Year-Round Kakemono: Japanese Hanging Scrolls for Every Season

Why Japanese dealers keep a group for the whole year

In Japan a kakejiku (掛軸) changes with the season, yet not every picture is tied to one. Kakejiku dealers therefore sort their stock not only into spring, summer, autumn and winter but also keep a separate group for pictures that may hang at any time: nenjū-gake (年中掛け) or fudan-gake (普段掛け), roughly “hung all year” and “hung on ordinary days”. Alongside them stand the celebration pictures, keiji-gake (慶事掛け), suited to congratulations, weddings or milestone birthdays, which likewise belong to no season. The dealer Kōbidō explicitly lists ink landscapes, bamboo with sparrow, the Four Gentlemen, hawk, tiger and dragon among the year-round pictures.

Zen calligraphy and ensō without a seasonal word

The largest group consists of written scrolls. According to Japanese dealers, a Zen phrase that names no season is especially popular as a year-round picture. They cite Nichinichi kore kōjitsu (日日是好日, “Every day is a good day”) and Wa kei sei jaku (和敬清寂), the four core values of the Way of Tea: harmony, respect, purity, tranquillity. Phrases such as Buji kore kinin (無事是貴人), Kissako (喫茶去, “Have a bowl of tea”) or Mu ichimotsu (無一物, “not a single thing”) are just as free of any season. Then there is the ensō (円相), the circle painted in one movement, alone or with a short inscription.

Sansui: ink landscapes without seasonal signs

The ink landscape, sansui (山水, “mountain and water”), heads the dealer's list of year-round subjects – but only as long as it carries no seasonal sign. Mist between rocks, a hut on a slope, a pagoda on a cliff, a river with a mountain village: such pictures show no blossom, no coloured leaves and no snow, and can therefore hang at any time.

Tiger and dragon: pictures for protection and good fortune

On the tiger, tora (虎), the Japanese sources agree: it is regarded as a picture that wards off misfortune (魔除け, mayoke), and one dealer calls it the typical protective picture that hangs all year. The dragon, ryū (龍), stands for good fortune and blessing (吉祥, kisshō) and is no more tied to a season. In this category you will find a tiger in the grass, dragons between clouds and waves, a dragon above Mount Fuji or a wrathful dragon's head.

Crane, tortoise, pine, Fuji and koi

Crane and tortoise, tsuru and kame (鶴亀), stand for long life. One Japanese dealer states explicitly that a picture with only a crane or a tortoise is a year-round picture. The pine, matsu (松), stays green at all times and on its own is mostly listed as year-round; together with bamboo and plum it forms shōchikubai (松竹梅), a celebration picture that is also hung at New Year. Another dealer describes Mount Fuji without a seasonal sign as a subject that can hang all year. The carp, koi (鯉), also counts among the auspicious pictures, above all the carp swimming up the waterfall.

Daruma, Buddhist images and the Four Gentlemen

Religious pictures know no season either. Daruma (達磨), the founder of Zen, appears in vigorous ink; Japanese dealers list him among the year-round pictures. Kannon and other Buddhist figures, copies of the Heart Sutra, monks, and Kanzan and Jittoku, the pair from Zen legend with scroll and broom, belong here too. The Four Gentlemen, shikunshi (四君子), form a group of their own: plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum.

How to tell that a picture is not a seasonal one

What decides is the seasonal marker, not the main subject. A seasonal picture carries a sign that points to a particular part of the year: a specific blossom, red maple leaves, snow, the full moon over grasses. Without such a sign the subject stays year-round. Conversely, a year-round subject becomes seasonal once it carries a marker: a tiger in the snow is a winter picture, Fuji behind cherry blossom a spring picture, a crane before the rising sun a New Year picture. With calligraphy the phrase decides: if it names snow, blossom or moon, it belongs to the season of the phrase.

The safe first choice and the bridge between seasons

If you own just one hanging scroll, a year-round subject is the safe choice: it suits January as well as July, and nobody has to wonder whether the blossom on the wall is ahead of nature or behind it. Once seasonal pictures join it, it becomes the picture for the times in between. Japanese dealers count the seasons in blocks of three months and hang a seasonal picture about a month before the season begins. Even so, there are often weeks between two pictures when the old one has come down and the new one would still be too early. That is when a Zen calligraphy or a sansui landscape takes over.

Care, rotation and what collectors look for

Even a year-round picture should not hang without a break. Light and dry indoor air wear on paper, silk and mounting over time, and a picture that has rested for a few weeks looks fresh again when it goes back up. With calligraphy it pays to read the box inscription, which often names the phrase: it tells you whether the phrase contains a seasonal word. With animals and landscapes, check the edges of the picture as well, since a few snowflakes or red leaves are enough to turn a year-round subject into a seasonal one.