Scenes from Essays in Idleness

Texto del museo

Matsumura Goshun inscribed passages from Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenkō’s (about 1283–about 1350/52) well-known collection of anecdotes, Essays in Idleness, across the top of each of the 12 panels of these screens. Goshun illustrated the episodes with his vision of the figures who feature in them. The texts cascade down from right to left, forming unique compositional relationships with the images. In books, writing typically appears in uniform rectangles; here, the texts take on shapes that complement the corresponding paintings. The episodes offer a veritable portrait of human idiosyncrasy, from one man’s deep faith in radishes to another’s inability to avoid nicknames.

Descripción original del museo, en inglés. Licencia: CC0