Bamboo

Bamboo, together with the plum and pine tree, is an ubiquitous theme imbued with a wide range of literary and artistic associations. The three plants are called the “Three Friends of Winter”; bamboo and the pine tree for keeping their green colour even in winter, and the plum tree as it often blossoms with the last snow. The scroll is signed and sealed with the name Kaidō, the pen name of Katen, a Kyoto painter and poet. His graphic concept of the painting is characterized by the contrast of the lush, deep black leaves loosely sketched over a lighter ground motif. As the root part of the bamboo trunk is generally used to make shakuhachi flutes, Katen’s scroll also implies musical and literary associations, in the calligraphic form of a Chinese couplet composed of two seven-character verses: “A nephrite flute and opal phoenix whirl amidst the snow. The mountains’ dragon-like glow and inebriated dawn are chilling to the bones.”