Poems and Pictures of the Eight Views of Xiao-Xiang

瀟湘八景詩画巻

1605–12

Inkei Gentetsu 筠渓玄轍

(Japanese, 1562–1612)

Culture

Japan, Momoyama period (1573–1615)

Medium

Handscroll; ink on paper

Measurements

40.3 x 657.8 cm (15 7/8 x 259 in.)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2020.258

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The “Tō” of Tōgan comes from the name of painter Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506).

Description

Unkoku Tōgan brushed these scenes using the splashed-ink technique associated in Japan with the Chinese monk Yujian Ruofen (active late 1200s). Xiao-Xiang refers to the region in present-day Hunan province, where the Xiang River and its tributaries converge. Each of the eight views evokes a time of day or season. The earliest surviving series of Xiao-Xiang paintings is by Wang Hong (active mid-1100s), but textual evidence tells us the theme appears earlier. It was later adopted in Japan and Korea, as seen here. The poems were inscribed by Inkei Gentetsu, the third abbot of the Rinzai Zen temple Tōshunji, Japan