Taira no Kanemori, from the series Nishiki hyakunin isshu azuma-ori (Eastern Brocade of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets)

Each page in this anthology of Japan’s one hundred greatest poets combines a portrait and a poem. Saigyo (1118–1190), though born into a samurai family, renounced his life of privilege to became a Buddhist priest-poet. Between his numerous travels around Japan, he lived in a simple grass hut near the Shingon Buddhist temples of Mount Koya. References to the moon appear frequently in Saigyo’s poetry; here the moon becomes a conduit for feelings of loss: Nageke tote Should I blame the moonTsuki ya wa mono o For bringing forth this sadness,Omowasuru As if it pictured grief?Kakochi gao naru Lifting up my troubled face,Waga namida kana I regard it through my tears.(“Moon,” curated by Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum August 25, 2018-January 13, 2019)