Kanji question

Would anyone be able to tell me what this Japanese piece says? I believe it is Kanji. Perhaps something to do with the sea or crabs?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/201821416@N05/54152464097/in/dateposted-...

I am Chinese and I am not able to make out a single word from this.

Where did you take this photo and a name of the art or some context would help.

I purchased it about 15 years ago in Rome, Italy. I believe it is Japanese...not Chinese. I think it is Kanji script. It could also be upside down in the photo. I'm not really sure which way is up with it but I was going by the gold leaf designs in the faint background. It's dusted with gold leaf and gold spots and has what seems to be dunes of a seashore with small crabs at the bottom. For that reason I think the way I photographed it is the correct direction up.

yes. it is Japanese. but, it is in very old style, 草書体, of handwriting. now a day, only professionals or very old persons can read it. possibly someone wrote it as an exercise of handwriting, calligraphy. could be woman's writing. so long time ago, educated women learned such calligraphy.
probably, the first two letters are 平家 (or 卒家？). it might be a phrase of 平家物語?

Thank you that's more than I knew before. The paper it's written on is quite ornate so I'm not sure it would have been an exercise. If you zoom in you might be able to see the background of the paper is heavily decorated with elegant gold flecks and someone has created in either gold leaf or gold ink a grassy beach dune scene - with what looks like a huddle of tiny crabs at the bottom right. I'm assuming it's a poem of some sort and that I've photographed it right-side up. I could have also accidently photographed it upside down but I don't think so. I purchased it at a bookseller stall in Rome and there was no further information. The Chinese or Japanese characters you've written in your response - what do they mean in English?

It's Japanese, most of it is what we call "kana", I wouldn't be surprised if it was about a thousand years old, but I'm not good at reading these things.

Perhaps a researcher of ancient Japanese literature would know. Why not try visiting a university with a Japanese division?

As others have said, this is a piece of Japanese calligraphy - likely a poem in both kanji and hiragana. And yes - it is written in a flowing script style that is difficult to read for someone who is not used to this style. It is still used currently in many calligraphy pieces (see the Shodo Canada website for some 2024 examples!) I am somewhat surprised that it does not include the calligrapher's stamp, as most completed poems would have it.

I think your best option is to find a Japanese calligraphy teacher to see if they can interpret the script for you.

Actually, my guess is that it's one page of an ancient book or a replica of that. But I notice that the paper was once rolled, so it could be part of a roll instead of a book. For example, here are pages of The Tale of Genji, one of the oldest novels in Japan.

https://www.gotoh-museum.or.jp/collection/genji/