Heron

At an early age, Oho was granted the right to assume the surname of Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828), who was one of the great professional artists of the Rinpa school of painting during the Edo period (a work attributed to this master is hanging to your left). Rinpa was an eclectic Japanese style characterized by its bright colors, bold forms, and lavish surface decoration. While many of the classical themes associated with Kyoto nobility and court life of the Heian period (794–1185) formed the basis of Rinpa subjects, its imagery was often infused with a new sense of humor and wit more appropriate for the largely urban, newly rich merchants that patronized Rinpa artists.

This sense of irreverence was often best exhibited in ironic juxtapositions as evinced in this hanging scroll. While Oho employs a rather conservative technique—traditional Chinese monochrome ink and brush—his depiction of a heron from the front as a plump, even somewhat sweet bird is a drastic departure from the more somber literati representations of this auspicious symbol of longevity by members of the scholar gentry class.