Album of exemplary calligraphy specimens (Tekagami)

Albums with specimens of calligraphy are called tekagami (literally "mirrors of the hand, or handwriting"). From the late Muromachi period it was customary to cut and collect fragments of old manuscripts and Buddhist texts and mount them in an accordion-style album of this type. Most of these calligraphic specimens lacked signatures, giving rise to a group of expert connoisseurs in the 17th century, the first of whom used the name Kohitsu Ryosa and the seal "Kinzan" (Lute Mountain). Typically, the connoisseur identified the name of the calligrapher of each fragment on a small piece of paper pasted to the right of the calligraphy. Among the 99 samples of calligraphy gathered here, there are attributions to many famous historical figures. The "Kinzan" seals on these attribution slips probably date from the 20th century. Generations of connoisseurs used these seals.
For another tekagami see Miyeko Murase, Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from the Burke Collection, exh. cat. (Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1993), no. 33.