Cocks and Hens

• by Ito Jakuchu
• (From a set of nine panels)
• Ink on paper
• Proportions:
• Sliding door panels: 176.5 x 91.5 cm
  Wall panels: 176.5 x 179.0 cm
  203.5 x 111.0 cm
  199.0 x 108.5 cm
• Edo Period (dated 1790)
• AK 355
• Kyoto National Museum

These paintings by Ito Jakuchu (1716 - 1800) were made for the Hojo Hall of Kaiho-ji Zen Temple (Obaku sect) in Fushimi, Kyoto.

Including the few panels that are missing today, the length of this set of paintings as a whole was about ten meters, even longer than another set of paintings by Jakuchu from Saifuku-ji Temple in Osaka. Both sets of paintings are both of the same subject and were painted in the same year, 1790. However, while the Saifuku-ji set is done in color on gold leaf, this set is in ink on white paper.

This set of panels is a quintessential mature masterpiece of Ito Jakuchu.