Pair of 6-leaf screens decorated with a series of calligraphies by Takabayashi Nobuyoshi 高林信好 (1819-1897), Japan, 1878, 19th century.

The text is a passage from a classical Chinese text by the historian and statesman Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019-1086), entitled 獨樂園記 "The Garden of Unique Pleasure". Sima Guang had moved to Luoyang in 1071. Two years later, he bought a plot of land there a short distance from his house, which he transformed into a garden with a pond with an island, a waterfall, a medicinal plant patch, a small tower, etc. He had a small library pavilion built in the center of his garden. His essay explains the reasons why he named his garden thus.

It appears that this text has never been translated into a Western language. I sincerely thank Mr. Alain Briot, who took advantage of the lockdown to translate it.

。First screen: (The first one is the one with a red seal on the top right)

迂叟平日讀書,上師聖人,下友群賢,窺仁義之原,探禮樂之緒。自未始有形之前，暨四達無窮之外，事物之理，舉集目前。 可者，學之未至夫何求於人，何待於外哉！志倦體疲。 ...

Second screen (continued): ... 水，臨高縱目，逍遙相羊，唯意所適。明月時至，清風自來，行無所牽，止無所柅，耳目肺腸，悉為己有,踽踽焉、洋洋焉,不知天壤之間復有何樂可以代此也。因合而命之曰:"獨樂"。

明治戊寅春日 二峰 書 信好之印 弐峰

Every day I read books [in the library in my garden]. Among the best authors, I have taken the great sages as my teachers, and among the others, many are my friends. I have studied the sources of the virtues of humanity and justice, and I have sought the origins of rites. The Principle of all things, which already existed before the appearance of matter and which is found everywhere, even to and beyond the confines of the universe, is there, concentrated before my eyes. Now, I suffer from never having been able to attain it through study, but how and from whom could I ask it? What can I expect from the outside world? When my mind is weary and my body tired, I cast my fishing rod, I catch fish: I lift up the hem of my dress and gather medicinal herbs; I dig ditches to irrigate the flowerbeds: wielding the axe, I cut bamboo; I refresh myself...

... dipping my hands in a basin of cool water; I climb to a height and look into the distance; I wander at random. All I wish is that when the hour comes when the moon shines, a cool wind will rise. When I walk, there is nothing to carry me along. If I stop, no stake holds me back. My ears, my eyes, my lungs, my intestines, all my organs are autonomous. I relax and take my ease as I please. Is there another pleasure in Heaven or on Earth that can replace this one? I do not know. That is why I have baptized [my garden] the "Garden of Unique Pleasure"

The screen is signed with the calligrapher's name, Nihô, ("The Two Peaks"), followed by the seal of his personal name Nobuyoshi no in (Seal of Nobuyoshi) and the seal of his artist name Nihô

It is dated; A Spring Day in the Year of the Elder Tiger of the Earth, Meiji Era (1878)

Nihô 二峰 is the artist name of Takabayashi Nobuyoshi 高林信好 (1819-1897), a Japanese artist from Gunma Prefecture, who taught himself calligraphy. He is the father of Takabayashi Gohô, (The Five Peaks") who was also a renowned calligrapher.

Each of these screens measures approximately 170 x 360 cm.

They are kept in their original box.