After years of ascetic practice in the wilderness, Siddharta (Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha) questions the effectiveness of ascetism and decides to leave the mountains. Shakyamuni Descending From the Mountains has always counted among the most popular themes of Buddhist painting, including Liang Kai’s triptych Shakyamuni Descending From the Mountains and Winter Landscape (12th century, National Treasure, Tokyo National Museum). The present hanging scroll by Kano Hogai was likely done around 1887 or 1888, hence may be one of his final works before he passed away in 1888 at the age of sixty-one. That considered, it is curious to note the painting not only relies on a composition different from conventional representations of the subject matter, but also evinces many similarities with the iconography of so-called raigo-zu, showing Buddha Amida and the Twenty-Five Bodhisattvas descending from clouds to welcome the recently deceased.

According to disciple Oka Fuho, Hogai drew inspiration for his masterpiece Merciful Mother Kannon (1888, Tokyo University of the Arts) while on a sketching trip to Mount Myogi (Gunma Prefecture) with his colleague Kano Tomonobu. To Hogai, the rugged shapes of Mount Myogi appeared like taken straight out of the painter Sesshu’s works, and he exclaimed that he almost expected to see the bodhisattva Kannon descend from the peaks (“Anecdotes About Master Kano: About Merciful Mother Kannon” in Oka Fuho, Shinobugusa [Memoirs]). The box inscription “Shakyamuni Descending From the Mountains by Kano Hogai” for this work, painted around the same time like Merciful Mother Kannon, was provided by Saito Ryuzo, a historian with ties to the Japan Art Institute. One is probably justified to presuppose a connection of this scroll and Merciful Mother Kannon. 

Even a superficial glance at this painting suggests that this scenery high up in the mountains is not truly of our world; one senses that one has reached the outer boundaries of the realm of the sacred. The sharply protruding cliff near the lower right, and the overall atmosphere imply that here the Promethean forces that created this world are still active. The blueish shape in the upper right corner may allude to some mysterious presence that is not fully revealed to us. Alternatively, we may understand this shape as a stripe of pale blue sky behind the ridge of an enormous mountain that expands over most of the background. If this was correct, it means we are looking from a lower position towards the mountains from which Shakyamuni is descending. Further interesting details include the kettle-shaped incense burner that seems to be guiding Shakyamuni’s path, emanating a faint stream of rising smoke, and the figures of two miniscule lions placed firmly on the tips of the rocks to the lower left and right of the saintly figure. This work, with its provenance from the collection of Okakura Tenshin and box inscription by Saito Ryuzo, is an important work for the study of modern Japanese painting.

Kano Hogai (painter; 1828–1888)
Nihonga painter, originally from Nagato Province. Hogai together with Hashimoto Gaho counts among the most influential painters of the early Meiji period. With initial training from Kano Shosen’in Tadanobu, Hogai strove to enrich the traditional Kano style with elements of Western art, in the process contributing to the establishment of Nihonga, modern Japanese painting. Hogai is known for his close connection to Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin, and his involvement in the founding of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts.