Letter by Ishikawa Jozan
- Person
-
作者石川丈山
- Date
-
制作年 AD17
- Title
- イシカワジョウザンヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-001893-0000
- License
- CC BY Images license
- Creditline
-
慶應義塾（センチュリー赤尾コレクション）
- URL
- Classification
- Art
- AI Tagging
- Handwriting Font Art Writing Event
A Chinese-style poet of the early Edo Period, Ishikawa Jozan (1583-1672) came from a family who for three generations were vassals of General Tokugawa Ieyasu. However, despite impeccable military service to his lord during the Summer Battle of Osaka, Jozan was accused of breaching some rules, which led to his resignation from office and eventually entering of Buddhist training. In due course, he went on to study Confucian teachings under the noted scholar Fujiwara Seika (1561-1619) at age 35. In 1651, when he was 59, Jozan built a detached hut named “Shisen-Do” (lit: poetic saint’s hall) in a small village in northern Kyoto and lived as a recluse.Together with Hayashi Razan (1583-1657), who was his close friend and associate, Jozan selected 36 outstanding poets of China during the Han through Sung dynasties and patterned them after the Thirty Six Immortal Poets of ancient Japan. The four walls of Jozan’s dwelling were decorated with paintings by Kano Tanyu and Chinese poems Jozan himself had written in the scribe style. In later years, Jozan was often invited by Emperor Gomizunoo to official literary events, which he refused to attend to live as a free-willed artist-scholar associating only with like-minded friends. Jozan’s calligraphy is characterized by the authentic Chinese style, and his scribe-style writing is outstanding. Here, Jozan writes to Lord Toda Ujikane (1576-1655), the governor of Ohgaki Province in Mino (today’s Gifu Prefecture). Lord Toda, a military administrator who served General Tokugawa Ieyasu well, was also hailed as a good administrator of his people in the province. Not only that, he had studied under Confucian scholars such as Fujiwara Seika and Hayashi Razan, and it is likely that he cultivated a friendship with Jozan through academic associations. In this thank-you letter, Jozan is very grateful for the gift of dried and skewed abalone (a rare delicacy) and adds that he is happy that Lord Toda liked the gift of tea that Jozan had sent him earlier.
返々御茶寧之由珎重ニ貴札拝見奉存候以上殊串鮑一筥被懸御意過分ニ奉存候則賞翫可仕候毎度御懇志之段難伸所謝候恐惶頓首十八日丈山（花押）常閑尊翁 回章
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Details
Identifiers
- Title (EN)
- Letter by Ishikawa Jozan
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
-
Quantity 1幅
- Attachments
- 古筆了意・恒川了慮極札付 十八日付 常閑斎宛
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