Ōtagaki Rengetsu 大田垣蓮月 (1791-1875)

The beauty of simplicity seems to crystallize in this unique work of art by nun Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) – the most famous poet and artist of the 19th century in Japan. Praising the beautiful moment at the famous Akashi Bay on a pure and calm full moon night in autumn, Rengetsu painted this scene with a few carefully placed brush strokes on paper. She wrote her own poem against an almost blank background (suggesting the open surface of the water) next to two pine trees under the full moon.

The moon is painted in a single, rounded stroke like a Zen Buddhist ensō – the very symbol of enlightenment and emptiness that neither words nor thought can express. Inexpressible, it seems, is also the immense beauty of the night of the full moon that Rengetsu tries to describe in her poem:

ことのはの

玉ひろはばや

あきのよの

月にあかしの

うらづたひして

Walking along Akashi Bay

This moonlit evening

Searching for

Fitting words

To tell of this beauty.

Rengetsu signed this rare work with her age of 78, dating the painting to 1869. The work was additionally authenticated by Issui (1863-1945), the former head priest of Jinkō-in Temple in Kyōto, where Rengetsu spent the last decade of her life. The authentication by Rengetsu specialist Issui is dated to Shōwa 18 (1943).

References:

Murakami Sodō: Rengetsu-ni zenshū, 1980, p. 26.

Collections:

Tokyo National Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Harvard Art Museum, National Gallery of Australia, Miho Museum, LACMA Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many more...

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