In 1716, the year, the artist Ogata Kōrin (1658–1743) passed away, two genius painters—Itō Jakuchū and Yosa Buson—were born to create ground-breaking changes in the painting circles of the Edo period. Itō Jakuchū (d. 1800, age 85) was born as the first son of a greengrocer. He succeeded the family business at age twenty-three, though in his thirties, he received instructions from a Zen master and took the name “Jakuchū.” At forty, he retired and devoted himself to painting. Meanwhile, Yosa Buson (d. 1783, age 68) was born into a farming family in Osaka. In his twenties, he went to Edo (now Tokyo) to study haikai (comic linked verse). At age twenty-seven, after the death of his haikai teacher, he traveled across the northern Kantō and Tōhoku regions for ten years. Thereafter, he moved to Kyoto in his forties to paint and continue composing poetry.

　　 Jakuchū excelled at colorful, vivid birds-and-flowers and animal paintings and ink paintings. Buson was exceptional in landscape paintings based on the techniques of Chinese literati painters and in haiga, paintings with haiku poems using simple brushstrokes.
At first look, these two painters may seem not to have any connection in terms of style but both referenced Chinese and Korean paintings that were brought to Japan via Nagasaki.
　　 This exhibition commemorates the births of Itō Jakuchū and Yosa Buson three hundred years ago by featuring their representative works. Also, on exhibit are newly discovered paintings and related works by their contemporaries. Explore the vibrant energy of eighteenth-century Kyoto through these spectacular masterpieces!