Tsurumeso at the Gion Festival 1926

Nakajima Kahô made this delightful scroll, Tsurumeso at the Gion Festival, sometime in his life, though we don’t know exactly when, using ink and colour on paper. It’s not about perfection, it’s about the flow of the ink, the little imperfections, the way the brush dances across the surface, right? Look at the way Kahô renders the figures – those bold, confident strokes, yet so economical. The figures, maybe samurai, are suggested more than defined. The texture of the paper, its gentle absorbency, plays a huge role. You can almost feel the artist pausing, considering each mark. And that blue band with the white circles is like a little visual poem. I keep coming back to the way Kahô handles space. It’s not about realistic depth, but about creating a rhythm. It’s a dance between the solid and the void. Think about Hokusai's influence here, the idea of capturing a fleeting moment with such clarity. It's like Kahô is saying, "Here’s a glimpse, now fill in the rest with your imagination."