Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months” 1743 Ogata Kenzan Japanese Kenzan, brother of the painter and designer Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716), was born into a wealthy merchant family in Kyoto. He is best known for his ceramic wares, having studied with the great Kyoto potter Nonomura Ninsei (active ca. 1646-94), but he was also a gifted painter and calligrapher. He took these poems from the Shūigusō (Gleaning of Worthless Weeds), a collection of verse by the poet and calligrapher Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241). They read: Robes of white clothshould be aired out, they say,just when summer arrivesand deutzia flowers in bloomcause the hedge to droop.In the village of Shinobuwhere the cuckoo dwells,its cry is now heard,while we await next monthwhen deutzia flowers bloom.. Fourth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months” 45275