Advanced Search
Advanced Search

Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.

Song of Love and Flowers from the Shōchiku movie A Smiling Life (Hohoemu jinseii, Eiga rebyȗ kouta: Koi to hana no uta)


Hakubi Super Special Music Sheet (Hakubi chô tokusen gakufu) No.11
松竹ハーモニカ特選楽譜 No.11 松竹映画 微笑む人生 レビュー小唄 恋と花の歌
Designer: Artist unidentified, Japanese
Composer: Horiuchi Keizô (Japanese, 1897 – 1983)
Lyricist: Satô Hachirô (Japanese, 1903 – 1973)
Publisher: Shôchiku kinema gakufu shuppan sha (Japanese)
Japanese
Shôwa era
1930 (Shôwa 5), June 2

Medium/Technique Color lithograph; ink on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 26.4 × 38.1 cm (10 3/8 × 15 in.) (open)
Height x width: 26.4 × 19.1 cm (10 3/8 × 7 1/2 in.) (closed)
Credit Line Gift of Mary and Robert Levenson
Accession Number2023.1155
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical scores

DescriptionTranslation of lyrics from Japanese, by Kuniko and Kendall Brown:
“Blooming red, the poppy’s love
Entwining strongly, the ivy’s love
The hydrangea’s love, cries in the rain
To the wind the cosmos, gives itself.
The violet’s love, is innocent
With the spring, it fades away
A matron’s love, with recollection,
Becomes the summer, of the black dahlia.
Of the white valley, the lily’s love
Worn with thought, the silk flower’s love,
The love of the willow, with sadness
In the water reflects, its grief,
Countless, the number of flowers
Countless, the number of loves
From long, long, long ago
Till when will we still count, loves’ numbers?"
Marks “Kei” (kanji) at middle right
ProvenanceBy 2019, Mary and Robert Levenson, Belleair, FL; 2023, gift of Mary and Robert Levenson to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 2023)