伝太虚元寿筆　岩に鶺鴒図|Wagtail on a Rock

Taikyo Genju

mid-14th century · Hanging scroll; ink on silk · Asian Art

Near two withered branches and a moss-pocked boulder, a scraggy wagtail raises his head as if distracted by the inscription above. The text is an allegory on Zen training and the pursuit of enlightenment. Both painting and poem were probably composed by Taikyo Genju, a monk and amateur painter who trained with the eminent Yakuō Tokken (1245–1320) at Kenchōji in Kamakura before journeying to China to study with Zen masters in the city of Hangzhou. His poem compares the pecking of the bird at a rock to a monk’s search for truth within himself: By a withered tree with no twigs or leaves, A wagtail pecks at a straggle of lichen. Within the rock is a block of jade. When will he manage to dig it out? —Translated by Aaron Rio

Artist

Taikyo Genju

Date

mid-14th 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