2-735-608 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Mt. Fuji through Pines, late 1700s-early 1800s. Kubo Shunman dashed off this loose image of Mt. Fuji viewed in the distance from behind pine trees as a performance painting, or sekiga . He did it on the spot in the company of members of his poetry club. Six of them, including the club's founder Yadoya no Meshimori (Rokujuen, 1753-1830), added kyoka poems, 31-syllable poems like the classical Japanese waka poem in form, but with a heavy emphasis on humor. Shunman jotted down a poem as well, in the bottom right corner of the painting, before signing and sealing it. Each poem takes the painted image as its point of departure.