Old Temple Amid Mountains and Pines

Mountains are painted on a long, narrow format. With dry, broken brushwork, light colors such as brown, green, and vermilion are layered over ink, making a bright, translucent landscape. Following it from the bottom, there is an angler with a boat on a mountain stream, a dwelling ringed by bamboo, and a pine forest continuing beyond an upstream bridge. Higher up, among clouds, a temple with vermilion buildings can be seen. The character 巒 (ran) in the title means a chain of mountain peaks, so the title means a picture of an old temple appearing on a pine-covered peak.

The work was made at the request of the Confucian scholar Rai San'yo, but Chikuden learned of San'yo's death on his way to Kyoto. In the following year, Tenpo 4, he added an inscription about these events and gave it to Mokubei, a mutual friend of theirs. Mokubei, however, died soon after.

Chikuden had been a Confucian official of the Oka domain in Bungo (present-day Oita Prefecture), but he resigned out of dissatisfaction with domain politics and spent his days immersed in poetry and painting. This work is from the peak of his career, ink and light color on paper, 135.2 x 30.3 cm, designated an Important Cultural Property.