Scene Inspired by the Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans

This small work by Tomioka Tessai, often described as one of the last great artists of Japan’s literati painting tradition, is a reworking of a scene from one of the most celebrated works in the history of Japanese painting—the twelfth-century Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans (Chōjū jinbutsu giga). Designated a National Treasure by the Japanese government, the Chōjū giga scrolls, as they are called colloquially, consist of four handscrolls depicting a variety of anthropomorphized animals, mythical beasts, and humans engaging in a variety of activities. The present work reimagines an iconic scene from the set’s first scroll that shows a group of animals—rabbits, foxes, and monkeys—dressed as Buddhist monks and worshipping before a frog masquerading as the Buddha. For his picture, Tessai takes eleven figures from the ancient original’s horizontal composition, adjusting their relative size and locations within the composition to accommodate the smaller vertical format. Most prominent is the frog-buddha, who sits in meditation atop a lotus pedestal and before whom fox-, monkey- and rabbit-monks chant Buddhist sutras.