Cleveland Museum of Art

Landscape

Kano Motonobu

Date

mid-1500s

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Culture

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The large red tripod-shaped seal on this painting is that of Kano Motonobu, head of the Kano school atelier in Kyoto that served the shogun. Gesshū Jukei, a longtime resident of the Zen temple Kenninji in Kyoto, inscribed the poem. The two are known to have worked together on at least one other occasion. The poem describes an intimate meeting of dear friends, a suitable theme for a work that was likely given as a gift to an esteemed associate, perhaps weary of the politics of life in the capital. In either fine weather or during the rainy season the mountain’s color is pale. A friend visits, rowing his boat while reciting a poem. Tonight we’ll drink together at the inn on the river. Across, on the other side of the river is a house with people living in it, but there is nothing to drink there.

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