Carp and Waterweeds
Little is known about Yōgetsu, who was active as a monk in the mountains northeast of the ancient capital of Nara. He is sometimes cited as a follower of the master painter Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506). Above Yōgetsu’s auspicious image of a pair of fish swimming in a pond, Mokumoku Dōjin, about whom little is also known, has inscribed a poem that recalls the carp’s role as a vehicle of the Daoist immortal Qingao:
Wind whips the grass along
the riverbank, frigid at dusk.
A single ray of brilliant red
illuminates the white shoal.
If Qingao were here,
he would not be riding a crane—
He’d have [his carp] shaking their heads
and snapping their tails,
spinning waves into whirlpools.
—Trans. Aaron Rio
Wind whips the grass along
the riverbank, frigid at dusk.
A single ray of brilliant red
illuminates the white shoal.
If Qingao were here,
he would not be riding a crane—
He’d have [his carp] shaking their heads
and snapping their tails,
spinning waves into whirlpools.
—Trans. Aaron Rio
Artwork Details
- 楊月筆 默默道人賛 藻鯉図
- Title: Carp and Waterweeds
- Artist: Yōgetsu (Japanese, active late 15th century)
- Artist: Inscribed by Mokumoku Dōjin (Japanese, active late 15th century)
- Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
- Date: late 15th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on silk
- Dimensions: Image: 33 7/16 × 13 7/8 in. (85 × 35.2 cm)
Overall with mounting: 65 3/4 × 19 1/16 in. (167 × 48.4 cm)
Overall with knobs: 65 3/4 × 20 7/8 in. (167 × 53 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.60
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Yōgetsu
probably 18th or 19th century
Japan
16th century
Sesson Shūkei
ca. 1555–61
Uto Gyoshi
mid- to late 16th century
Sesson Shūkei
1550s
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