Friends Visiting in the Mountains

Ike Taiga uses almost the complete pictorial space to create a mountain landscape. The foreground is dominated by several tall trees, which tower over two wanderers at the bottom of the picture, making their way up to the residence in the upper part of the image. Taiga was during his lifetime one of the most prominent members of the literati (bunjin) art scene in Kyoto. Born into a middle-class family in Kyoto, he received an excellent education in classical Chinese literature and poetry, which laid the foundation for his life-long passion for Chinese culture and painting. Taiga started to learn calligraphy as early as the age of six, and began to study painting by the age of 14, relying on Chinese painting manuals such as the “Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual” (Chin. Jiezi yuan huazhuan, Jap. Kaishien gaden ).