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Happy Forest, from Water Margin
Matsumura Goshun (Japanese, 1752–1811)
and Amenomori Shōteki (Japanese, 1731–1786)
late 1700s
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 137.8 x 41.3 cm (54 1/4 x 16 1/4 in.); Overall: 209.6 x 62.3 cm (82 1/2 x 24 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The Chinese literary classic Water Margin is set in the 1120s and tells the story of 108 outlaws who first rebel against the government and then join forces with it. This painting depicts an episode in which hero Wu Song reclaims the tavern Happy Forest for its rightful owner, the prison warden’s son, Shi En. To prepare for the fight, Wu Song drinks a lot of wine. The painting was inscribed with a quote in which an ally describes Wu Song’s fighting style. It reads as follows:
Where his twin fists rise, clouds and thunder roar, When his flying kick comes, wind and rain tremble.
