The Four Accomplishments

This gathering of Chinese men represents Ike Taiga’s playful take on one of the most popular Chinese literary themes depicted in Japanese painting, the so-called “Four Accomplishments, ” four pastimes said to be suitable for learned gentlemen. One of these is calligraphy, represented by the two men at left, one of whom is prepared to begin writing. Another is a chess-like game called go, although here the game board seems to serve as little more than an elbow rest for two men engaged in a third pastime, painting. From behind the ink landscape they admire emerges a young boy carrying a Chinese zither, a fourth pastime.