Calligraphy

Koetsu, a calligrapher, and Sotatsu, a painter, often collaborated to produce works in which calligraphy and painting complemented each other. This piece contains a poem that reads:

Tea helps dispel worries and cares,

Leading us to easiness, free from the pursuit of worldly success,

Tea, like a day lily, helps us forget,

Leaving us totally relaxed.

The free-flowing brushwork matches the loose spirit of them poem. In both style and subject matter, this calligraphy pays homage to "tea taste," an aesthetic in which natural, accidental beauty is careful studied, appreciated, and replicated.