
Hasegawa Tōhaku
松林図屏風
16th century
Hasegawa Tōhaku's 'Pine Trees' ('Shōrin-zu byōbu', late 16th century) is a pair of six-panel folding screens depicting a mist-shrouded pine forest rendered entirely in ink on gold-sprinkled paper. Refining the Chinese Song tradition of ink painting through the distinctively Japanese command of empty space, the work shows no figures, buildings, or birds — only mist, pines, and silence. Designated a National Treasure of Japan and held by the Tokyo National Museum, it is the supreme example of Momoyama-period ink screens.
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons
