Segment of Letter by Priest Jien
- Person
-
作者伝慈円
- Date
-
制作年 AD13
- Title
- （伝）ジエンヒツショジョウダンカン
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-000681-0000
- 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 Monochrome Writing
What’s shown here is a fragment of a letter, but with no known details. It says, “I have under my custody seven lacquer boxes that contain the Oshogyo, or Buddhist sutras, that are maintained at a temple, and I am supposed to compare the boxes with the attached catalog. Due to our priests leaving the capital to visit the countryside, my meeting people who come up to Kyoto seeking precepts or ordination, and a lot of other business I must attend to, I have not finished the referencing work.”The attached kiwamefuda statement (certification of authenticity) attributes this fragment to the Priest Jien (1155-1225), judging from the characteristic hand. The priest was the son of the Regent Fujiwara-no-Tadamichi (1097-1164), and the younger brother of Kujo Kanezane (1149-1207). After Jien was appointed to be the guardian priest of Emperor Gotoba (1180-1239), he was appointed prelate of Tendai Temple in 1192, and, thereafter, he assumed this honorable position four times, eventually reaching the highest Buddhist rank at this powerful temple (1203). Jien was a renowned poet with selected waka poems in the Senzai Wakashu (Anthology of Japanese Poems of a Thousand Years) and in all successive imperially commissioned poetry collections. He left behind a private anthology, Shugyoku-Shu, but his Gukan Sho is particularly famous for its unique interpretation of Japanese history defending political administrations of regents.One can admire Priest Jien’s authentic hand in the waka kaishi (Japanese poems composed and written on folded paper, e.g., at waka parties； Nara National Museum), privately-owned letters, and other writings documenting prayers (at Tokyo National Museum). His calligraphic style shows the influence of his father, Tadamichi, so one can call Jien a successor of the Hosshoji style of writing. Upon close scrutiny, the hand in this fragmented letter shows the characteristics of the Hosshoji School with its heavy and consistent strokes and elongated letters. However, one cannot promptly authenticate it to be executed by Jien. Rather, it’s more likely to have been written by Gokyogoku Yoshitsune (1169-1206), who was Tadamichi’s grandson and Kanezane’s second son. Yoshitsune’s hand shows a higher center of gravity and a smartly flowing style typical of the Hosshoji School, which triggered a craze among collectors and connoisseurs in later eras. Gokyogoku Yoshitsune was admired as the originator of the Gokyogoku School of calligraphy. The letter shown here, however, deals with temple affairs and one hesitates to attribute it to Yoshitsune. As the true calligrapher cannot be identified, this fragmented letter is attributed to the Priest Jien following tradition.
御聖教七合任御注文下預之目録大旨被相副候哉発心房十七日下向戒者廿日上洛世事如法周章纒頭折節候之間未及合目録
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- Title (EN)
- Segment of Letter by Priest Jien
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Quantity 1幅
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