Lake Biwa in Four Seasons

Lake Biwa, the largest inland body of water in Japan and a famous scenic locale, is captured in a panoramic view that spans the four seasons. Beginning on the right side of the right screen, grasses and budding flowers amid evergreen pine trees suggest spring, while lush willows on the shore convey a summer mood. The left screen—following Chinese landscape traditions rather than describing the actual appearance of the lake’s environs—shows a formation of geese and depicts an autumnal scene, which gives way to a stark mountainous winter landscape.

Each screen is inscribed with Chinese seasonal poems brushed in Kaioku’s elegant hand. In the inscription on the right, the calligrapher-painter Kaioku recalls the late spring outing to the lake during which he composed the poem. Revered as one of the Bakumatsu no Sanpitsu, or “Three Great Calligraphers of the End of the Edo Period,” Kaioku was the son of a samurai in the service of the daimyo of Tokushima, Awa Province.