Wagtail on a Rock

Attributed to Taikyo Genju Japanese

mid-14th century

Not on view

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

Artwork Details

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
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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