A poem-composing contest among various artisans. Nine inscriptions. One certificate. Inscription in gold on box.
label: Label
content: One autumn evening in 1214, a group of believers gathered for prayer at Tohoku-in, a temple in Kyoto, according to introductory text in this scroll. Seduced by the beauty of the moon, they soon turned their gathering into a poetry contest (uta awase), composing linked verse on the theme of love and the moon. This painting is based on an earlier, well-known version produced in the early fourteenth century.
label: Label
content: The participants were people from the common trades (shokunin). The shokunin uta awase derived its humor from casting commoners in aristocratic roles and offered multi-leveled satire on class pretensions. Six sequences feature verses exchanged between a fortune-teller and physician; smith and carpenter; sword sharpener and caster; female fortune-teller and gambler; fisherman and merchant and finally, a picture mounter serving as contest judge.
label: Provenance
content: To 1906
label: Provenance
content: Hara Tomitaro, Yokohama, Japan, to 1906 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1906 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by Hara Tomitaro in 1906 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Makimono List, L. 931, pg. 304, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Games, Contests and Artful Play in Japan (March 19 to October 23, 2005)
label: Exhibition History
content: Telling Tales in Japanese Art (November 23, 1996 to August 14, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Hara Tomitaro (1868-1939) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Nanbokucho period (1333 - 1392)
label: Topic
content: poetry
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: makimono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1906.4a-g
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 32.9 x 680.6 cm (12 15/16 x 267 15/16 in)