Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) YUZAMASHI Japanese carved pottery cup #5466

width: approx. 8.5cm (3.35in)
height: approx. 4.5cm (1.77in)
weight: 79g (w/ box 178g)

poem: 
Mononofu no Yashima no ura no yūnami ni nagare mo aenu yumihari no tsuki

Over Yashima Bay, famed land of warriors, the crescent moon—unable even to drift upon the evening tide.

Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) 
She was a Buddhist nun who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese poets of the 19th century. She was adopted at a young age by the Otagaki family. It is said that she didn’t live a happy life because she lost her adoptive father and five brothers from illness. She married, but her husband died soon after. She remarried but lost this husband too from illness after only four years, as well as her young son and three young daughters. She joined the temple Chion-in and became a nun, taking Rengetsu ("Lotus Moon") as her Buddhist name. She made pottery inscribed with her poems with a spike in order to make a living. Fortunately her products became popular and she became very wealthy. However she continued to live a simple life. She donated a large amount of money during a famine in the 1850’s and devoted herself to saving the poor late in life.