National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This manuscript is a segment from the second volume of Wakan ryoei shu (Collection of Japanese and Chinese Verses). Originally mounted as a handscroll, this poem anthology now exists only in several segments. This gem of a piece was calligraphed with a dynamic hand on karakami, a decorated paper that was coated with a thin solution of animal glue mixed with white pigment and printed with motifs of peonies, lions, and arabesques in mica. Moreover, the postscript informs us that the renowned calligrapher Fujiwara Sadanobu (1088-1158) brushed this segment, thus making it an extremely important work. However, this postscript may have been a reproduction from a later period.