inscription and signature on manju netsuke

[Dutchman]

A fellow collector suggested I submit to this forum, because maybe you can help me with the text and signature on an old manju netsuke I acquired recently. It has a diameter of 44 mm. and I believe there is a Chinese chéngyǔ inscribed on it;
hóng xìng chū qiáng, or 'the red apricot tree leans over the garden wall'. 
I hope anyone tell me more about it, and maybe even translate the seal (of the maker?). I would be very grateful if you could help me.

[k morita]

Hi,

 

 

meaning is:

一枝紅杏出  Spring has came, red flower of apricot bloomed( in a garden).

[Nobody]

That may be the last part of a poetry Youyuan Buzhi (遊園不値) written by Ye Shaoweng (葉紹翁).

 

Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Shaoweng

[Dutchman]

Ye Shaoweng (1200–1250) was a Southern Song dynasty Chinese poet from Longquan, in modern Lishui, Zhejiang province. He belonged to the Jianghu (Rivers and Lakes) School of poets, known for its unadorned style of poetry. His most famous poem is Youyuan Buzhi:

           遊園不值   Visiting a Private Garden without Success

應憐屐齒印蒼苔   It must be because he hates clogs on his moss

十扣柴扉久不開   I knock ten times still his gate stayed closed

春色滿園關不住   but spring can't be kept locked in a garden

一支紅杏出牆來   a branch of red blossoms reached past the wall

The last couplet is often reused in later works, its meaning recast as a sexual innuendo.

 

The last sentence may be the one on the netsuke, but it also strongly resembles the Chinese chéngyǔ;

hóng xìng chū qiáng 紅杏出墻 or 'the red apricot tree leans over the garden wall'.

 

Now the million dollar question that remains is; which one is it? Or is it both?

[k morita]

Hi,
The million dollar question?  It's exaggerated.

 

The netsuke only says  一枝紅杏出 .

Kanji "garden wall(牆来)" isn't carved on the netsuke  .

Poetry should be interpreted to become fun in your mind.

[Bugyotsuji]

One of the other questions to resolve is whether this is a Japanese Netsuke or a Chinese toggle. 

[TETSUGENDO]

I'm in the Chinese toggle camp although, through use and reproduction, they became Japanese by appropriation.

 

-S-

[Dutchman]

 

Hi,

The million dollar question?  It's exaggerated.

 

The netsuke only says  一枝紅杏出 .

Kanji "garden wall(牆来)" isn't carved on the netsuke  .

Poetry should be interpreted to become fun in your mind.

 

But what's the exact translation of the characters? And is just about the characters, or is it about interpretation of what is meant or suggessted? Any idea about what the seal says?