2. Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446)
Date | 1446 |
Medium | Light color on paper |
Dimensions (cm) | 134.8 x 33.3 |
Where It Is Housed | Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan |
Reflective of earlier works by the Southern Song Chinese painters, this early example of ancient Japanese art depicts a landscape and poetry painted onto the surface of a scroll. It was owned by a Zen monk from a temple in Kyoto but was said to be created by Shūbun, another monk from a temple in Shôkoku-Ji.
- Painting detail of Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446) by Tenshō Shūbun. Full scroll: 134.8 x 33.3 cm; Tenshō Shūbun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Many Zen monks added a preface and extra poems to the scroll, making it hard to identify exactly who created this ancient Japanese artwork. However, it has been considered to be one of the only existing examples of Japanese drawings from that era that fit Shūbun’s signature style.
As such, this painting has been passed down the generations in the Myôchi-in Temple in Kyoto as a Shūbun original.
