
Woodblock print, colours on paper, c.1900
it comes to my shoulder
longing for human company:
a red dragonfly
Natsume Soseki
he has dyed his body
with autumn -
the dragonfly
Bakusui
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum Photograph: Action images

Painting, ink and colours on paper, c.1807
even the rabbit
droops one of her ears -
midsummer heat!
Akutagawa Ryunosuke Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

Colour woodblock print, right section of a triptych, 1937
like squids
bank clerks are fluorescent
from the morning
Kaneko Tota Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

Hanging scroll painting, ink and colours on paper, c.1800-1810
a trout leaps;
clouds are moving
in the bed of the stream
Onitsura
in the evening,
the bellies of the trout,
seen in the shallows
Onitsura
Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum Photograph: Action images

Woodblock print, colours on paper, mainly brown pigments, 1963
awaking from sleep,
yawning, stretching, slinking out
in search of love: cat
Issa Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum

Ink and colours on paper, early 19th century
the water-fowl
lays its beak on its breast
and sleeps as it floats
Ginko
the grebe
when it becomes lonely
dives into the water
Hino Sojo Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum
