The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Horizontally oriented hanging scroll with six vertical rows of swirling Japanese text on a light red-pink paper dotted with rectangles and flecks of gold. On the lower left is a circular red stamp with more characters. The black ink characters are thin lined, swirling almost continuously down the page with various lengths and a larger gap dividing the lines into groups of three and three.

Poem from the "Collection of Ancient and Modern Verse"

2011

Takaki Seikaku

(Japanese, 1923–2017)
Japan, Heisei period (1989–2019)
hanging scroll; ink on dyed paper with cut gold
Sheet: 36 x 50 cm (14 3/16 x 19 11/16 in.); Image: 18.5 x 21.5 cm (7 5/16 x 8 7/16 in.); Mounted: 120 x 40 cm (47 1/4 x 15 3/4 in.)
Gift of the Artist 2011.22
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Poem number 355 from the Collection of Ancient and Modern Verse dates to the ninth century.

Description

This calligraphy is a copy of an ancient Japanese poem originally composed to celebrate someone’s 60th birthday, when people are traditionally considered to enter a new phase of life. It expresses hopes for longevity, symbolized by a bird and animal who legendarily have long lives. It says:

The crane and the turtle
after the passage of a thousand years
meet I know not what,
yet with all the longing of my heart,
that is what I wish for you.
  • ?–2011
    Collection of the artist, Japan, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2011–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. cat. no. 92
  • Contemporary Calligraphy and Clay. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7, 2024-June 15, 2025).
    The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Poem from the "Collection of Ancient and Modern Verse"|url=false|author=Takaki Seikaku|year=2011|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2011.22