Ikiyasan Isakiji (1833): Art, History and Details

Ikiyasan Isakiji (1833) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nukina Kaioku (Japanese, 1778–1863).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Buddhist temple Ikiyasan Isakiji lies about 12.4 miles (20 km) from Hikone Castle, on the shore of Lake Biwa in central Japan. Nukina Kaioku depicted the temple as seen from a boat while touring Hikone. He also inscribed a poem about the experience, explaining that it was one of three written during the journey. Born into a samurai family specializing in archery, Kaioku later became recognized as one of the three greatest calligraphers of his time.

Object facts

• Title: Ikiyasan Isakiji
• Date: 1833
• Creator attribution: Nukina Kaioku (Japanese, 1778–1863)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Portfolio
• Technique: leaf from a pair of folding albums; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Sheet: 28.5 x 18.4 cm (11 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1972.117.2.9

A detail from the museum

Nukina Kaioku was from a family that taught archery to regional military rulers, but being physically weak, he concentrated his efforts in calligraphy and studying Confucian philosophy, a system of thought prized by the military class.

Collection credit

Gift of Mary B. Lee, C. Bingham Blossom, Dudley S. Blossom III, Laurel B. Kovacik, and Elizabeth B. Blossom, in memory of Elizabeth B. Blossom

Further reading listed by the museum

• Graham, Patricia J. "Lifestyles of Scholar-Painters in Edo Japan." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 7 (September 1990): 262–283.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.