Japanese Autumn Paintings: Kakemono with Maple, Moon and Chrysanthemum

Why the Scroll Changes with Autumn in Japan

In Japan, a kakemono, also called kakejiku (掛軸), is not a picture for good but one for a few weeks. In the tokonoma, the display alcove of a Japanese room, only one scroll hangs at a time, and it is meant to match what is happening outside. The alcove becomes a calendar: anyone who enters can read the time of year from the picture. In the tea room this match is taken especially seriously, because there the scroll is the first thing the guests look at. Japanese dealers still divide their stock into seasonal scrolls (季節掛け), year-round scrolls (年中掛け) and pictures for festive occasions – and the autumn scrolls are simply called aki-gake (秋掛け).

Momiji and Kiku: The Two Leading Motifs

No motif stands for the Japanese autumn quite like momiji (紅葉), maple leaves turned red and yellow. They appear as a single branch with a bird, as foliage over a waterfall, around a temple gate or as a patch of color in a wide mountain landscape (秋景). Their counterpart is the chrysanthemum, kiku (菊), the flower of the ninth month, to which the Chōyō chrysanthemum festival (重陽) is devoted. On scrolls it appears with sparrows, with a rooster and hen or with a hare, in pure ink as well as in strong colors on silk.

Moon, Wild Geese and Autumn Grasses

A second group of motifs belongs to the night. The full moon, meigetsu (名月), is admired during moon viewing, tsukimi (月見), and in an autumn picture it is usually the real subject: a pale disc above reeds, above waves or above a quiet river landscape with a boat. Before it fly the wild geese, kari (雁), which arrive from the north in autumn and leave again in spring; the goose before the moon, tsuki ni kari (月に雁), is one of the most enduring pairings in Japanese painting. Then there are the autumn grasses, akikusa (秋草): silver grass (susuki), bush clover (hagi) and balloon flower (kikyō), all of them among the seven autumn herbs. Quails often hide among them, or a deer stands on a rock and calls into the moonlit night.

Fruit and Harvest

Quieter, but no less autumnal, are the fruits. The persimmon, kaki (柿), with its orange-red fruit pecked by a crow or reached for by a monkey, grapes with a squirrel in the leaves, chestnuts and ripe ears of rice with a sparrow perched on them all speak of ripeness and harvest. Japanese dealers specifically recommend persimmons and rice ears as pictures that make the harvest season tangible. A red dragonfly above a blade of grass belongs to this group as well; a dragonfly above irises, by contrast, is a summer picture.

When to Hang Autumn Scrolls

According to the monthly scheme used by Japanese dealers, autumn covers September to November. Scrolls go up a little earlier than the season begins outside, though: dealers advise hanging a seasonal picture about a month ahead, so as early as late August. Within autumn there is a sequence. Autumn grasses with quails suit September and October, moon and wild geese mid-September to late October, persimmons and grapes late September to early November. Maple leaves have their time in October and November and accompany the wall up to the threshold of winter.

The Marker Decides, Not the Main Subject

Whether a picture belongs in this selection often depends on a detail. A deer beneath red maple, Mount Fuji above turning maple trees, a rider in autumn silver grass or a beauty before the full moon are autumn pictures, because leaves, grass or moon announce the season. Without such a marker, the same main subjects remain year-round pictures. That is why you will deliberately find no cranes and tortoises here, no pine on its own, no tigers, dragons or Fuji pictures without a seasonal sign, no ink landscapes without autumn foliage and no Zen calligraphy without a seasonal word. The chrysanthemum as one of the Four Gentlemen (四君子) is not an autumn picture either, and a single sheet showing flowers of all four seasons belongs to none of them. The reverse also holds: the duck is a winter bird, dried persimmons count as winter, and morning glory or cotton rose on their own count as summer.

Autumn in Rotation with the Other Seasons

In the old triad setsugekka (雪月花) – snow, moon and flowers – autumn stands for the moon, and together with spring it forms the classic pair of opposites. Some sets combine the two, such as a flowering plum next to reddened leaves, while others lead through the whole year in four scrolls. If you own only a few scrolls, pair an autumn picture with a bright spring or summer one and you have divided the year into two halves. In late November a winter picture with snow, camellia or nandina takes over; for the weeks in between, a year-round motif works well.

Care When Changing Scrolls and What Collectors Look For

When the autumn scroll comes down, roll it loosely and evenly without creasing the painting, tie it with its cord and lay it back in its wooden box. Only roll it up when the air is dry, and keep it out of direct sunlight so that the red of the leaves does not fade. When buying, the box is worth a look: inscriptions such as 秋景 (autumn landscape) or 晩秋 (late autumn) confirm which season the picture intends. Also note how clear the autumn marker is – a distinct branch of momiji or a full moon carries the season even from across the room, a vague hue does not.