Chiyomigusa

Chiyomigusa  千代見草
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Commentary by Tomoko Sakomura
Posted January 27, 2018

Hasegawa Myōtei (active mid-eighteenth century) was the most prolific writer of women’s calligraphy primers (nyohitsu 女筆) that were in fashion from the 1660s to the 1760s.Working well into her eighties, Myōtei was responsible for beginning a trend in the early eighteenth century for calligraphy primers (see Nyohitsu shinan shū, FSC-GR-780.455.1-3 for biographical notes on Myōtei).


Each of the three volumes of Chiyomigusa (The chrysanthemum) has an opening illustration attributed to Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671–1751), and the volumes are roughly organized by season, with the first volume comprising eight letters, the second volume including eight letters with a few poems appended at the end, and the third volume with seven letters on topics ranging from fall through winter. The illustration introducing volume one shows two women: an older woman holding a tanzaku, a narrow slip of paper for inscribing poetry, and a younger woman glancing upward to the poem inscribed in the clouds above. The poem expresses the wish that the manifold scents of cherry blossoms continue for ages, and this imbues the book with a sense of poetic elegance. The setting is spring. The illustration in volume two depicts a tastefully appointed interior with a folding screen; an older woman is about to inscribe a poem on a tanzaku slip. A lacquered writing box with ink stone is placed between her and a younger girl who looks up at the moon through the open door panels. A poem is again featured in the clouds. The setting is autumn. The illustration in volume three portrays a woman contemplating a letter with a brush in her hand. Her writing desk has stacks of books (much like the model), as well as a stack of tanzaku slips and a ream of kaishi paper. The snow-laden branches of the plum tree elegantly picture the winter setting.

The graceful inscriptions teach the reader the appropriate epistolary phrases and scattered writing (chirashigaki 散らし書き), a mode that spreads phrases across multiple lines and connected by ligatures. Myōtei’s extreme ligatures—delicate diagonal lines that rhythmically cut across the pages—add great flair with the leftward and upward motion of her script. It is a striking contrast to the lines of poetry in the previous page that connects, at most, two syllables.

Epistolary scattered writing also requires knowledge on how to read it. The first full text spreads across three pages of the book. On each page, the lines of text are staggered and form band-like clusters. Each page typically contains two clusters of text, roughly positioned on each side of an imaginary diagonal division running from the right upper corner to the left bottom corner of the page. The clustered text is further distinguished by the size of the written characters. Thicker, darker strokes visually mimic the fuller load of ink on the brush tip, offering a visual cue on where to begin reading.

An example of this type of writing is seen at the beginning at the center of the right page of the first double-page opening (p. 2 on the website) in volume one, no be no 野辺の / harukaze 春風 / wabishi 侘し / ku く / te て(though in the field the spring breeze is dreary) continues onto the third page, sode samu 袖寒 / kaeru かへる / koromode 衣手 / ni に (chilling one’s garment sleeves), and then on to the fourth page, nokoru 残る / fukayuki 深雪を / kakinadeかきなて(scooping away deep snow that lingers). The text returns to the bottom right half of the first text page, wagatame 我ため / ni に/ on tsumisōrō 御つみ候 / to te とて (that you have picked for me), then to upper left half of the facing page, wakana 若菜 / iroiro 色々/ kuda 下/ sare sōrō され候 / Asakayama 浅香山 / asakarazu 不浅 (and bestowed to me various young herbs, deeply), and finally to the upper left half of the fourth page, onkokorozashi 御心さし / ure うれ / shiku zonji しく存 / ma ま / irase sōrōいらせ候 / kashikuかしく(I am grateful for your consideration).

Nyohitsu shinan shū, another manual by Myōtei in the Pulverer collection with illustrations attributed to Sukenobu, displays a gradual progression of textual content and calligraphy skills. In contrast, the content and style of writing in this text is consistent from start to finish in its showcasing of Myōtei’s signature style.

Selected readings:

Koizumi, Yoshinaga 小泉吉永, ed. Edo jidai josei bunko hoi nyohitsu tehon rui 『江戸時代女性文庫・補遺「女筆手本類」』(Tokyo: Ōzorasha, 1999).

Koizumi, Yoshinaga 小泉吉永. “Kinsei no nyohitsu tehon—on’nabumi o meguru shomondai—” 『近世の女筆手本—女文をめぐる諸問題—』. PhD diss., Kanazawa University, 1999.

Kornicki, Peter F., Mara Patessio, and G. G. Rowley, eds.The Female as Subject: Reading and Writing in Early Modern Japan, Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, vol. 70 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies: 2010).

Mashimo, Saburō 真下三郎. Shokan yōgo no kenkyū 『書簡用語の研究』(Hiroshima: Keisuisha, 1985).