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

Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835) was a Confucian scholar in Oka-han in the Bungo region (present Ōita Prefecture), but resigned from his position in the government because he was dissatisfied with the way the han was governed. He indulged in the world of poetry and painting for the rest of his life. This painting verifies his friendships with Rai Sannyō and Aoki Mokubei. It is written in the praise that he painted it at Sannyō's request and brought it when he went to Kyoto, but he found there that Sannyō had already passed away several months before, so he gave the painting to Mokubei as a gift.