Mount Penglai with Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang

Kano Tansui Moritsune

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The center panel depicts the mystical mountain of Hōrai, the most popular of the auspicious symbols displayed on the New Year in Japan. Balanced on the back of a tortoise, a symbol of longevity, the isle supports other symbols of long life-a crane and pine tree-while plum flowers and the rising sun announce the coming of a new day in a new year. The two flanking panels depict imaginary Chinese landscapes that were inspired by the Chinese scenes in the Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers. To the right is a spring landscape and to the left, one of winter. The artist of these three panels, a Kano-trained artist, signed his age as sixty-seven. He had achieved the high position of Hokkyō (a Buddhist title granted to meritorious artists), yet his dates and life still remain unknown.

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