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Poem by Nakamura Kenkichi (poet from Hiroshima who wrote the poem when he was in Akita in North Eastern Japan)

Yusareba, Inishie no hito no omoiyuru, sugi wa shizuku wo, otoshi somekeri.

The dusk reminds me of the people from the past, the dew on the cedars fall and cover the ground.

Nakamura Kenkichi 1889-1934. Born in Myoshi in Hiroshima as the son of a Sake brewer, Kenkichi received his BA from the Imperial University of Tokyo and became a reporter for the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun newspaper company. Later he returned to his home to inherit the business and received training in Tanka by Ito Sachio. Since 1909 Kenkichi contributed many poems and published series of his poems.

Seal : Box: Inscription: Old poem. Signature: Keien Seal:

A very rare and valuable scroll. £180

This was written about 120 years ago on paper.
This is a  one line calligraphy and is written as follows: . "Namu-Dai-Shi-Hen-Jo-Kon-Go." It is a sutra of the Shingon Sect.
This calligrapher's name is Shinmou Hara ( 1833-1906 ). He was a very famous monk. 
He was from Shimane prefecture and a great monk of Koyasan Mountain.whcih is the head temple of a Buddhist Shingon Sect.

Shingon Buddhism (真言宗 Shingon shū?) is one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in India from the third to fourth century C.E that originally spread to China and Korea. The esoteric teachings would later flourish in Japan under the auspices of a Buddhist monk named Kūkai, who traveled to Tang Dynasty China to acquire and request transmission of the esoteric teachings. For that reason, it is often called "Japanese Esoteric Buddhism", or "Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism". The word Shingon is the Japanese reading of the Kanji for the Chinese word Zhēnyán (真言), literally meaning "True Words", which in turn is the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit word Mantra (मन्त्र)

Today, there are very few books on Shingon in the West and until the 1940s, not a single book on Shingon had ever been published anywhere in the world, not even in Japan. Since this lineage was brought over to Japan from Tang Dynasty China over 1,100 years ago, its doctrines have always been closely guarded secrets, passed down orally through the initiates chain and never written down. Throughout the centuries, except for the initiated, most of the Japanese common folk knew little about its secretive doctrines and the monks of this "Mantra School" except that besides performing the usual priestly duties of prayers, blessings and funeral rites for the public, they practiced only Mikkyō (密教）, literally "secret ways" in stark contrast to all other Buddhist schools and were called upon to perform mystical rituals that could summon rain, improve harvests, exorcise demons, avert natural disasters, heal the sick and protect the state. The most powerful ones could even render entire armies useless.

Even though the Tendai School also contains esoteric teachings in its doctrines, it is still essentially an exoteric Mahayana school at its core. Shingon teachings are purely esoteric and are in all likelihood also the most secretive Buddhist teachings in the world. As such, in-depth academic study will continue to prove difficult as it had been in the past and it will probably always be the least understood Buddhist tradition in the West.

That is why this scroll is very rare.

£225 with box

 Waka: Poem title:

Title is: Keeping Cormorants

The future is dark
is what I believe
The burning flames of the fire lit
on the boat to lure the fish
doing cormorant fishing.
 

The poem is a metaphor for: '
Even though the way ahead is dark
there is a light to guide our way'

Signature: Ai ai Seal: Seikou

A little note, kana has its styles and forms when
writing it so the poem is an approximate translation
more like extracting the feeling of what I feel it says.

Waka Scroll 1920 This has now been  restored with new silks, top and bottom and a new box.The scroll ends are hand made dense Rosewood to add weight which makes the scroll sit perfectly £165

The silk is grey and not blue. The box matches

Chinese Porcelain figure of a cormorant fisherman 6.75 inches / 17cms long

To go with this scroll I have found an early porcelain brush washer or censer from the 1920's. There is no date mark on this piece so my date is an estimated one. It could be earlier. £65

Extra large Image-Click to open

New restoration of a 19th century scroll

Before restoration we only had the actual calligraphy. We mounted this in a grey (not blue) silk and made a special antique Kimono silk covered box for this lovely scroll. The box is a dark green with a mid green pattern. The scroll ends were made in a dense rosewood to add weight to the bottom which allows the scroll to hang better.

£185

The scroll seems to say: A flower blooming large for just one person.

Means. My heart is full of love for you.

With box, £145

54.4cm by 195cm / 21.4" by 76.7"
Jiku-roller ends : Wood. SOLD
Handpainted on Silk

*Ieyasu Tokugawa :
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543 ? 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa (Edo) shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but remained in power until his death in 1616. The Edo period continued for 264 years, and it brought the long peaceful world in Japan. Ieyasu is praised as the founder, and he is still worshiped as the incarnation of Buddha all overy the country including Nikko-Tosho-gu Shrine.

*The late Ieyasu's teaching -translation of this scroll:
Life is like a long journey with a heavy burden. Let your step be slow and steady, that you stumble not. Persuade yourself that imperfection and inconvenience are the natural lot of humans, and there will be no room for discontent, neither for despair. When ambitious desires arise in your heart, recall the days of extremity you has passed through. Forbearance is the root of quietness and assurance forever. Look anger to be your enemy. If you know only what it is to c onquer, and not know what it is like to be defeated, it will fare ill with you. Find fault with yourself rather than with others.

See my pages on the Tokugawa Iyeasu here:

http://www.bonsaiinformation.com/largebowl.htm

Calligraphy Scroll recently restored with a beautiful crane pattern antique kimono silk covered box. The scroll ends are hand made dense Rosewood to add weight which makes the scroll sit perfectly

Poem

This has just been remounted with new Jiku and mounts

£165