Heavenly hermit (heavenly bamboo and narcissus)

This picture was created in the summer when Kaioku was 64 years of age. Petals of the narcissus are painted in pale bluish green to express freshness.
In literati pictures, puns were favored for the titles to convey allegory. Heavenly Bamboo (nanten) and narcissus (suisen) symbolize heavenly immortals (tensen). Furthermore, narcissus has another name kinsan-gindai (golden goblet on silver pedestal) after the shape of its flower. This painting has a legend in the form of heptametrical quatrain of the author’s own making; the last line “the golden goblet is suitable for offering wine to a poet” seems to be based on this allegory.