The Japanese title literally means “four sleepers.” A common motif in classical Chinese art, it symbolizes a state in which all living things have fallen asleep so that a calm falls over the world, and Zen enlightenment is achieved. Traditionally, the four characters depicted were the Chinese Zen monk-poet Fenggan, a tiger, and Fenggan’s disciples Hanshan and Shide in the form of children, but there are also variations showing an arhat, a child, a dragon, and a tiger. In this work, an arhat-like figure sits in the center with a dragon on his lap, a child behind him, and a bird on a branch. It is not known why the artist, Shimomura Kanzan, altered the motif in this way. The work was included in the 1st Saiko-Inten (Reorganized Japan Art Institute Exhibition), an important show that Kanzan and his friends reestablished after the death of their mentor Okakura Kakuzo (Tenshin), so perhaps there is some secret meaning behind the four characters it depicts.
(HIBINO Miyon)
The Japanese title literally means “four sleepers.” A common motif in classical Chinese art, it symbolizes a state in which all living things have fallen asleep so that a calm falls over the world, and Zen enlightenment is achieved. Traditionally, the four characters depicted were the Chinese Zen monk-poet Fenggan, a tiger, and Fenggan’s disciples Hanshan and Shide in the form of children, but there are also variations showing an arhat, a child, a dragon, and a tiger. In this work, an arhat-like figure sits in the center with a dragon on his lap, a child behind him, and a bird on a branch. It is not known why the artist, Shimomura Kanzan, altered the motif in this way. The work was included in the 1st Saiko-Inten (Reorganized Japan Art Institute Exhibition), an important show that Kanzan and his friends reestablished after the death of their mentor Okakura Kakuzo (Tenshin), so perhaps there is some secret meaning behind the four characters it depicts.
(HIBINO Miyon)