Newly Published Commentary on Japanese Poems by Sōgi (Shinpan waka chūsen shō), vol. 2

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

This book combines monk and poet Sōgi's commentary on a selection of the best classical poems with illustrations. Sōgi wrote the text in 1484, nearly 200 years before this illustrated version was published. The addition of pictures likely made an otherwise austere text more approachable. Sometimes readers could not resist the temptation to add their own marks. Here, a previous owner has altered the illustration of a seated aristocrat with the addition of a flowering branch and three snakes sneaking up on the contemplative man. Japan, Asia