Detail View: The AMICA Library: Pavilion in a Beautiful Field (Shuyado)

Chinese-style ink painting, which was first introduced to Japan during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), had a profound impact on the art of the Muromachi period (1392-1568). The history of painting during that period is marked by the spread of Chinese techniques and themes from the temples affiliated with Zen Buddhism--where such works were often used in meditative or ritual practices--to the studios of professional painters who were not necessarily associated with a religious institution and who had various patrons. In the 15th century, ink painting gained a cultural cachet as it moved out of the religious context and gained a wider audience.

In this painting, the combination of a long vertical format, monochromatic landscape, and inscribed poems characterizes a type known as a 'poem-picture scroll' (shigajiku), which united word and image. Works of this kind, which were popular in the first half of the 15th century, were hung in the residential quarters of priests, and their popularity reflects the large number of such quarters with studies and alcoves constructed in Buddhist temples during the 15th century. Many of the works in the poem-picture scroll format were painted to celebrate the construction of a study within a subtemple, when the user of the study and his friends would gather to name the studio and to write poetry commemorating its completion. The union of literature and painting found in poem-picture hanging scrolls reflects the interest in Chinese literature and philosophy that prevailed in Japanese Zen temples during the first half of the 15th century. The paintings and their inscriptions often celebrate the joys of seclusion and scholarship, and it is interesting that most such paintings were created and enjoyed in prominent, bustling Zen temples by priests who were often deeply involved in the culture and politics of their time.

*The three-point perspective and asymmetrical composition employed in this landscape derive from Ch