Happy Improvisations on a Riverboat Journey

Itō Jakuchū

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scroll records a journey down the Yodo River from Kyoto to Osaka made in the spring of 1767 by Jakuchū, one of the Edo period’s most inventive artists, and his mentor Daiten Kenjō (1719–1801), a Zen monk. In Daiten’s impromptu poems and Jakuchū’s sketches, the two friends capture the scenery of the Kyoto region. Jakuchū transformed his drawings into woodblock prints using a technique that mimicked the appearance of Chinese ink rubbings taken from stone slabs.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art