Writing box

On the lid of this box is an imaginary portrait of the poet Ki no Tsurayuki (circa 868-945), compiler of the early tenth-century imperial anthology Kokinshu (Collection of ancient and modern poems). A poem by Tsurayuki from the Kokinshu is inscribed in the space above the tatami mat on which he is seated.

Like my cupped hands (musubu te no)
Spilling drops back into the mountain pool (shizuku ni nigoru)
And clouding its pure waters (yama no i no)
Before the satisfaction of my thirst (akade mo hito ni) 
So have I had to part with you too soon. (wakarenuru ka na)

(Translation by Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner, Japanese Court Poetry [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961], 207-208)

The design of this box was adapted from a page in a woodblock-printed illustrated edition of Sanjurokkasen (Thirty-six immortal poets) published during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries by a close associate of the calligrapher and artist, Hon'ami Koetsu (1558-1637) the wealthy merchant Suminokura Soan (1571-1632). Soan's beautiful editions of classical works of Japanese literature were called Sagabon (Saga editions) after the place where they were printed near Kyoto. Although this lacquer box is only indirectly related to Koetsu, it confirms his enduring prestige and importance to artists of the Edo period.