Ito Jakuchu was born the son of a wholesale greengrocer in Nishikikoji in Kyoto. He first studied the Kano style of painting and investigated Chinese paintings from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. He realized, however, that he could not express himself fully by means of imitation alone, and he moved beyond simple observation of nature to develop his own distinctive painting style. His huge oeuvre ranges from detailed, strongly decorative bird and flower paintings in full color to unconventional, buoyant ink paintings. Here Jakuchu has filled his compositions with diagonally opposing images of crane and tortoise. In spite of their highly deformed presentation, Jakuchu skillfully captures the essence of the animals depicted. Many of Jakuchu's ink paintings of animals and plants have a Zen]like ambiance, and this tendency was firmly rooted in his devotion to Zen engendered by his interactions with Taiten, abbot of Shokokuji Temple in Kyoto and his naturally reclusive personality. Jakuchu's character is profoundly expressed in the piercing gaze of the tortoise and cranes, each seeming to look straight into the viewer's soul. The painting is impressed with an intaglio seal ,g‘ηΰσ" and a relief seal , gαtm"
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