26160 Munakata Shiko, The Fence of Hatinuzaka (Song of Flames, hand-made in the illustrated catalogue, Munakata Shiko Appraisal Registration Committee)

Height 48.0cm x 73.0cm (including frame)
Width 31.0cm x 55.0cm (including frame)



Munakata Shiko was a Japanese woodblock artist born in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture in 1903 (Meiji 36). In his final years, he temporarily changed his name to Munakata Shiko. He grew up in a poor family, and while helping out with the family business from a young age, he became drawn to painting. It is said that he was particularly moved by the beauty of arrowhead flowers he saw in a rice paddy, and decided to become a painter.

"Hutanyusaka, a virgin standing on the flower-blooming bank, who is my beloved wife in the eternal days of spring?"

"Kagiroi-sho" is a large series of 32 pieces that incorporates tanka poems by literary critic Yasuda Yojuro, an early supporter of Munakata Shiko. Production continued from around 1948 until his later years, making it the longest series of tanka poems by a single poet. Shiko said of "Kagiroi-sho," "I created it with the feeling of having fun to my heart's content, playing in heaven," and it is a masterpiece that is representative of Shiko's efforts to combine poetry and painting.

Song interpretation
This song offers a glimpse into the romantic worldview of literary critic Yasuda Yojuro. It describes a beautiful young woman standing on a flower-filled bank on a calm spring day, and asks whose beloved wife she will become. You can sense his profound knowledge of the classics and his poetic power of expression.