Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009955About the Artwork
Master of portraiture Watanabe Kazan’s memorial fan painting of the artist Kō Sūkoku (1730–1804) features a variant on one of the deceased’s poems by painter Tani Bunchō on the reverse. The short, unorthodox or comic poem (haikai) reads: The grave is readied / and the sake warmed. / Oh, the cold! Kazan was a disciple of Tani Bunchō, one of the most prominent painters of his day. The two first met in 1817, the year of the 13th anniversary of Kō Sūkoku’s death. In Japanese Buddhist practice, the 13th death anniversary requires special memorial services, so it has been speculated that the two collaborated on the fan at that time. Many painters and print designers of the Edo period socialized with one another through poetry circles where linked verse poems (renga) and haikai were composed.
Inscriptions
The grave is readied / and the sake warmed. / Oh, the cold!
Provenance
?–1976: (Katsuhiro Kobayashi, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1976–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977). Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983). Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984). Fans: East and West. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 15, 1992-March 7, 1993). Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 2-July 9, 2018).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Watanabe Kazan (Japanese, 1793–1841)
- Date
- possibly 1817
- Medium
- Fan, wood with ink, color, gold, and silver on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 17.8 x 45.7 cm (7 x 18 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- James Parmelee Fund
- Accession no.
- 1976.8
More by Watanabe Kazan in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009955
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