Vintage Japanese Calligraphy Scroll Tang Poem Maple Bridge Night Mooring

The Poem
月落烏啼霜滿天，江楓漁火對愁眠。姑蘇城外寒山寺，夜半鐘聲到客船。("Yuè luò wū tí shuāng mǎn tiān, jiāng fēng yú huǒ duì chóu mián. Gūsū chéng wài Hánshān sì, yèbàn zhōng shēng dào kèchuán.") In plain English: the moon has set, crows are calling, and frost fills the night sky; along the river, the maple trees and fishermen's lantern-fires keep uneasy company with a traveler's sleepless sorrow. Beyond the walls of Gusu city stands Hanshan Temple — and at midnight, the sound of its bell reaches all the way to the visitor's boat.

The Poet & Its Legacy
Composed by the Tang-dynasty poet Zhang Ji (張繼) after failing the imperial examinations, this quatrain has endured for over a millennium as one of the most treasured poems in the Chinese and Japanese literary canon. It is especially beloved in Japan, where the image of the midnight temple bell at Hanshan Temple has been reproduced in ink paintings, textbooks, and calligraphy for centuries. The poem captures a lone traveler's night of restless homesickness — until the distant temple bell breaks through the darkness, quieting the mind and pointing toward a deeper stillness beneath the sorrow, a resonance that has made the verse a favorite subject for Zen-inflected calligraphy.

Colophon & Artist
The smaller inscription identifies the source: 唐張繼楓橋夜泊 ("Tō Chōkei, Fūkyō Yahaku") — "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge, by Zhang Ji of the Tang." It is signed 詩曉峰書 ("shi, Gyōhō sho") — "poem respectfully brushed by Gyōhō." A small oval seal marks the top of the composition to anchor its energy, while a square red seal reading 曉峰 (Gyōhō) beneath the signature authenticates the work.

Condition & Presentation
Brushed in sumi ink on gold-toned paper (kinsen), mounted with deep indigo silk-brocade borders.