Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009268About the Artwork
Here, Yosa Buson’s farmer playfully chastises a crow who has come to dine on his grain while his water buffalo earnestly negotiates a swift stream. Raised in what is now Osaka, Buson went to Edo (now Tokyo) to study poetry composition. He later traveled around northeastern Japan, following in the footsteps of poet Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉) (1644–1694), and then taught poetry in Kyoto. He painted professionally, a skill he learned by using wood-block–printed Chinese painting manuals.
Inscriptions
Artist's signature: 六十五翁謝寅寫. Romanization: Rokujūgo [no] okina, Sha In [kore wo] utsusu.; Artist's seals. Upper: 謝長庚印. Lower: 春星.
Provenance
Shimomura Shotarō, Kyoto, Japan ?–1970: (Toda Shoten Co., Osaka, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1970–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). Buson and His Followers. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI (organizer) (January 9-February 17, 1974); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (March 28-May 12, 1974); Asia House Galleries, New York City, NY (October 3-December 1, 1974). Asian Autumn: Splendid Variety: 18th-Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1993-March 6, 1994). Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 2-July 9, 2018). “Bunjin” in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 21, 2026-June 20, 2027).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Yosa Buson (Japanese, 1716–1783)
- Date
- 1781
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk
- Dimensions
- Overall: 203.2 x 59.2 cm (80 x 23 5/16 in.); Painting only: 130.8 x 46.2 cm (51 1/2 x 18 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1970.77
More by Yosa Buson in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009268
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