This scroll is inscribed with thirty-nine poems referring to cherry blossoms from Shinkokinwakashu (nos.81 to 122 in Kokka Taikan (Comprehensive National Poems); 3 items missing) on an underdrawing of cherry and willow trees in gold and silver, with the black square seal of ‘Koetsu’ at the end. It is one of a well-known group of picture scrolls by Koetsu featuring waka poems on gold and silver underpainting. It is the second item in the 1935 catalog Koetsu iho (memories of Koetsu), Imperial Gift Museum of Kyoto (now Kyoto National Museum). This scroll continued to be highly regarded after the war; Nakata Yujiro appraised the piece by saying that the calligraphy “could be no one but Koetsu’s” and “the underpainting technique around the tree trunk at the end of the scroll was even worthy of Sotatsu’ s hand.” Hashimoto Ayako, however, considers the calligraphy to be Koetsu’s work from approximately 1617 to 18, but the underdrawing to be by a pupil of Sotatsu. Mizuo Hiroshi, in turn, expresses the ambivalent view that the underdrawing “is by a pupil who has acquired Sotatsu’s expressive style extremely well” and that the calligraphy is either Koetsu’s work “probably datable to the end of the Genna era (1615–1624),” or alternatively “perhaps a very careful imitation by a calligrapher highly adept at Koetsu’s style.”

The attribution of the calligraphy in this poetry handscroll to Koetsu becomes clear when we compare it with copies of religious texts like Rissho Ankokuron (Essay of Promotion of Tranquillity through True Belief). Koetsu copied religious texts for the temples of Myoren-ji and Honpo-ji; both temples still hold these copies, all designated Important Cultural Properties. No one denies that the religious texts are by Koetsu’s hand. Comparing specific Chinese characters appearing in the copies with those same characters found in the current scroll reveals the handwriting to be identical, so the calligraphy in this poetry scroll is indeed by Koetsu, dating back to around 1619 when the religious copies were made.

The painting employs the motifs of the cherry and the willow, but only the willow appears towards the middle of the piece, whereas the cherry trees, in full bloom, run rhythmically across the entire piece. The cherry branches first emerge from the lower edge of the scroll, after a while the petals start to  utter away, and around the center of the painting the cherry branches intersect with the vertically hanging willow branches. A veritable symphony of gold, silver and black! Unwinding a scroll adds a time-element to its appreciation, comparable with music—this is one of the most striking scenes in Koetsu’s many gold and silver underpainted poetry scrolls. The willow reappears, not interlaced with the cherry blossom this time, but providing variation. Finally we see the ground covered with scattered fallen petals, and the scroll finishes with just a few cherry tree roots. The tree roots providing this powerful ending are also Sotatsu’s personal symbol. Although he may have taken this depiction of roots from some other unknown illustrated scroll, Sotatsu made it his own distinctive emblem, using it on the pair of screens Scenes from Sekiya and Miotsukushi Chapters of the Genji Monogatari (National Treasure) in Seikado Bunko Art Museum. Ogata Korin and Sakai Hoitsu also used the motif of roots, as if to identify themselves as Sotatsu’s successors.

Hon’ami Koetsu (calligrapher, craftsman, potter, sword polisher and connoisseur; 1557−1637)
Also known as Taikyoan; Jitokusai; Tokuyusai.
Born into a Japanese sword polisher and connoisseur family. Known as the “Three Calligraphy Masters of the Kan’ei Period (1624−1645)” together with Konoe Nobutada and Shokado Shojo. Led a creative and graceful life with the Hon’ami clan and craftsmen on a land granted to him in Takagamine in northwest Kyoto by the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Renowned as the progenitor of the Rinpa School.