Landscape with a waterfall

狩野派　山水図　紙本墨画　一幅　室町時代　
This scene well represents the tastes of Zen temples and other
samurai-class patrons of ink landscapes in the Muromachi
period.
This landscape, like many of the other Muromachi-period
landscapes on view in this gallery, shows a large body of
water surrounded by jutting cliffs, rocky banks, and distant
mountains. The island in the center of the scene is the destination
for pedestrians on a bridge and boaters on the water.
The right side of the scene is anchored by a waterfall plunging
off a high, pine-topped landmass, whose rounded bluffs
project forward over the water. Two foot travelers provide
interest on a small promontory in the left foreground, while
mist-covered buildings and boats finally lead the eye off into
the distance.
The painting is impressed with the seal of Kano
Motonobu (1476-1559), the Muromachi master ink painter
and second-generation forefather of the Kano school, whose
artists became official painters to the military rulers during
the Edo period (1615-1868). The Chinese-influenced techniques
and composition combined with a Japanese softness in
this painting are indeed representative of Motonobu's style.
Scholars are still in disagreement, however, as to whether this
work is actually in the hand of the master. It may instead have
been done by one of his students.