Artist: Ito Jakuchu
Date: 701
Size: 125.7cm x 47.9cm
Technique: Paper
Itō Jakuchū, son of a greengrocer, used vegetables and plants as a personal iconography that almost always included a moral or religious meaning. This handsome sketch of a bean plant, paired with a poem by Ōbaku Zen monk Musen Jōzen (Tangai), refers to a story about the Chinese poet Cao Zhi (192–232), whose tyrannical brother, Cao Pei (Emperor Wen), once commanded him to compose a poem before he took seven steps, threatening him with execution if he failed. Tangai’s verse makes an erudite reference to Cao Zhi’s original poem comparing himself and his brother to the parts of a bean plant, while also alluding to the Zen philosophy of nonduality. The green vine puts forth blossoms, and its pods are like half-formed swords. The bean and stalk are inseparable; both were born from the same roots. —Trans. John T. Carpenter
Artist |
|
|---|---|
Download |
|
Permissions |
Free for non commercial use. See below. |
 |
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
