Reeds and Geese (from a Set of Panel Paintings for the Hojo [abbot – (Gessen) Previous Next


Artist:

Technique: Paper

This series of paintings was originally part of the sliding doors adorning the main hall of Yotokuin Temple, one of the sub-temples of Daitokuji Temple. Twenty-eight panels survive today, including those produced in later times. These four were among the original sliding doors. They are executed employing soft, fluid brushstrokes inspired by Muqi Fachang, the Chinese monk and painter who was active in the Southern Song dynasty.The artist was Oguri Sokei, son of Oguri Sotan, who was official painter to the Muromachi shogunate. According to a 1490 entry in a diary called Inryoken Nichiroku, written by a Shokokuji Temple monk in the Muromachi period (1392-1573), the sliding doors were painted when extension work was carried out on Yotokuin Temple, and the artist Sokei intended his compositions to supplement the two panels of reeds and wild geese painted earlier by his father. Restorers’ additions made in the Meiji period have altered the original compositions considerably, but the series remains the oldest known ink painting on sliding doors. The series is also valuable as a rare benchmark example of the work of Sokei, who has very few surviving works to his name.

This artwork is in the public domain.

Artist

Download

Click here to download

Permissions

Free for non commercial use. See below.

Public domain

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark.

This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.


Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement that rule of the shorter term.