Kojima Takanori Writing on the Cherry Tree

Category

Library Item

Item no

18770

Title

Kojima Takanori Writing on the Cherry Tree

Artist / maker

Kita, Busei

Date

1855

Size

30.5 x 36.5cm

Type

Ink and colour; Mixed media

Location

Art and Design Library

Kojima Takanori was a loyal follower of Emperor Go-Daigo of the Southern Court during the wars of the 14th century and he appears in the warrior chronicle, Taiheiki. When the emperor was taken captive, Kojima secretly followed and stripped away the bark a cherry tree in order to carve an ancient Chinese poem into the wood. This was a coded message that help was near, for the emperor to see when he passed.

From the album Open Eyes and a Radiant Heart (Katsumoku roshin).

This album contains 106 works, alternating between calligraphy and painting, by a diverse range of artists, apparently working in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). The painting subjects are dominated by landscapes, birds and flowers, with a small number of figurative works. The calligraphy pieces are done in both Chinese characters and native Japanese kana, and are typically brushed on richly decorated papers. Many of the works date from the 1850s, but the last twenty or so pages of the album were left unfilled.
Information provided by Dr Rosina Buckland (National Museum of Scotland) and Dr Takahashi Toshiro (Daito Bunka University, Tokyo)

This album was donated to Edinburgh City Libraries by Marie Ferguson Dyer in honour of her father Henry Dyer. Dyer was a Scottish engineer who became the first Principal of the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo in 1872.

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