Kanko-dori, Fowl on the Drum

The subject of this painting comes from a Chinese tradition: the legendary king of China, Yao of Tang, set a drum named “Kanko,” in front of the Imperial court for his people to strike when they had a word to expostulate to him. However, nobody struck the drum because of his good governance. The drum eventually became covered in moss. Fowls began to perch and rest on it peaceably.
In this painting, instead of moss, ivy leaves tinged with red are depicted around the drum.
On the right scroll is the sun appearing behind the pine trees, and on the left is the moon peeping out from the bamboo forest. The moon is depicted by ‘sotoguma,’ a technique shading off around the outline of the moon in light black color. The bamboo stalks are clearly painted, while the tops and bottoms were not painted as if they had disappeared. This technique was often used by the painters of the Kanō school, originated from Kanō Tan’yu.