A cat lying on the ground raises its head and glares at sparrows fussing in the branches of a tree. The combination of a cat and sparrows in painting is rare. There is late Joseon artist Byeon Sang-byeok’s Flying Sparrows and Cat (Tokyo National Museum), however, the way the cat and sparrows are depicted is different from this work, and even if Gaho had seen it, its influence would have been limited to providing the painting’s theme.

Another work by Gaho that combines cats and sparrows is Cat under Bamboo (Tokyo University of the Arts/The University Art Museum). This work was exhibited at the first exhibition of the Japan Painting Association in the fall of 1896, and is also introduced in Bijutsu kenkyu 111. The commentary compares it with White Clouds and Autumn Leaves (Tokyo University of the Arts/The University Art Museum) and the folding screen Dragon and Tiger (Seikado Bunko), pointing out that the composition is simple and the depiction of bamboos and sparrows features a notable degree of realistic detail.

These points also apply when comparing this work with Cat under Bamboo (Tokyo National Museum). In particular, the cat and the sparrow in Cat under Bamboo are executed with a great sense of naturalism. The cat has wrinkles on its neck, and the sparrows appear as if they are wearing a sort of armor. Rather than beings from this world, they appear as if from an imaginary realm, in that sense belonging to the same world like the dragon and tiger of the above-mentioned Dragon and Tiger screen. This tiger in fact cannot be called naturalistic—a naturalistically painted tiger would resemble an animal from a zoo, but what this work demanded was a tiger that dwells in otherworldly mysteriousness.

What creates the impression of simplicity in the composition of Cat under Bamboo is probably the result of the rather straight lines of the bamboo. By contrast, in the present work the tree trunk and its branches are vividly twisted, generating a much more dynamic effect. The trunk, in its shape reminding a rocky cliff, is surrounded by light shading in ink that suggests the space around it. This space is different from the effects favored in the so-called morotai, the “hazy” style championed by Gaho’s students. Gaho developed this approach based on the formal style of Kano school landscapes, but he didn’t imitate.

Gaho’s historical role was to bring the Kano school, the largest school in the history of Japanese painting, to a glowing finale, but it remained to his students such as Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunso to usher a new era. One of Hishida Shunso’s representative works, Black Cat (Eisei Bunko), is preceded by White Cat (Shunsokai), which the artist based on Cat (private collection), attributed to Emperor Huizong. However, the two works by Shunso include the motif of a tree, while the one attributed to Emperor Huizong has no background motifs. Yet, as a preceding example of combining a tree with a cat, the present work could be pointed out. Maybe it provided the inspiration. Since Shunso studied under Gaho at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, the possibility certainly exists.

Hashimoto Gaho (nihonga painter; 1835–1908)
Nihonga painter, born in Edo (now Tokyo) as the son of Hashimoto Seien Osakuni, official painter of the Kawagoe domain. Gaho studied with Kano Shosen’in Tadanobu. Joining efforts with Okakura Tenshin and Ernest Fenollosa, Gaho was among the first professors of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), and participated in the founding of the Nihon Bijutsuin. Among his students were Hishida Shunso, Yokoyama Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, Saigo Kogetsu and Kawai Gyokudo. Later, Gaho established the Futabakai art association together with Kawai Gyokudo. Along Kano Hogai, Gaho counts among the most eminent painters of the Meiji era. Appointed Imperial Household Artist in 1890.