Hanshan and Shide
Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723–1776)
c. 1745–76
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 121.5 x 41 cm (47 13/16 x 16 1/8 in.); Overall: 213.4 x 44.2 cm (84 x 17 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Hanshan and Shide are a pair of individuals associated with Chan, or Zen, Buddhism who lived on Mount Tiantai in China around the 700s to early 800s. In Japan, their names are read Kanzan and Jittoku. Hanshan, whose name means “Cold Mountain,” was a monk-poet, shown reading out from a scroll of his poetry in this work. His close friend Shide, or “Foundling,” was a temple’s custodian. Here, Shide listens intently to Hanshan’s verses, his brush broom behind him.
