Flowers and Plants of the Four Seasons

Painting and calligraphy were important components of the religious and leisure practices of the Obaku (in Chinese, Huangbo) sect of Zen Buddhism, established in Nagasaki in 1654. The Obaku priest Kakutei Joko painted this pair of six-panel folding screens, which feature pine, bamboo, chrysanthemum, orchid, and plum. East Asian painters favored such plants for their symbolism and because their forms made inviting subjects for the play of the brush. Joko also added grape, hydrangea, willow, peony, and the less familiar sago palm, a native of southwestern Japan. His rough, heavy brushwork combined with dry, spindly lines created a dynamic interplay of dark and light against the stark white of the paper. This effect is enhanced by the thoughtful arrangement of the individual panels into complementary pairs, which produces an elegant visual rhythm across the two screens. Inscriptions: Right screen Painted by the monk Kakutei. Left screen With boundless pleasure in the seventh [lunar] month during the autumn of 1774.