楊月筆 默默道人賛 藻鯉図|Carp and Waterweeds

Yōgetsu|Mokumoku Dōjin

late 15th century · Hanging scroll; ink on silk · Asian Art

Little is known about Yōgetsu, who was active as a monk in the mountains northeast of the ancient capital of Nara. He is sometimes cited as a follower of the master painter Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506). Above Yōgetsu’s auspicious image of a pair of fish swimming in a pond, Mokumoku Dōjin, about whom little is also known, has inscribed a poem that recalls the carp’s role as a vehicle of the Daoist immortal Qingao: Wind whips the grass along the riverbank, frigid at dusk. A single ray of brilliant red illuminates the white shoal. If Qingao were here, he would not be riding a crane— He’d have [his carp] shaking their heads and snapping their tails, spinning waves into whirlpools. —Trans. Aaron Rio

Artist

Yōgetsu|Mokumoku Dōjin

Date

late 15th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015