AusBonsai

Hi everyone I bought a pot from my favourite Bonsai shop recently and im trying to figure out what the script on the sides of the pot says or means.

Ive tried apps and websites but its been very hot and cold along with getting different results.

I would love to hear any insights.

Is it Cantonese or Mandarin or Korean or Vietnamese, or even which I doubt Japanese.

Just a thought.

It’s certainly kanji, but I would go with one of the Chinese languages as Japanese pots in this style are not common. I can read a couple of the kanji in their Japanese definitions, but they mean nothing without the context of the whole.

I do know that pots like this sometimes feature poems or comments about seasons in the written portions, which are then used in reference to the tree in the pot. No idea if this is a poem or not though!

Bonsai Pants wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 10:44 am Hi everyone I bought a pot from my favourite Bonsai shop recently and im trying to figure out what the script on the sides of the pot says or means.

Ive tried apps and websites but its been very hot and cold along with getting different results.

I would love to hear any insights.

Chinese. Based on old square script. A remake of an ancient poem.
雨洗坡月清
Rain washes the slopes under a clear moon
東色 The colour of the East
棐古园倍
strengthening the ancient garden even more.



The other line contains a character that is no longer in use so I cant find it in any dictionary. It appears to be the name of the original book that it was taken from.

Cool. Don't ya love this forum ... someone poses a question and in pretty short order, there's a response. Well played GB.

Wow thats cool, thank you so much for that. I was told it was likely old script typically in a form of poem etc so certainly makes sense.

Might even do a little more digging to perhaps find its maker or the poem its based on.

I agree with MJL was not expecting such a great response so quick so thankyou all and special thankyou to Gamauji Bonsai

Bonsai Pants wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 5:51 pm Wow thats cool, thank you so much for that. I was told it was likely old script typically in a form of poem etc so certainly makes sense.

Might even do a little more digging to perhaps find its maker or the poem its based on.

I agree with MJL was not expecting such a great response so quick so thankyou all and special thankyou to Gamauji Bonsai

No problem. It just so happens my day job is prof of linguistics.....and I particularly love ancient Hanzi.(Chinese)
Theses kinds of songs or poems are quite common on pots.

The Chinese text reads from top down, and from right to left. So the first part of the poem should read ‘雨洗東坡月色清’. The second part ‘琴書靈古意, 園林無俗情’. Some of the characters are written in simplified Chinese, hence looked different to the traditional form that I’ve written.
This is all I can do for you. Let’s see if Gamauji bonsai can help with the translation.

So the more i look into this the more interesting it seems to get haha.

From what i keep coming across the original poem was written by a Su Shi referring to Dongpo which seems to be the name of a place outside the East gate of Huangzhou and is to do with the east slope where Su Shi was exiled im led to believe. Its here were he seemed to live a farmers life and where he came up with a lot of his works.

Theres a link below that will explain it better then me but this is the verse i keep finding that may be the original. Thanks bonsaisensation i think thats were im getting confused.

"The rain washes the east slope and the moon is clear, the city is full of wild people."

https://translate.googleusercontent.com ... Q3Dotda9wg