The Hozu River

Description

Maruyama Ōkyo, a leading master of the 18th century, is considered the founder of the Maruyama-Shijō School, which flourished during the Edo period until the beginning of the twentieth century. Born the son of a farmer in the countryside not far from Kyoto, he started his study of painting under a well-known Kano school painter, Ishida Yutei (1721–1786). The mannered Chinese style of the Kano school did not satisfy him, so he began to form his own style.

Ōkyo was especially interested in the representation of the various aspects of water. He made a number of masterworks depicting rushing mountain streams, rippling seas, and angry waves breaking against rocks. The Hozu River, which runs near the city of Kyoto, was a favorite theme of his. The present six-fold screen, executed in 1772 when the artist was 40 years old, was originally painted on four sliding doors. It was likely paired with a corresponding set of doors depicting a landscape of a similar subject, perhaps the Uji River, located to the south of Kyoto.