Orchids

Since the time of Ch'u Yuan (332-268) in China, the orchid has symbolized the purity and uncompromising moral fortitude of scholars. O_tsuki Bankei was renowned as a Confucian scholar and served as an imperial tutor. He was dismayed when Japan was unable to resist demands from western countries to open its ports to international trade in the mid-19th century. For a time he was even imprisoned for his involvement with the resistance forces. It is appropriate, therefore, that he often chose to paint orchids. Here, Bankei created a handscroll nearly fifteen feet in length showing clumps of freely brushed orchids interspersed among poetry. Despite the turmoil Bankei experienced, his verses are lyrically aloof. The first poem on the far right may be translated in the following manner: