A late winter scene picturing a majestic white hawk alighting on a plum branch in full bloom. Hawks—which were used for hunting during the Momoyama and Edo periods (takagari)—are considered symbols of nobility, strength, and are thought to embody the samurai spirit...

This Buddhist Scroll painting was drawn about 200 years ago during the Edo Period in Japan. It is hand painted on paper.

You will find a Hermit with tortoise with a Wabi-Sabi atmosphere. It is drawn very well and it is a very good composition.

Such simple touch is the soul of a Japanese painting. It leads to WABI-SABI. This style of painting is called KANO-HA painting...

A vibrant image of a paradisaical island over which soar white cranes by Shirakura Kanyu (Niho) enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Horai Senkyo-zu. This scroll is signed Kanyu, placing it in or after 1940 , when he changed his art name. It is performed with pigment on silk in a fine silk border with solid ivory rollers (these will be changed if exporting). It is 145 x 65.5㎝ (57 x 26 inches) and is in excellent original condition...

A voluminous ink landscape built around two scholars viewing the cascade dropping into the canyon on this huge scroll by Tanaka Hakuin enclosed in the original signed wooden box dated Meiji 45 (1912). Performed with rich black ink against the sheer white paper, the mountainous crags and leafy forms built up in layers of gray and black. The scene is mounted in patterned silk with white piping in the Mincho style popular among literati painters in the era, and features huge bone rollers...

Jurojin getting an earful; a humorous image by Suzuki Shonen showing the elderly god having his ear cleaned by his companion, the long lived crane. It comes enclosed in a double wooden box annotated by Konishi Fukunen (1887-1959) and bears a label from the Daimaru Department Store. Fukunen was one of Shonens most famous pupils. The ink and light color on paper image is bordered in a superb brocade mounting with solid ivory rollers...

A massive evocative painting exhibited at the first Bunten National Exhibition in 1908 by Ito Koun enclosed in a large period wooden box and pblished in the Nitten-shi series volume I. It is performed with pigment on silk, and shows that soft, almost mystical touch typical of late Meiji Rekishi-ga historical imagery. The samurai crouches at the gate, letting fly arrows at his overwhelming opponents...

A set of four large scrolls depicting seasonal landscapes by Shirakura Niho enclosed in the original signed double wood box exhibited at the 1936 Nangain-Ten and published in the book Shirakura Niho (page 127 figures 102-107). Ink & Light color on Paper in fine silk mountings, they have been completely cleaned and restored to original perfect condition retaining the original cloth by Kitaoka Hyboido of Kyoto. Each scroll is 66 x 138.5 cm (26 x 54-1/2 inches)...

Antique Japanese large scroll painting on silk of a buck and a doe. With incredible detailing such as the thousands of individual hairs on each deer, piercing eyes, long strands of grass with intermingled berry shrubs and blossoming flowers. Creating a tranquil nature scene. Signed "Toko" Tsuchinoto (boar) Aki. Taisho period circa 1920's. Autumn, Year 36 of 60 year cycle. Comes with original tomobako. Size: (entire scroll) 92"H x 33.25" W (artwork only) 56" H x 27.5" W

Here in Kyoto our gallery is located along the Kamo River in a district known as Shobu-en Machi, which roughly translates as “Iris Town.” As you can imagine, the scene depicted in this painting of irises and cranes is one that can be commonly witnessed in our neighborhood in the spring (May) when these flowers are in full bloom...

An interesting comment on the circle of life, the huge cicada, with only a three day (above ground) life, is dissected and carried away by a line of tiny ants, birth and death, the mighty and the tiny, and the cycle of life continues. This image is by Ishikawa Chikuson and comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box. It is performed with ink and light color on handmade paper, mounted in a field of soft-blue silk extended with beige...

Antique Japanese hand scroll painting of Legends of Mount Shigi based on a painting called Shigisan-engi. The long narrative scroll depicts miracles revolving around a monk named Myoren who lived on Mount Shigi. According to the legends, Myoren was drawn to Mount Shigi by a Buddha statue. He built a shrine there and, that winter, he survived on rice provided to him by his roving rice bowl...

Japanese scroll painting with a figure of Manjusri in the center of a circular chart below which sits a fu-dog; the very bottom of the scroll has numerous signatures and seal marks. The waves along the border of the circle indicate that this is a Sea-Crossing Manjusri (Tokai Monju). The text within the circle indicates that the painting comes from the Matsumoto castle in the Shinano province (the Nagano prefecture in central Japan)...

Antique Japanese fan painting of a single bat in sumi-e ink on paper. Signed by the artist. The painting is 18th century, later mounted as a scroll. The surface of the painting is very unusual and has a slight opalescent quality.
Size of scroll: 48" high x 24" wide (26" wide including scroll ends). Size of fan painting: 9" high x 19" wide.

New Arrival

Antique 18th century Japanese charming small scroll painting of a beautiful maiden riding a kirin (in Chinese, qilin). The mythical creature is part lion with the body of a dragon and the hooves of a deer...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of a skeleton. Realistically rendered for use in a doctor's office. Great detail and shading. Frontal view with a top view of the foot. Painted in sumi-e ink and light colors on paper. Signature seal.

Dimensions: Total size: 77 1/2" high x 27 3/4" wide (30 1/2" wide including rollers). Size of art: 55" high x 23 1/4" wide.

Antique Japanese calligraphy scroll painting by the Confucian scholar, poet, koto musician, calligrapher and artist, Ryū Kōbi (also called Ryû Sôro) (1714-1792). Sumi ink on paper. With three seals, one being his trademark Dragon seal.

This work is Waka poetry done in traditional 5-7-5-7-7 syllables or a 5-line wake poem. Which traditionally calls up an image of nature that then alludes to an emotion. This poem is one written long ago by the famous Chinese poet Zhang Ji (A...

Antique Japanese framed scroll painting by the artist Mori Sosen (1747-1821), Japanese painter of the Shijō school during the Edo period. Although he did paint other animals and birds, Sosen is most famous for his paintings monkeys. In this painting, a mother monkey grooms her young one. Her expression is one of intent concentration while her little monkey protests. Sosen was a master at painting monkeys, delineating every hair and creating a soft effect. Painted in sumi ink and light col...

Antique Japanese Buddhist Diamond Realm Mandala thangka painting (Kongokai Mandara). In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Diamond Realm (vajradhatu kongokai) is a metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Wisdom Buddhas. The Diamond Realm Mandala is based on an esoteric Buddhist sutra called Vajrasekhara Sutra. Shuji Mandala of the Two Worlds, Vajradhatu Mandala does not directly express the forms of the buddhas but expresses them in Sanskrit character (Siddham) called Shuji seed letter. This mandala ...