Kakemono Takasago - Jō and Uba in the Evening Glow

On a rocky shore beneath a gnarled, wide-spreading pine tree, two figures with snow-white hair meet: Jō and Uba, the legendary couple of the Takasago tale, who have been regarded in Japan for centuries as a symbol of marital fidelity and a long life shared together. Above them a deep red sun rises, two cranes pass across the sky, while a blossoming plum branch heralds the approaching spring – a calm, harmonious scene full of good wishes.

The composition was captured in fine hand-painting on silk, with soft gradients ranging from warm orange in the sky to muted greens and earth tones in the robes of the two figures. The careful line work of the faces and garments attests to the practiced hand of a painter of the Shōwa period, who rendered a classical motif with narrative calm.

Framed by a subtly patterned border and mounted with fittings of bone, the hanging scroll can be displayed in the classical manner in the tokonoma or elsewhere in the home. It is delivered in a purpose-made wooden box (tomobako) that has safely preserved the work for decades – an atmospheric one-of-a-kind piece for lovers of traditional Japanese painting.