Immortals Playing Go Game

The painting depicts two old men enjoying a board game of Go inside a scooped-out fruit. This unusual situation reminds us of a Chinese legend about the immortals playing the game of Go in an enchanted cave everlastingly. However, the two figures in this painting are portrayed as somewhat humorous old men rather than mysterious immortals.
Tōhaku Chikanobu (1772-1821) was the 5th head of the Edo-Surugadai branch of the Kanō school. He was an official painter of the Shogunate in the Edo period and worked on wall paintings at Edo Castle.
This painting shows another style of his work, which is different from his works commissioned by the government.