Kakemono Calligraphy: Bamboo and Peach Blossom

This calligraphy dates from the Shôwa period and renders a line from a classical Chinese poem: while the tall bamboo begins to turn green from below, the blossom of the small peach tree opens first at its tip – a subtle image for the different ways of growing and becoming in nature. Two entirely contrasting images of plants are interwoven here in a single short line.

The calligrapher's powerful, slightly cursive handwriting sets the characters with confident momentum from top to bottom, with density and emptiness alternating throughout the composition of the line, lending the sheet a calm, balanced harmony. Signature and red seal at the left edge of the image complete the composition.

The sheet is painted on paper and fitted with a wooden jikusaki. The olive-green, finely patterned mounting fabric lends the hanging scroll a calm, earthy character. For lovers of classical Chinese poetry and Japanese calligraphy, this work titled Calligraphy: Bamboo and Peach Blossom is a particularly poetic, fitting choice.