Kakemono Waterfall in the Mountains

In this monumental composition bearing the stamp of Nakagawa Wado, the eye descends into the depth of a mountain valley, where a mighty waterfall plunges down in a single white veil. The delicate glazes and the sparing use of color lend the work an almost meditative atmosphere. Only two small birds hovering above the mist break the silence, while at the same time making clear the vast dimension of nature.

The painting, created in the Meiji period, is painted on silk and fitted with jikusaki made of bone. The artist succeeds in bringing movement and stillness, emptiness and fullness into harmony – an aesthetic stance deeply rooted in the spirit of Japanese landscape painting. The waterfall is understood not as a natural phenomenon, but as an expression of the ceaseless flow of life.