This shikishi painting by Hōsen (峰泉) captures the tranquil beauty of a moonlit riverscape rendered in delicate sumi-e (ink wash) technique. The minimalist brushwork portrays a lone fisherman in a small boat, drifting across still waters beneath a crescent moon and distant mountains, with a line of migrating birds tracing the night sky. The scene embodies the quiet solitude and refined melancholy typical of traditional art.
The inscription on the right is a classical Chinese-style poem written in elegant brush calligraphy.
The poem expresses a profound sense of solitude and yearning, themes often explored in Chinese and Japanese poetry from the Tang and Edo periods. The artist reflects upon nature as a mirror of human emotion, the clarity of the moon, the chill of autumn frost, and the endless current of water all evoke the fleeting nature of companionship and time.
Together, the painting and poem harmonize as a meditation on impermanence, distance, and quiet reflection, exemplifying the aesthetic of wabi-sabi, the beauty found in simplicity and transience.
