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Hekijo 碧城

hekijo_smokejade (24K) Creator.Personal Name: 碧城.
Creator.Personal Name: Hekijo.
Creator.Role: calligrapher
Title: [Untitled]
Description: hanging scroll; ink on paper; semicursive script kanji; signed by the artist; two artist's seal.
Type: Calligraphy--Japanese.
Type: Scroll (Visual work)--Japanese.
Culture: Japanese.
Style.Period: Modern.
Technique: painting.
Material.Medium: ink.
Material.Support: paper.
Measurements: 28 x 44 in.
Location.Current Repository: private collection, C. J. Campbell (Chicago, Ill.)
Rights: C. J. Campbell.
Record Type: work.
Signature:
hekijo_smokejade_sig (16K)
Seals:
hekijo_smokejade_seals (13K)
Translation of quotation from Li Shangyin's poem The Harp: 暖玉生 smoke rises from jade.
Complete poem:
Li Shangyin 李 商 隐, 812?-858, also known as Li Yishan 李義山

锦瑟
锦瑟无端五十弦
一弦一柱思华年
庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶
望帝春心托杜鹃
沧海月明珠有泪
蓝田日暖玉生烟
此情可待成追忆
只是当时已惘然
The Harp
Why must the silky harp have fifty strings?
Each reminds me of one of life's springs.
In his dream Zhuangzi couldn't tell if he was a butterfly;
Longings of Wangdi live on in the cuckoo bird's cry.
In the Lost Sea moonlight, pearls have mermaids' tears;
Under the Blue Plain warm sun, smoke rises from jade.
Can my feelings be saved for later rememberance?
No, even at the time everything was but a haze.

Translation and text from Mysteries of Li Shangyin by Yuen Chung Kwong.


Japanese Calligraphy