Creative Commons License
Nogaku zue
(Japan and Korea )
When the ghost of the great beauty and poet Ono no Komachi asks a wandering priest (right) to pray for her soul, she is held back by the ghost of a former suitor, Shii no Shosho. He had sacrificed his life in a vain effort to prove his love and cannot bear to have her leave him again.
Komachi: Would you still have me suffer
The tortures of hell?
Shosho: Even when we suffered them together
The pains were grievous,
But if you alone attain
The Way of the Buddha
You will add to the weight I bear
Yet another cloak of sorrow,
Piling grief on grief.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Snell, Jr. [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1989, by gift.
Geographies
Japan, Tokyo (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 9 13/16 x W: 14 5/8 in. (25 x 37.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Snell, Jr., 1989
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
95.248