Ito Jakuchu was born to a wholesale greengrocer in Nishikikoji in Kyoto. Jakuchu studied the style of the Kano school, and also studied paintings of Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties in China. Realizing that he could not express himself fully by means of imitation alone, he eventually developed his own style of painting, by means of, in part, careful observation of nature. Jakuchu painted minutely detailed, decorative paintings of birds and flowers, as well as many unconventional ink paintings. As an aid to painting, he kept dozens of chickens loose in his yard, a practice that enabled him to observe and sketch them for years and produce a large number of works.
In the present ink paintings, two cranes and a tortoise believed to live in the sea off a mythical isle are placed diagonally, filling the space. Though extremely deformed, the paintings skillfully represent the animals' temperaments. In particular, the skills of Jakuchu as an accomplished realist are particularly evident in his handling of the egg-shaped bodies of cranes, one ducking its head, and in the carapace of the tortoise and the aquatic plants. Many of Jakuchu's ink paintings of animals and plants suggests a Zen-like ambiance, probably because he devoted himself to Zen Buddhism as a result of his friendship with Daiten, who would later become the chief priest of Shokokuji Temple in Kyoto, and because Jakuchu held within himself a reclusive personality. These personalities of Jakuchu are unmistakable in the look that these animals cast to the viewer as if to penetrate to the core of the viewer's soul.
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