Landscape

A few strokes of ink reflecting the energy and assurance of the artist’s vision create this landscape of a steep bank rising from and expanse of water. A closer look reveals two huts nestled near a bridge at left, trees above on the bank, and a boat floating on the water at right. Such landscapes, often painted in the most minimal terms, are known in Japanese as haboku (Chinese: pomo), meaning literally “broken ink” (or “inkbreaking”). The artist Soen, a Zen Buddhist monk from Kamakura, traveled to distant Yamaguchi to study with the eminent painter Sesshu, from whom he learned this technique. Painting and viewing haboku landscapes, which were admired by Zen Buddhist monks, challenges the imagination and requires full concentration of the mind.