Yamaoka Tesshu / Beckoning cat and Calligraphy

Since Tesshu found profound meanings in cat’s behavior, beckoning cats may have been somewhat close to him.

Tags: closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, latter half of the Edo period, modern times, modern times, year round

2024年3月4日

Yamamoto Shunkyo / The monkey

Perhaps he is enjoying playing alone. This monkey has a very cute expression that looks like he is smiling. It may seem simple to draw, but it captures the characteristics of the monkey very well.

2025年3月27日

Yamamoto Shunkyo / A rare bird on the winter shore

This bird has a charming bright yellow belly. Grey wagtails have the habit of constantly shaking their tail feathers up and down. This is a scroll that conveys the artist’s interest.

Tags: modern times

2023年9月9日

Yamamoto Koitsu / Four seasons, Flowers and Birds, A pair of medium size six-panel folding screens

Yamamoto Koitsu was a central figure in The First Japanese Manufacturing and Trading Company (起立工商会社) and created many drafts for the company’s production.

Tags: latter half of the Edo period, modern times, modern times, small birds, year round

2024年5月26日

Yamamoto Baiitsu / Red peach blossoms with two swallows

Swallows migrate to Japan with the arrival of spring. In this work, they are depicted together with peach blossoms, creating a scent of spring on the screen.

2023年8月5日

Yamamoto Baiitsu / Pine tree and flowers and birds

The painter Baiitsu also worked as an official painter for the Owari domain in his later years. This is a painting created at the age of 69, three years before he became the official painter for Owari.

Tags: modern times, pine tree (Pinus spp.), small birds

2024年6月24日

Yamaguchi Soken / Cormorant fishing

The smooth brushstrokes vividly and beautifully depict the scene of cormorant fishing. This work was painted by Yamaguchi Soken, one of the Ten Excellent Painters of the Okyo School.

Tags: modern times

2021年5月30日

Yamaguchi Soken / A tiger drinking water in a strong wind

A tiger drinking water from a river while being buffeted by a strong wind. Its expression is adorable and not the least bit scary. Yamaguchi Soken specialized in Japanese-beauty paintings, but he also painted a variety of animal paintings.

Tags: Chinese Zodiac Sign, Tiger, modern times

2020年8月25日

Watanabe Seitei / Two hanging scrolls of Irises and Carps

This is a rare combination of carps and irises. Seitei created a sense of depth and transparency beneath the water’s surface by barely depicting the water itself and instead focusing on the overlapping carps and aquatic plants from a bird’s-eye view.

Tags: latter half of the Edo period, modern times

2025年3月11日

Watanabe Seitei / Two carps under a waterfall

The composition is reminiscent of Maruyama Okyo’s “Green Maple and Waterfall,” but Seitei’s characteristically dry and taut brushwork is effectively showcased. The carp is painted at about 10% of the ink color of the rocks, but the skill of the brushwork makes it seem as if the carps are appearing and disappearing amid the splashing water, vividly coming to life before your eyes.

Tags: latter half of the Edo period, modern times

2025年3月16日