Fall [right from the set Rice Farming in the Four Seasons] by Kano Sanraku

Fall [right from the set Rice Farming in the Four Seasons] c. 1620s

landscape illustration sketch

toned paper

ink painting

etching

japan

handmade artwork painting

earthy tone

coffee painting

mixed medium

pencil art

watercolor

"Fall [right from the set Rice Farming in the Four Seasons]" (c. 1620s) by Kano Sanraku (1559–1635) depicts the autumn harvest of rice. The painting, part of a larger set, uses ink and color on paper to portray the scene. The work features a stylized landscape with a thatched-roof building at the center of the composition. The viewer sees workers and a group of figures engaged in activities associated with the harvest, including threshing rice and relaxing under a tree. This detailed image is an example of Sanraku's meticulous style, drawing upon the artistic traditions of the Kano School.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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These sliding door panels originally formed the four walls of a small reception chamber at Daikakuji, a Buddhist temple in northwest Kyoto that also served as the palace for Japan’s emperor. The panels form a continuous panorama from wall to wall and present various activities associated with rice cultivation: plowing, transplanting the rice, irrigating, threshing, and grinding. The didactic theme is derived from Chinese painting; agriculture, according to Confucian teachings, is the basis of a well-ordered society. Accordingly, when Japanese rulers adopted Confucianism as their ruling ideology, they also commissioned paintings that reflected social stability, morality, and government values. Although unsigned, these paintings were likely produced by Kano Sanraku. As head of the Kyoto branch of the influential Kano school, Sanraku counted several prominent aristocratic families and Buddhist monasteries, including Daikakuji, as key patrons.