Wagtail on a Rock

Taikyo Genju

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Near two withered branches and a moss-pocked boulder, a scraggy wagtail raises his head as if distracted by the inscription above. The text is an allegory on Zen training and the pursuit of enlightenment. Both painting and poem were probably composed by Taikyo Genju, a monk and amateur painter who trained with the eminent Yakuō Tokken (1245–1320) at Kenchōji in Kamakura before journeying to China to study with Zen masters in the city of Hangzhou. His poem compares the pecking of the bird at a rock to a monk’s search for truth within himself: By a withered tree with no twigs or leaves, A wagtail pecks at a straggle of lichen. Within the rock is a block of jade. When will he manage to dig it out? —Translated by Aaron Rio

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