Tanomura Chokunyu (1814-1907)
Landscape, 19th Century
Ink on silk, hanging scroll, with a wood storage box

Inscription: After lodging beside a secluded stream, worldly wishes unfold; I forget the six objects of the senses and the six sense faculties. What new perplexity could arise within such purity? Along a path of green pines goes a man of the mountains. Chokunyu, the foolish mountain woodcutter. 
Seals: Hotei, Chokunyu the Lay Buddhist, Song Tai
{Image size: 50 1/8 x 13 3/8 inches (127.3 x 34 cm)}.
{Overall size: 73 3/8 x 18 1/2 inches (186.4 x 47 cm)}.

Towering mountains rise above a secluded waterside dwelling, with a winding path, slender trees, and distant peaks drawing the eye through the landscape. The narrow vertical composition unfolds through successive layers of rock, foliage, and mist. Rich variations in ink tone and brisk, assured brushwork distinguish the densely worked foreground from the pale mountains beyond, creating a sense of depth and quiet retreat.

Tanomura Chokunyu was a prominent painter of the Japanese Nanga, or literati, tradition and the pupil and adopted son of Tanomura Chikuden (1777-1835). He specialized in landscapes informed by historical Chinese painting styles and helped establish Kyoto's first art school, now Kyoto City University of Arts. 

The present work exemplifies nineteenth-century Japanese engagement with Chinese literati painting and calligraphy. Its textured mountains, expressive trees, and poetic inscription unite pictorial observation with the cultivated ideal of withdrawal into nature. Vigorous strokes retain clarity and rhythm, while softer washes provide atmospheric transitions.

Condition: The painting is in good overall condition and is accompanied by a wood storage box.

This painting will be published in Time Well Wasted: Five Hundred Years of Japanese Ink Painting, by Jingwei Zeng, published by Michaan's Auctions and Center for Asian Arts.

Provenance: From an important private collection in Berkeley, California.