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

Aoki Mokubei (1767–1833) is a potter and a painter of nanga (lit. southern painting, a style of Chinese painting developed in Japan) in the late Edo period. He was born to a family running a restaurant in Kyoto and learned art initially from Okuda Eisen. He became famous for his sencha (green tea) utensils made in different styles, including sometsuke (white pottery with indigo patterns), seiji (celadon porcelain), and nanban-utsushi (Japanese imitation of the style of southern areas such as Taiwan). He had a friendly relationship with Kou Fuyou and Kimura Kenkadou, and thereby obtained the knowledge as a literati. He later enjoyed the favor of Tanomura Chikuden and Rai Sanyou.
Since the year written on the painting is koushin chūshū [the eighth month of the lunar calendar in the koushin year (one of the combinations of the twelve zodiac yeas)], we can know that it was painted in Bunsei 7 (1824), when Mokubei was fifty-eight. According to the text next to the title, it is also known that this painting is made for Satsukino kimi皐陽君（Wake Masatsuki和気正稠）, depicting the morning landscape of Uji from Kansui-rou (Kansui-house, a restaurant in Mt Asahi, named by Rai Sanyou).
At the center of the picture is the flow of the Uji River, painted with one single brushstroke in indigo. There appears Byoudouin Hououdou (a celebrated temple building, lit. phoenix-hall of Byoudou temple) on the right, and Uji bridge on the left. The mountain at the center of the background is Mt. Asahi, where Kansui-rou, the place he painted this painting, is located. Depicting the scenery of Uji in pale light colors, such as sumi, with light and shade, indigo, and yellowish-brown, this painting exhibits the best part of Mokubei's work.