Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Ranked first in the early poetry collection Man’yōshū and considered one of the Thirty-six Immortal Poets, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (d. ca. 710) is among the best known masters of Japanese-style poetry. Portraits of the beloved poet were treated as religious icons as early as the classical Heian period. The inscription brushed at top left is an ancient poem traditionally associated with Hitomaro:

Honobono to

Akashi no ura

no asagiri

ni

shima-gakure yuku

fune o shi zo

omou

Dimly, dimly

in the morning mist that lies over Akashi Bay, my longings follow with the ship

that vanishes behind the distant isle.

[Translated by Robert H. Brower and Earl Roy Miner]