Two Koi in Plunging Water

Name: Two Koi in Plunging Water
Brand: Kanō Sōshū
SKU: 3301
Price: 170.00 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

Kakemono, unique work, 102 x 28 cm

Product number: 3301

Sold – no longer available

This piece was handmade by Kanō Sōshū and was a one-of-a-kind work. It cannot be reordered and will never exist in this form again. The page stays online as part of our archive.

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Details about the sold piece

Height 102 cm
Width 28 cm
Item Type Kakemono
Material Honshi Paper
Period of Creation Edo (1603–1868)
Technique Hand-Painted
Unique Work Yes

Signature / Stamp:

Kanō Sōshū

Sold

No longer available

Description

With powerful, broad brushstrokes, this painting captures a koi defying the current of a waterfall, while a second fish can already be seen below at the edge of the image, amid the spray of the waves. The ink painting draws its life from dynamism: blurred, broad strokes for the plunging water, clear contours for the scaled armor of the leaping fish.

The koi climbing a waterfall is one of the most popular motifs in Japanese painting and is especially closely associated with the Kano school, which flourished during the Edo period. According to a well-known legend, only one in ten thousand fish manages to climb the waterfall all the way to the top, where it transforms into a dragon.

This transformation story makes the koi a symbol of perseverance, willpower, and social advancement, a motif that remains highly popular throughout Japan to this day. The kakemono is painted on paper and was presumably created during the Edo period.

Frequently asked

I am interested in this work. Do you have more of them in stock?

No – as a one-of-a-kind piece it exists in a single example only.

Can you source a similar work?

We would be glad to look for one. Get in touch with the details of the object you are looking for and we will see what we can do.

Why does the date of creation sometimes not match the artist's dates

Because the two pieces of information speak about different things: the period designation describes the object – support, colors, condition – while the signature reflects which name appears on the painting. In most cases there is no attempt at deception behind this, but rather Japanese painting training: copying from workshop models was the curriculum for centuries, an utsushi is regarded as a bow to the teacher, workshops signed with the master's name, and artist names were passed down within a school. Such a hanging scroll is therefore not a forgery, but a hand-painted one-of-a-kind that continues the formal language of its school – just not the work of the famous name, and priced accordingly. We explain this in detail in the guide Why does a kakemono often bear the signature of an artist long deceased?.

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