Sumiyoshi Gukei - Portraits and Poems of the Thirty-six Poetic Immortals - 1674–92 v59 - STICKER Vinyl Kiss-Cut Decal

A page from a Japanese album that pairs a portrait of a classical poet with a sample of that poet's verse, painted by Sumiyoshi Gukei in the late seventeenth century.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is built on the pairing of image and text. A portrait of one of the Thirty-six Poetic Immortals sits alongside examples of the poet's waka, so the figure and the poem share the same format and read as one unified page. The composition follows the careful, traditional layouts of the Yamato-e manner, with the painted figure and the written lines given equal weight.

Meaning & Symbolism

The Thirty-six Poetic Immortals were chosen by Fujiwara no Kintō as the paragons of Japanese waka. Portraying them in painting and calligraphy raised poetry to a sacred and refined pursuit and honoured the masters as guardians of the culture. Sumiyoshi Gukei was a leading painter of the Yamato-e revival in the Edo period, and this album reflects his devotion to classical Japanese subjects and courtly narrative, set against the shifting artistic landscape of the seventeenth century.

A Kiss-Cut Shape for a Classical Page

A kiss-cut sticker is trimmed around the artwork itself, so the portrait and its verse can follow their own outline rather than sitting inside a rectangle. The piece suits a smooth, flat surface that is looked at directly, such as a journal, a notebook cover or a laptop lid, where the portrait can be studied at close range.