Ink on paper
Size: 2 1/2" x 14 1/2"
Click here to view complete mounting
Translation:
Working in the vicinity
of North Mountain.
From dawn to dusk,
spending the day
gathering clay’;
surely the Buddha
would not think it
a trifling matter.
(signed) Rengetsu, 79 years
old
A Zen Buddhist nun,
Rengetsu is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest poets. She was also a
prolific calligrapher, potter and painter.
She
was given the name Nobu at birth. Likely the secret daughter of a geisha,
she was adopted shortly after her birth by Otagaki Mitsuhisa, who worked at
Chion’in, an important Pure Land sect temple in Kyoto. At the age of eight
or nine, she was sent to serve at Kameoka Castle in Tanba, where she studied
poetry, calligraphy and martial arts. She returned to Kyoto in 1807 and was
married to a young samurai named Mochihisa. They had three children, all of
whom died shortly after birth; in 1815 Mochihisa also died. A few years
later, Nobu remarried a man from Hikone on the shores of Lake Biwa; but he
died in 1823. After enduring the tragic loss of two husbands and all her
children, and only 33 years old, Nobu cut her hair off and became a nun, at
which time she adopted the name Rengetsu (lotus moon). She lived near
Chion’in with her stepfather, who had also taken vows. After his death in
1832, Rengetsu began to make pottery, which she then inscribed with her own
waka (31-syllable classical poetry) and sold to support herself.
She
also painted poem sheets and scrolls, often collaborating with renowned
artists. In 1865, Rengetsu settled at Jinko’in, Temple of Divine Light.
Ten years later, aged 84, she died in the simple temple tearoom where she
had lived and worked. She was friends to many of the important literary,
artistic, political, and religious figures of the day, and she was an
important figure herself in the cultural life of Kyoto.
