Mt. Ashigara

Against the backdrop of a full moon, in this painting ITŌ Kōun lyrically depicts a scene from Japan’s classic 13th century Kokon Chomonjū (Collection of Folk Literature). As the story goes, TOYOHARA Tokimoto, a member of the Toyohara family and a celebrated master of the shō — a traditional Japanese free reed instrument — had a secret melody which he imparted to MINAMOTO Yoshimitsu. This tune was unknown to Tokimoto’s son, Tokiaki, given how young Tokiaki was when his father passed away.