Encounter by the River
- Height 136 cm
- Width 97 cm
- Item Type Kakemono
- Jikusaki Bone
- Material Honshi Silk
- Period of Creation Meiji (1868–1912)
- Technique Hand-Painted
- Unique Work Yes
- Wooden Box Yes
Description
In a wide-ranging landscape, a quiet narrative unfolds beyond time. Two riders – one in vivid red, the other in cool blue – move through a panorama defined by mist and soft transitions of color. The river, flowing calmly through the picture, reflects the hanging willow branches, while behind it mountains rise as if carved from haze. The moon stands high above the scene, lending the entire work an atmosphere of restraint and poetic distance.
The composition unites figure painting and landscape with great care: the horses are vividly modeled, the robes finely worked out, and yet the eye remains free to drift into the depth of the mountains and layers of clouds. This blend of narrative moment and expansive landscape recalls classical models of the Edo period, in which natural space and human action are depicted in mutual harmony.
Executed on silk and fitted with jikusaki of bone, the work bears the seal of Kosukoku. The accompanying notes indicate a large-format depiction from the middle to late Edo period, created in the tradition of the painter Sawaki Takayuki, to whom the artist was indebted. Thus this hanging scroll, known as Encounter by the River, combines art-historical significance with an impressive, richly painterly depiction of a quiet moment in a vast landscape.
With an impressive width of about 97 cm, it belongs to the unusually large-format hanging scrolls of this kind. The hanging scroll is kept in a signed wooden box, which further underscores its cultural value and the care of its transmission.
