National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Depicted in this work is the bay of Matsushima in Mutsu Province (present-day Matsushima, Miyagi), which is known as one of Japan’s three most scenic locations. It features famous historical buildings like Zuiganji Temple and the Godaidō hall, both designated National Treasures today, rendered in a simplified style using watery ink. The artist has also added blues, browns, and yellows to the surface of the water, the mist, and the mounds of earth, to create a mystical yet majestic landscape.

This masterpiece was created by literati painter Ike no Taiga (1723–76) on a trip to Kanazawa, during which he reminisced about the view in Matsushima where he had visited in the previous year. Like most members of the educated class, Taiga had harbored a passion for Chinese culture in his youth; he idealized the life of a Chinese literatus, where they would read, travel, admire picturesque scenery, then put it into paint. He is famous for having pursued such a lifestyle, in which he traveled to visit old ruins and famous sights in order to create paintings of them.

This work opens at the right-most end of the scroll with its title, Mutsu kishō 陸隩奇勝, written from right to left. It was penned by Confucian scholar Kō Fuyō (1722–84), a close friend of the artist. An afterword closes the scroll at its left-most end, detailing Taiga’s motivations for creating the work. With clear text indicating when and why it was created, this work vividly demonstrates the ideals that the artist held in his artistic pursuits.