translation from Japanese... help?

Hello. Herewith my first post & already I'm begging a favour.
I have procured a quaint ukiyo print [as attached] to pass along to a friend and teacher of mine.
The gift is intended to honour, rather than insult, so felt it best to get some help with the text in advance.
Thanks to any and all. I heart this forum.

If you have an iphone, you can download the ap called "japan goggles." You then take a picture of the kanji symbols, and it will give you the translation.

- bob

Post it here: http://www.ukiyo-e.se/wwwboard/wwwboard.html

Note, you have to post pic at a 3rd party site and provide the URL.

Or, post it here: http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/

It's a bit easier to post and it is seen by some of the same people.

At either, you should get a decent answer.

Note: I have seen this print, and while you may or may not have an original impression, I'm quite certain the text isn't going to be offensive.

thanks for the leads --- I'll post the translation for closure's sake when the hunt concludes.

Jim: yeah. i figure it's an advertisement or benign greeting card [the print was folded in quarters to make it card like, with some light mono-tone pine branches on the inside].

It doesn't look Japanese to me but rather Chinese. I don't know some kanjis from the 5th column (from the right) but for the four first ones their meanings are :

After snow
Visiting prune
Before fog
visiting chrysanthemum

You'd probably better to rename your post in "translation from Chinese" to get the right people on you thread.

After snow
Visiting prune
Before fog
visiting chrysanthemum

The rest goes:

Rain case
Protecting orchid
Wind outside
Listening bamboo

This is Chinese poem.

BTW nice to see you here, Alan.

egad. I'm off to a great start. Between parading my ignorance & confusing [perhaps insulting] two great cultures, I've certainly made my mark on this forum.
Thanks for the prompt help; moreover, thanks for dealing gently with my error.

So, a Chinese poem --- and a lovely one at that.

Well . . . careful now. If it IS a woodblock print, the Chinese didn't go into those much, and the Japanese did borrow heavily from the Chinese (including their "artistic" writing -- and poetry style).

the piece has a Japanese pedigree or, at least, was definitely bought there.

I just wanted a rough feel for the text & am more than satisfied with the help i've received.

I received this reply on one of the forums suggested by Jim.


After snow, seek out plum blossoms.
Before frost, search for chrysanthemum.
When it rains, protect orchids(?).
When winds blow, listen to the bamboo.

After snow, seek out plum blossoms.
Before frost, search for chrysanthemum.
When it rains, protect orchids(?).
When winds blow, listen to the bamboo.

You seem to have enough answer but let me give some extra .
What I mentioned "Chineese poem"is actually a part of aphorism taken from a Chinese book "Xiao change you ji".
The author of the book is Chen Jiru aka Chen mei gong well known as a land scape painter and a calligrapher in Ming period.

Thank you for posting.I enjoyed very much.

the background on the author and source is deeply appreciated. i'm inspired to poke around the internet to learn more about the poet.
in case anyone's curious, i'm posting another shot --- this time of the complete print.

I don't know if you ever went back to the Ukiyoe site with its archaic method of posting pictures, but the webmaster posted the following:

Hello,

The text appears to be a quotation in Chinese:

雪後尋梅　霜前訪菊　雨際護蘭　風外聽竹

According to http://iwc8-japan.com/abstracts-papers/FanMeijun.doc it means "Look at the plum flower after the snow; visit the chrysanthemum before the frost, take care of the orchid in the rain and listen to the bamboo out of the wind".

I don't know where it came from, but spending some time on Google can probably give you the answer.

Best regards,
Hans Olof

Thanks for the heads up, Jim.
I'm humbled by all the help I've received on this.

Thanks again.