Near two withered branches and a moss-pocked boulder, a scraggy wagtail raises his head as if distracted by the inscription above. The text is an allegory on Zen training and the pursuit of enlightenment. Both painting and poem were probably composed by Taikyo Genju, a monk and amateur painter who trained with the eminent Yakuō Tokken (1245–1320) at Kenchōji in Kamakura before journeying to China to study with Zen masters in the city of Hangzhou. His poem compares the pecking of the bird at a rock to a monk’s search for truth within himself:
By a withered tree with no twigs or leaves, A wagtail pecks at a straggle of lichen. Within the rock is a block of jade. When will he manage to dig it out? —Translated by Aaron Rio
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伝太虚元寿筆 岩に鶺鴒図
Title:Wagtail on a Rock
Artist:Attributed to Taikyo Genju (Japanese, active mid-14th century)
Period:Nanbokuchō period (1336–92)
Date:mid-14th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Dimensions:Image: 32 3/4 × 13 3/4 in. (83.2 × 34.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 63 3/4 × 18 7/16 in. (161.9 × 46.8 cm) Overall with knobs: 63 3/4 × 20 1/4 in. (162 × 51.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.56
The theme of this simple composition—a depiction of a wagtail on a rock, with two bare tree branches—is Zen training. In the inscription, the wagtail's pecking at the rock is compared to a monk in search of truth the monk, no doubt, who signed it:
The branches of the withered tree are without leaves. The wagtail pecks at the moss-covered rock Inhabited by the jade of truth. When will he be able to open it?
—Taikyo-sō
Taikyo Genju, who composed and inscribed the colophon, is known to have studied with the famous Zen master Yakuō Tokken (1244–1319), who worked mainly in Kamakura. In 1328 he went to China, where he continued his studies with many leading Chan masters. After returning to Japan about 1330, he lived for a while at Fukugonji, near Kōbe. He returned to Kamakura in 1374.[1]
A painting of a wagtail on a rock—though without a colophon—in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, is very similar to this one.[2] In each work, the composition is asymmetrical; the dry, broken strokes of the rock create a sense of rough surface, and a wetter ink and finer delineation are used for the branches and the bird's plumage. Very possibly Taikyo Genju was the artist responsible for both compositions. No other works attributable to him have yet come to light.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Tamamura Takeji 1983, pp. 394–95. [2] "Art of Asia" 1966–67, fig. 61; and Brinker and Kanazawa Hiroshi 1996, fig. 30.
Signature: Taikyo-sō
[ Kokon, Inc. (Koichi Yanagi) , New York, until September 1972; sold to Burke]; Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (1972–2015; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. Asia Society. "Art of Japan: Selections from the Burke Collection, pts. I and II," October 2, 1986–February 22, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Ink Paintings from the Collection of Mary and Jackson Burke," February 15–June 25, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Post-renovation opening exhibition: Japanese galleries," April 11, 2006–January 17, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art," April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.
Shimada Shūjirō 島田修二郎, and Iriya Yoshitaka 入矢義高, eds. Zenrin gasan: chūsei suibokuga o yomu 禅林画賛： 中世水墨画を読む. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1987, pp. 430–432, cat. no. 148.
Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄, Mary Griggs Burke, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, and Gifu-ken Bijutsukan 岐阜県美術館. Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki ニューヨーク・バーク・コレクション展 : 日本の美三千年の輝き(Enduring legacy of Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke collection). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005, p. 62, cat. no. 30.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 90, cat. no. 113.
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