Nachi Waterfall, Ike Taiga
Nachi Waterfall, painted by Ike Taiga in the 1770's, is a hanging scroll done in color on paper. The scene is set up with rocks and trees in the foreground, eventually taking the viewer back into the painting to the triangular mountain where the waterfall is represented as the white of the paper, while off in the distance the viewer can see hints of water and hills. This portrayal of the Nachi Waterfall is not precisely a replica of the natural setting, but alternatively more about the impressions made by this natural wonder on Ike Taiga.
This fifty inch high hanging scroll is created during the Edo period in the Bunjinga style. Bunjinga means Literati painting, and is a style of painting that started in China. The artists, who were set apart from the professional artisan painters, used their calligraphic styles in their images. Most of these images were of landscapes, like the landscape done of the Nachi Waterfall.
Mount Nachi is located in the Wakayama Prefecture which is in the southern part of the Kansai area. Forty-eight separate falls are scattered across Mount Nachi, but the most recognizable is the one known as the Nachi Waterfall. It stands at around 436 feet in height and flows out of a forest filled with cypress trees and cedars and plummets past sets of stones. The Pacific Ocean can be seen in the background once at the top of the waterfall. Waterfalls are often considered to have a sacred status in ancient Japan, and the Nachi waterfall is considered a “divine entity”.
Bekki Hagen, Art 260, Spring 2005