Artworks

Monkey Reaching for the Moon

Artwork · Hasegawa Tōhaku · late 16th century · fusuma-e · Konchi-in

Four fusuma in the teahouse of Konchiin by Hasegawa Tōhaku (1539–1610), based on Mu Qi’s mother monkey at Daitokuji, which Tōhaku saw through Sen no Rikyū. The monkey, symbol of the unenlightened in Zen, clings to a thin branch with one long arm and reaches for the moon’s reflection in the pond, mistaking it for the real thing — an allegory of the impossibility of possessing absolute knowledge. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 260–261, fig. 300. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.