Vintage Japanese Sosho Calligraphy Scroll Zen Spring Plum Moon Poem

The Verse
庭梅含雪滿地春 / 池柳新月洗紗 ("Tei bai gan setsu manchi shun / Chi ryū shingetsu sensa") — "The garden plum, holding snow, spreads spring across the earth; the pond's willows, beneath a new moon, seem to wash a veil of gossamer silk." The couplet moves between two classical seasonal images: plum blossoms opening even as snow still clings to their branches — the archetypal sign of spring's first stirring — and willow branches trailing over a pond beneath a thin crescent moon, its light likened to fine silk gauze being rinsed clean in the water.

Zen Reading
Beyond its seasonal imagery, the poem carries a quiet meditative undertone: the image of moonlight "washing" the silk-thin surface of the pond evokes the clearing away of worldly dust from the mind, restoring it to a state of stillness and purity — a favorite theme in Zen-influenced literati verse, where the changing of the seasons becomes a mirror for the clarity of an awakened mind.

The Brushwork
Executed in bold, unrestrained Sōsho (草書, cursive script), the calligraphy itself seems to move with the same energy as the poem's imagery — flowing, wind-touched strokes that echo the swaying willow and drifting moonlight described in the text.

Artist & Seals
Signed 晴山書 ("Seizan sho") — "respectfully brushed by Seizan." Two red seals accompany the signature: an upper seal in white-on-red script confirming the art-name 晴山 (Seizan), and a lower square seal serving as the artist's studio or honorific mark, together authenticating the work as an original.

Condition & Presentation
Brushed in sumi ink on paper, mounted in warm gold-brocade silk borders.