Autumn Evening ( A Poem by Saigyō), from the series Sanseki waka

Description

In Autumn Evening, Katsukawa Shunshō places two figures among riverbank reeds beneath distant hills. A tall standing person extends an arm to the left while a lower companion remains nearby, and calligraphy fills the sky above them. The meeting of landscape, gesture and written verse gives the scene a quiet structure in which human presence belongs to a larger seasonal setting.

Made in the late eighteenth century, the ink-and-color woodblock print gives a poetic subject a visual presence. Saigyō’s name anchors the work to a specific literary voice, while the evening setting introduces a quiet interval between day and night. Shunshō’s image can be approached as a meeting of poetry and pictorial design. The title establishes that relationship without requiring the poem’s words or unconfirmed scenic details to be supplied.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Katsukawa Shunshō collection.