遅き日の つもりて遠き 昔かな osoki hi no tsumorite tōki mukashi kana buson 蕪村 The long slow days of spring piling up, so far away the past

The long slow days of spring
piling up, so far away
the past ^[1]

遅き日のつもりて遠き昔かな (osoki hi no tsumorite tōki mukashi kana): the long slow days piling up, and how far away the past. 遅き日 is the long day of late spring, the season word, when the sun sets late and the day seems not to end; つもりて is piling up, said of days as of snow; 遠き昔 is the far past, and かな the exclamation. In 1920 the writer 木村架空 gave it two parents in the old court poetry: Narihira on the days that pile up into a man's age, and Ietaka on snow piling on a peak. Blyth heard the bitterness of passing time in its sounds; Shirane heard the many springs gone since a youth grown far away.

References:

^[1] After Haruo Shirane, Early Modern Japanese Literature (Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 545.

The verse is Buson's, first printed in 1784 in his 蕪村句集 under the headnote 懐旧, longing for the past; the 1992 Kōdansha complete works dates it to 1775 from his own verse-book.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 遅き日のつもりて遠き昔かな.

Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days. It ships by USPS Priority Mail from Master Takase's studio in Washington State, boxed and ready to hang, with a printed page giving the art's English, romaji and Japanese.

Sending it as a gift? Tell us when you order and we will include your message.

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $22. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.

Every order is covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee. If your scroll arrives damaged, or we made an error, we replace it or refund you in full, including shipping. Refund policy

Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase brushes your scroll by hand when you order it. Each scroll bears her red seal, 英利, and her signature.

The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm) with real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō for over two decades.

Eri Takase was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and holds the rank of Shihan, the highest rank in Japanese calligraphy, from the Bokuteki-kai and the Bunka-shodo. About Master Takase