The Poet Su Shi and Meng Jia Loses His Hat

These screens depict two renowned figures in acts of elegant disregard for societal norms. At left is the fourth-century scholar-statesman Meng Jia (317–420), who failed to notice when his cap was blown off by a gust of wind at a formal gathering one day. When a colleague criticized his appearance, Meng replied with a beautifully phrased poem composed on the spot. At right is the celebrated poet Su Shi (1036–1101), who, upon getting caught in a sudden rainstorm, borrowed a simple hat and clogs from a nearby farmer and continued on his way. Although Taiga’s brushwork suggests swift execution, the composition of the screens is in fact carefully planned to establish a series of comparisons between the bare-headed statesman and the hatted poet, one turned away beneath a coniferous pine, the other approaching a deciduous tree. Both the archetypal figures and Taiga’s painting style embody Edo period rather than modern concepts of eccentricity, or ki in Japanese.