Qingao riding a carp, Totoya Hokkei

Exhibition Label: "The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong Depicted here is the Chinese recluse Kinko who according to legend rode on a carp through the world’s lakes and rivers. Kinko was regarded as a Daoist immortal and master zither player, but he is often shown holding a book as a he rides one or two carp. The two poems in the lower left speak of the joys of reading. The carp is considered an auspicious creature and was often used as an emblem of good fortune and faithfulness in marriage. The carp was also associated with dragons. According to a Chinese folk tale, when carp annually swam up a particular stream they had to leap over high rapids called the Dragon Gate. The first carp, and by implication the most powerful, was thought to metamorphose into a dragon as it leapt over the high rapids. In Japan, this motif was associated with the fearless samurai and in modern times it became a metaphor for the ideal qualities in a young man. Archive Label 2003: Surimono are woodblock prints that were privately commissioned. They were produced primarily in the early 19th century and most were commissioned by poets as gifts for their friends to recognize the beginning of a new year and the arrival of spring. This surimono shows the 12th-century Chinese recluse and Daoist immortal Kinko-, as he is known in Japan, astride a carp and pondering a text on his lap. It was believed that Kinko- traveled through the world of streams on a giant carp. In this print the carp is the means of transport to a heavenly world represented by the surrounding clouds. There are two accompanying poems that make references to reading and tie the surimono to spring. The second poem says “Count all the great carp’s scales, read all the master’s works and grasp his nature on the long spring days.” Archive Label: A Chinese immortal often represented in Japanese art is Kinko, a recluse who was skilled in playing the seven-string zither (ch'in) and in the painting of fish. His transformation into an immortal occurred one day when he appeared before his disciples on the back of a carp. Astride the noble fish, Kinko studies a manuscript, possibly a musical composition or a treatise on painting. Two poems acknow-ledge the satisfaction of study and refer to the ideal of a long life.