I need help understanding what this note says and what language it is written in.

mdchachi said:

It's definitely Japanese but I'm not sure what it says. Maybe somebody else can help.

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Mikawa Ossan said:

It's a poem talking about this flower.

夕顔（ゆうがお、ゆふがほ）　晩夏 – 季語と歳時記

I think it's basically saying that the whiteness of this flower cuts through the darkness (because this flower blooms at night).

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Mikawa Ossan said:

It's a poem talking about this flower.

夕顔（ゆうがお、ゆふがほ）　晩夏 – 季語と歳時記

I think it's basically saying that the whiteness of this flower cuts through the darkness (because this flower blooms at night).

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Mrant408 said:

Thank you so much

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Mikawa Ossan said:

Oh, and I believe this flower is supposed to evoke feelings of the summer. It also appears in Genji Monogatari, if I remember correctly. These poems are really tricky to understand completely, as they have a huge amount of associations and coded language. That's about all I remember from when I actually dipped my feet into studying classical Japanese.

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Majestic said:

やみにさく
ゆふがほのきみよ
そのしろさ

This is the same poem that is written vertically on the scroll.

The mirror on the scroll makes me think there might be a double-meaning in the word やみにさく.
It literally means "blossoming in the dark", but it is also a euphemism for a prostitute (やみにさくはな, "night blossom").
But I'm not entirely sure of that interpretation. The red seals are the seals of the calligrapher's name. I can't read much of them, but since the handwritten note says Hyakujū, I'm guessing that Hyakujū is the name of the artist.

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Mrant408 said:

Thank you very much.

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Mrant408 said:

What about the drawing on the bottom? That is something I have never seen.

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nice gaijin said:

looks like a vanity. Could potentially lend some credence to the double entendre Majestic alluded to

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