Gathering of Poetic Immortals with Poem Drafts

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

When Yosa Buson died, his students raised funds for his daughter Kuno’s second marriage by selling their own paintings and calligraphies attached to surviving drafts of Buson’s poetry and commentary. Here, beneath a section of Buson’s manuscripts, Matsumura Goshun painted nine of the poets Buson judged to be the best at haikai, a humorous form of poetry in which poets take turns contributing verses to a poem. In his inscription, Goshun explained that his choice of subject relates to the content of Buson’s text.

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