#247 As the autumn wind returns to brush a traveler’s sleeves,…
| Size： | approx. 135×35 cm |
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| Dressing： | framed |
About this Waka (Poem)
| verse: | Tabibito no, sode fukikahesu, akikaze ni, yufuhi sabishi ki, yama no kakehashi |
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| a humble interpretation: | As the autumn wind returns to brush a traveler’s sleeves, the evening sun grows lonely over the narrow mountain bridge. |
| poet: | Fujiwara, Teika |
| in: | before 1216 |
About the Artwork
This waka was first presented on a standard-sized sheet of paper.
In this new version, however, the same poem has been brushed onto a tall, slender sheet—one of entirely different scale.
It is remarkable how profoundly the presence of a waka can shift simply through a change in the size and proportions of the paper.
On the smaller format, the poem felt close at hand.
The traveler’s intimate emotions, the gesture of brushing his sleeve, and the autumn wind returning toward him all seemed within reach—forming a compact, concentrated world.
By contrast, the long vertical format naturally draws the eye downward, extending both time and distance.
The autumn wind is no longer a fleeting moment, but something that travels at length along the mountain path.
The evening sun ceases to be a single point of light and instead unfolds as a radiance that envelops the entire mountain bridge.
Though the waka itself remains unchanged, its resonance shifts when the vessel that holds it is transformed.
The expansive vertical space of this tall format deepens the poem’s atmosphere, heightening its quiet and austere solitude.