"Sixth Month" from Fujiwara no Teika's "Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months". Artist: Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663-1743). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 6 1/4 x 9 1/8 in. (15.9 x 23.2 cm)Overall with mounting: 43 1/4 x 19 in. (109.9 x 48.3 cm)Overall with knobs: 43 1/4 x 20 5/8 in. (109.9 x 52.4 cm). Date: 1743.These small paintings were separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals symbolic of the twelve months, each inscribed with two poems. For the sixth month, the poems celebrate tokonatsu (wild pinks) and the cormorant, a bird used for night fishing:Okata no hikage ni ito minazuki no sora sae oshiki tokonatsu no hanaMijika yo no ukawa ni noboru kagaribi no hayaku sugiyuku minazuki no sora Even though most people dread the sixth month since the sun is so bright,if wild pinks are in bloom then it does have its charms.On these short nights, flames in iron baskets on cormorant fishing boats pass by quickly and light up the sky of the si