Vegetable species with different flowering seasons gather surprisingly together on the banks of a stream. On one side, we can recognize a maple, chrysanthemums, achilleas, hydrangeas and carnations blowing in the fall/winter pair of seasons; on the other, cherry tree, peonies and camellias blowing in the spring/summer one.
Leaves, flowers and stems draw an elegant texture on the background, filled of flat color, of the river. It looks as if those vegetal elements have assumed the function of a variety of fonts, composing an arboreal writing, whose assorted phraseology is likely to be read on the blue sheet of water. There is no doubt that a certain taste for the line as a profile drawn on a surface shines through the Japanese art. The surface could be that of a river, as it is the case for Leaves in fall by Yokoyama Taikan, or the moon’s one, even complemented by an impressive backlight effect, as for Plum blossom and the moon by Hokusai.
Different plants are so accurately profiled that any individual detail, notably a leave, twig, or petal, stands out clearly. An artist looks out at nature with care as a botanist does, but the observational skills are clearly distinguished. According to a scientific approach, nature is studied, classified, and measured, for the given knowledge to be invariably used with spirit of domination. This is a consequence of the western culture where the essentially transcendental character of Deity causes the latter and nature he created himself to be far apart. Instead, any utilitarian knowledge of nature is alien to the traditional eastern culture, where the Deity rather assumes an essentially immanent character. The Japanese people is clearly aware of the divine presence, say, in every small flower or leaf subject to his careful observation. In line with the Shinto belief, the Deity is in any Kami, namely, in every aspect of nature. In this case, any natural form or appearance gives rise to a great deal of marvel, attention, respect and contemplation.
The artist is prone to communicate a sense of uniformity in coloring, which is why he gives rather preference to faint dyes, as are the pastel and neutral colors, than to those strong and bright. Everything does distinguish, but nothing must prevail. The painter on one hand identifies any individual subject, on the other he perceives each of them as a part of a whole in which nothing predominates and everything refers to something else.
The scenario under examination is unrealistic because the plant species there portrayed cannot all be together; therefore, it has to have a symbolic meaning. The Japanese culture is strongly influenced by the changing pattern of the seasons that is reflected in color changes, blooming and withering, daylight duration and manifestations of climate change such as rainfall and snowfall. Also rules and customs are dictated by the periods of nature: the hanami (contemplation of cherry blossoms) and tsukimi (contemplation of the moon) rites in the spring and autumn, respectively. That time dependence is also the case for the holydays, ikebana, tea ceremony, fantasies of kimono and even ornaments in hairstyles for woman. Even as regards the visual arts, as with literature and poetry, the subjects and reoccurring motifs are almost always connected to the seasons: a painting tòpos is the representation of the four seasons, whereas the reference to a season is a clause of style for haiku.
The transition from a season to another takes on a symbolic significance of religious nature and is connected to the Buddhist concept of impermanence, namely of the temporary nature of everything. The spring and autumn equinoxes respectively regard the transitions to summer and winter, and, as such, they are comparable to the passage across a river; on religious grounds, they result in the metaphor of the condition of torpor, stillness, ignorance that switches to enlightenment. The terminology itself applied to the above-mentioned equinoxes, namely, in the same order, Haru no Higan and Aki no Higan, includes the word Higan that means “other side”.
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