JAPAN, AKASAKA SCHOOL - MUROMACHI period (1333 - 1573), 16th - Lot 33

JAPAN, AKASAKA SCHOOL - MUROMACHI period (1333 - 1573), 16th century Openwork iron maru gata in yo-sukashi of a poem (waka) with thirty-one syllables and five verses. Unsigned. H. 8.8 cm This waka is taken from a famous episode in the Dit des Heike (book 4). Minamoto no Yorimasa, one of the generals of the Minamoto clan, chases away from the imperial palace a monster whose cries were disturbing the emperor. The emperor wants to reward Yorimasa with his "Lion King" sword. Yorimasa. But just as he was about to give it to him, the cuckoo's cry sounded. The emperor then utters three verses of praise, playing on the double meaning of kumoi, cloud, which is also a metaphor for the Imperial Palace: "your fame has spread to the palace". Yorimasa responds with modesty in the last two lines, playing on the double meaning of Yumiharitsuki "crescent moon" and "crescent moon bow", which can be understood as "I have only relied on my bow". "Hototogisu - Du coucou le nom na wo mo kumoi ni et le vôtre aussi aguru kana dans les nues s'élèvent Yumiharitsuki no - The bow of the moon being hidden, iru ni makesete" On trial I drew Featured in the exhibition Samurai. Guerriers et esthètes, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Strasbourg, from March 11 to July 13, 2022, and is reproduced in the exhibition catalog, n°009, p.29 Reproduced in : - Nakamura Tessei, Tsuba Shusei [Monograph on sword guards], Tokyo, 1963, p. 110, fig. 11; - Patrick Liebermann, Tsuba. Itinéraires d'une collection, 2016, n°83, p.129