Lotus Flowers

Kōno Bairei (1844-1895) was born in Shinmachi Shijo, Kyoto, and was a leading figure in the Kyoto Art Circle of painters during the Meiji period. He is known as an educator and was involved in the establishment of the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting (now Kyoto City University of Arts). His students included Takeuchi Seihō and Uemura Shōen, who would go on to become the next generation of painters. In 1893, Seihō's teacher Kōno Bairei was commissioned to paint a mural for the Founder’s Hall at Higashi Honganji. Soon, however, after he started to sketch in the composition of lotus flowers, Bairei fell ill. Assisted by a team of his students led by Seihō, Bairei managed finish the work in December 1894. During the following year, he died. Bairei painted this late work to commemorate of the completion of the mural and donated it to Higashi Honganji Temple. With its succession of leaves, buds, flower, and seed heads, the lotus demonstrates the flow of life. Rooted in mud below but with unsullied flowers above, the plant also symbolizes the Buddha. In this picture, as if to show compassion for all life, in exquisite detail, tiny water striders are shown skimming the surface of the water.