Ito Jakuchu: The Kyoto Merchant Who Painted Nature Glowing

Ito Jakuchu ran a produce business in Kyoto and gave it away so he could paint birds and flowers. His masterpiece is a set of thirty scrolls called Colorful Realm of Living Beings, which took him about ten years. Then he handed the whole set to a Zen temple and asked for nothing in return. This guide covers his life, his strange technique, and why the scrolls still stun people 250 years later. Browse more on the Floral blog.

In this article

• Jakuchu quick facts ↓
• The merchant who walked away ↓
• What makes the scrolls glow ↓
• How to look at a bird and flower painting ↓
• Where the scrolls are now ↓
• FAQ ↓

Jakuchu Quick Facts

Who Was Ito Jakuchu?

His family sold produce in Kyoto's Nishiki Market, and it was a good business that he inherited at twenty-three. He was not made for it. A friend later wrote that he had no gift for study, no talent for writing, and no interest in the things other men chased. Money and status simply bored him.

Around forty he handed the business to his younger brother and painted for the rest of his life. He never worked for the shogun and never took a court post, which was the normal path to success. He built his life around Zen temples and a few close friends instead, and that gave him something rare. Nobody could tell him what to paint.

He took a Buddhist name later on, and Jakuchu means something close to like the void. He kept painting into his eighties and died at eighty-four. Japan now treats him as one of its greatest painters, but that reputation came slowly, because for a long stretch he was half forgotten outside Kyoto.

What Makes the Scrolls Glow?

He painted through the silk

Recent conservation work looked closely at how he built these pictures, and the answer surprised specialists. He layered pigment on the back of the silk as well as the front, so color pushes through from behind and lifts the surface tone. That is why a rooster's feathers or a peony's petals seem to light up rather than sit flat.

Thirty scrolls, one obsession

Colorful Realm covers birds, fish, insects, reptiles, flowers and plants. Peonies with butterflies, mandarin ducks in snow, an old pine tree with a peacock. The early scrolls follow the old rules of Asian bird and flower painting, but the later ones do not, because they get stranger and bolder as the set goes on.

He gave it all away

He did not sell the set. He donated it to Shokoku-ji, a Zen monastery in Kyoto, along with a painting of the Buddha. The monks displayed the scrolls in a large temple room during Buddhist rituals, so the paintings were an offering rather than decoration. He made them partly in memory of his family. Official site: nga.gov ↗

How Do You Look at a Bird and Flower Painting?

This genre has its own grammar, and knowing a little of it changes what you notice.

The season is doing half the work

Every plant and creature signals a time of year, so a snowy scene with ducks means winter and peonies mean early summer. Painters used those pairings to set a mood before you consciously register the subject. Jakuchu often pushed the pairing to an odd extreme, which is part of why his scrolls feel unsettling.

Empty space is not empty

Asian painting treats blank silk as active, not leftover. It gives the eye somewhere to rest and makes the painted areas feel more concentrated. If a composition looks sparse, that sparseness is a deliberate choice rather than an unfinished corner.

Look for the one thing that is wrong

Jakuchu liked to hide something strange in an otherwise correct picture, such as an impossible color or a creature behaving oddly. Scholars still argue about whether these were jokes, Buddhist puzzles, or both. Finding them is the fun part.

Where Are the Scrolls Now?

They belong to the imperial collection

In 1889 the temple passed most of the set to the imperial family, which is how the scrolls ended up in Tokyo rather than Kyoto. They are shown rarely and briefly, because silk and natural pigments are fragile and light causes permanent damage.

They left Japan once

The complete set travelled to Washington in 2012 for a four week exhibition, the first time all thirty had been seen together outside Japan. It followed a six year conservation project, and the run was kept short deliberately to protect the silk.

Seeing them takes planning

If you want to see the scrolls in person, watch the schedules for the imperial collection museum in Tokyo and for Shokoku-ji. Displays rotate, only a portion appears at a time, and dates are announced with little warning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Ito Jakuchu?

He was a Japanese painter who lived from 1716 to 1800 in Kyoto. His family ran a produce business that he inherited, and around age forty he passed it to his brother so he could paint full time. He is now considered one of Japan's greatest painters of birds and flowers.

What is Colorful Realm of Living Beings?

It is a set of thirty painted scrolls showing birds, fish, insects, flowers and plants, made over roughly ten years in the mid 1700s. He donated them to Shokoku-ji, a Zen monastery in Kyoto, and they now belong to Japan's imperial collection in Tokyo.

Why did Jakuchu give his paintings to a temple?

He made them as a religious offering rather than for sale, and the monks displayed them during Buddhist rituals. The gift also honored his family. He kept close ties with Zen priests for most of his adult life.

How did he get such bright color?

He painted on both sides of the silk, so pigment applied to the back pushes color through to the front and lifts the surface tone. Conservation research on the scrolls confirmed the technique, which was unusually laborious even by the standards of his time.

Have the scrolls been shown outside Japan?

Yes, once in full. The complete set travelled to the National Gallery of Art ↗ in Washington for four weeks in 2012, the first time all thirty had been seen together outside Japan.

Where can you get nature art like this for a desk?

X2Metal offers nature and garden designs printed on glossy ChromaLuxe metal and sized for a desk, with matching 5mm mouse pads. Browse the Garden collection. Everything is handcrafted in North Liberty, Iowa.

About the author: Business Alchemist | Turning Ideas into Products, Brands & Businesses | Navid Malik. Navid is the founder of X2Metal, a metal print studio in North Liberty, Iowa creating bold, durable metal prints and 5mm mouse pads.

Sources: National Gallery of Art, Washington ↗. X2Metal is not affiliated with any museum or institution mentioned in this post.

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