Bird on Sasanqua Branch

Although the painter's seal is missing on this scroll, the inscription by the literati priest Zuikei Shuhu indicates that it was painted before 1473. The sasanqua tree, which is slightly covered with snow, represents winter, and the little bird on the branch represents the approaching spring. Sasanqua painting has a long history. In China, at the latest, it started in the Northern Song Dynasty, and in Japan, according to old documents, sasanqua was a painting subject visible in the Namboku-cho Period. This piece was supposedly modeled after some flower-and-bird painting of the court style imported from China.

— Museum description: Kyoto National Museum (CC BY 4.0), via ColBase / Japan Search.