Kusumi Morikage “Figure with Water Buffalo”

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IItem No.
Title	Figure with Water Buffalo
Overall size
Artwork size
Artist	Kusumi Morikage
Date Created	17th century
Price	￥500,000（excluding tax ）

　This work depicts a herdsman towing a water buffalo. The herdsman turns on his heel and looks at the ox, as if to say, “Come on, let’s go home. Both the gaze of the herdsman as he looks at the ox and the eyes of the cows as they follow him are gentle, creating a pastoral atmosphere in the painting.
　The soft, light ink tones and the brush strokes that capture the shape of the subject through skillful manipulation of the fat and thin brushstrokes are characteristic of Morikage’s work.

　This type of cow painting has been depicted since the Tang dynasty as a typical scene in Central and Southern China. In the Song dynasty (960-1279), “Ten Oxherding Pictures,” which depicted the process of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism using oxen and pasture animals as metaphors, appeared. In the Ten Oxherding Pictures, the ox represents the “true self” and the herdsman the “practitioner in pursuit of the true self. The combination of the cows and the pastoralists hides a multilayered meaning that goes beyond a mere countryside scene.

　The herdsman in this work seems to have succeeded in accustoming the ox and making them obey him. It would be interesting to see such a pastoral child as an enlightened person who has attained true selfhood.

　Kusumi Morikage was a painter of the Kano school active in the early Edo period. He was called one of the Four Heavenly Kings under Kano Tanyu (1602-1674), but was later excommunicated, and developed his own style of painting. He is known for works such as the national treasure “Cooling Off”(Tokyo National Museum collection).

As an antique, it may have some scratches or blemishes. We recommend that you visit our store to check the condition.
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