Haboku sansui, Ink wash painting at Tokyo National Museum, Japan
Haboku sansui is an ink wash painting on paper depicting a mountain and water landscape. The work displays a vertical composition in a narrow, tall format typical of hanging scroll paintings.
Master painter Sesshū Tōyō completed this mountain and water landscape in 1495 after extensive study with Chinese artists. The work marks a peak of his artistic maturity following this intensive training.
The inscriptions show personal thoughts from Sesshū and poems by six Buddhist monks, reflecting the deep bond between art and spirituality in this work.
This National Treasure is displayed at the Tokyo National Museum in Taitō-ku alongside other Japanese artistic and historical collections. Be aware that like other delicate historical artworks, it may not always be on public view for conservation reasons.
The work uses the broken ink technique, where layers of diluted and concentrated ink create depth through unconventional brush strokes. This method was an innovative approach at the time to achieve spatial effects without detailed outlines.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
