Priest Riding a Donkey

About 1, 000 years ago, a Chinese monk named Yushanzhu is said to have attained enlightenment when he fell off his donkey while crossing a bridge—the physical jolt that spiritually awakened him. Here, Yushanzhu (in Japanese: Ikuzanshu) tilts his head up to gaze at a branch extending from a cliff face while his donkey trots along. Kano Naonobu rendered Yushanzhu, the donkey, and the outcropping in just a few brushstrokes and splashes of ink wash, a style of painting derived from Chinese ink painting, which was the specialty of the Kano workshop of painters.