Minneapolis Institute of Art

On Becoming Fifty

Calligrapher: Ema Saikō

Date

1836

Medium

Hanging scroll, ink on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Ema Saikō was an outstanding female literatus of her time who was undertaking Chinese studies and arts. She wrote this Chinese-style poem on elegant blue paper with a delicate design of bracken. As I become half a hundred, I begin to understand past mistakes; Slowly, slowly, my intentions have been thwarted. Cranes are tall, ducks short—it is not humans who made them so. Fish leap, hawks soar—all following the course of nature. My desires have faded away like spring snow, Old friends have vanished like stars at dawn. In the end, there is no use in potions for longevity, I only love to paint bamboo, its verdure reflected on my robe. Japan, Asia

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