蓮月尼和歌色紙軸装　春の鶯【Calligraphy Hanging Scroll by Rengetsu-ni 】[K0596]

大田垣蓮月の色紙が軸装されています。

青やきの下　ゆく水にかけみえて　こゑもなかるる春の鶯　

とし八十四　蓮月

「青柳の下　ゆく水にかげみえて　聲もながるる春のうぐひす」は蓮月の歌集『捨遺』にも掲載されています。蓮月の流麗な筆致で表される歌は春の澄んだ水面に写る鶯とその鳴き声、空気感までも思い起こさせます。晩年の書。

【大田垣蓮月（1791-1875）】

寛政３年、伊賀国上野の城代家老藤堂良聖の子として生まれるが、生後すぐに京都知恩院寺侍の大田垣光古の養女となる。少女期は丹波亀山藩に奉公し、そこで諸芸を身につける。その後17歳で大田垣家の養子と婚姻、三児をもうけるがいずれも夭折し、夫も亡くす。再婚するも2人目の夫とも死別し、養父と共に出家。蓮月尼と称した。若き日から和歌を嗜み、上田秋成(あきなり)、香川景樹(かげき)に師事、六人部是香(むとべよしか)に入門。
42歳で養父とも死別した後は陶器を作り生計を立てる。自詠の句を彫り入れたものが蓮月焼と呼ばれ人気を博すも、自身は質素な生活をおくり、貧者への施しやそれまで橋が無かった鴨川丸太町に橋を架けたりと喜捨したという。
晩年も作陶をつづけ、侍童であった富岡鉄斎にも大きな影響を与えた。

“Under the green willow trees　Shadows appear on the flowing water　Flows the song of the spring bush warbler” Eighty-four years old, Ren-getsu.

This poem is also included in Rengetsu-ni's poetry collection, 捨遺. Written in Rengetsu's characteristic flowing style, this poem evokes the image of a bush warbler reflected in the clear spring water, its song, and even the atmosphere. A late work.

【Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875)】

Born in 1791 as the daughter of Fujidō Ryōsei, a senior retainer of the castle lord of Ueno in Iga Province, she was adopted shortly after birth by Ōtagaki Teruhisa, a temple attendant at Chion-in Temple in Kyoto. During her youth, she served in the Tamba Kameyama Domain, where she mastered various arts. At the age of 17, she married the adopted son of the Ōtagaki family and bore three children, all of whom died young, and her husband also passed away. She remarried but was widowed again, and she and her adoptive father took vows of celibacy. She was known as Rengetsu-ni(nun). From a young age, she enjoyed waka poetry and studied under Ueda Akinari and Kagawa Kageki, and later became a disciple of Mutobe Yoshika.
After her adoptive father passed away when she was 42, she made a living by creating pottery. Her works, which featured her own poems engraved on them, were called Rengetsu-yaki and became popular, but she lived a simple life and is said to have made charitable donations to the poor and even built a bridge over the Kamo River in Marutamachi.
She continued to create pottery in her later years and also influenced Tomioka Tessai, who was her attendant.