A JAPANESE LACQUER 'YATSUHASHI' SHIBAYAMA KORO BY KORIN Edo period, 18th Century Irises at Yatsuhashi The hexagonal body decorated in gilt lacquer with a footbridge zigzagging through a pond, wild irises, kakitsubata (Iris laevigata) emerging from the eddies and whirls of the water, the blossoms inlaid with mother-of-pearl, fragments of a poem in stylised calligraphy inlaid in iron on each side, Seisei Korin with a kao inscribed the base, the interior with white metal lining and with a metal cover pierced with a design of herons among clouds 8cm high, 10cm across (3) The design reflects a scene from section nine of Heian period novel, The Tales of Ise (980 AD). Exiled from Kyoto Ariwarano Narihira, a talented nobleman, sets off to find a new home in the country. He travels with a small entourage and stops at a Yatsuhashi bridge in Mikawa province. The group takes a respite beneath a tree and enjoys a picnic while one of Narihira's men challenges him to write an impromptu poem. The nobleman creates a word puzzle using the Kakitsubata as a main motif and weaving it back to the wife he left in the capital and misses dearly. The poem in its entirety reads: Karagoromo Kitsutsu narenishi Tsuma shi areba Harubaru kinuru Tabi o shi zo omou.