Minneapolis Institute of Art

Monk Kisen

Kikukawa Eizan; Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei

Date

c. 1807

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A prostitute is juxtaposed with Kisen, a mid-ninth-century Buddhist monk and poet, about whom the only thing known today is that he lived near Mount Uji. The inscribed poem, by Kisen, is cited in the Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times ( Kokin wakashū ), from around 905: My hut is to the capital’s southeast, and thus I live. But people call it “Uji, hill of one weary of the world, ” I hear. Asia

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.