K540 Sword by Yamaoka Tesshū 山岡鉄舟
kenjutsu no
okugi o fukaku tazunureba sumie ni kakishi matsukaze no oto Tesshū Kōhō Asking for the
Inner secret of kenjutsu Is like asking me To brush on an ink painting The sound of wind in the pines. |
松風の音
尋ぬれバ墨絵にか起し
剱術の奥義を深く
鉄舟高歩書
|
This appears to be an unique Tesshū Zenga. Normally, Tesshū brushed hundreds of copies of the same theme but here it is clear that the the person seeking the secret of swordsmanship was sitting next to Tesshū. “If you want to know the secret of swordsmanship I will paint it for you.” Tesshū brushed the sword but the secret was not spelled out—that is like trying “to draw the sound of the wind in the pines.” That expression comes from a poem by Ikkyū:
The mind—
What can we say?
It is like the sound of
The wind in the pines
Brushed on an ink painting.
K540 hanging scroll, sumi on paper 131.4 cm × 51.4 cm