海北友松は、墨の効果により、一双の屏風に理想的な風景画を創り出した。金泥の淡い塗りと墨により、静かな河景がたっぷりと描かれ、水面と空の拡がりの中、釣舟、亭、巨石が点ぜられている。このような不明瞭で実体性の薄い山水図は、「事物事象は、ことごとく変転する」とする禅の教義に通じ、これを信奉する人々に、特に好まれた。

With great efficiency of ink, Kaiho Yusho has created a landscape ideally suited to a pair of folding screens. Large expanses of water and sky are dotted sparsely with fishing boats, pavilions, and boulders in this confident depiction of a quiet river scene done in ink with washes of gold paint. The ambiguity and insubstantiability of this landscape would have appealed particularly to those who believed in the Zen Buddhist teaching of the changeable nature of the universe.

Utilized here is a technique known as hatsuboku (splashed ink) involving quick movements of the brush that resulted in ink lines or shapes that appear unplanned, the master of which was the thirteenth-century Chinese artist Yujian. Yujian’s style was immediately recognizable and revered by Japanese art collectors resulting in many of his works passing through the hands of shoguns, tea masters and other art enthusiasts.

Yusho’s knowledge of Chinese painters is a testament to his education as a Zen monk begun at Tofukuji in Kyoto, however he would be in his sixties before embarking on the life of a professional painter.

This work is on display for the entire exhibition period.