(1) The Facility of Autumn (Gishu)
(2) The Convenience of Fishing (Choben-zu)
This is a serial painting, in the bunjinga (literati painting) style, done jointly by Ike no Taiga and Yosa Buson. It takes as its subject matter a poem by the Chinese intellectual Li Yu (late Ming and early Qing dynasties) which extols the "ten conveniences" and "ten facilities" of life at his Yuyuan villa (pronounced Ien in Japanese). Ike no Taiga was, for the most part, in charge of depicting the "ten conveniences" (with their human element), while Yosa no Buson depicted the "ten pleasures," focusing on the natural environment. We know from a notation that the work was done in 1771. Depicting the "ideal life" of literati who had distanced themselves from the vulgarities of the mundane scene, this work seems to be a sort of competition in aesthetic sensibilities between two artists who were at the peak of their maturity and artistic skills.
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