Landscape: Lake Biwa

Okyo’s simplified view of Lake Biwa--the shoreline, a few hills, and small islands--is rendered in an imaginative, playful style of brushwork. This image presents a visual play on the name biwa, an ancient Chinese musical instrument that was adopted in Japan. The sketch exaggerates the lute-like shape of the lake, which spreads from a narrow “neck” at its southern end near Kyoto to a wide oval “body” at the north.