Cranes of Immortality

Datelate 1910s

Maker Tsuji Kako Japanese, 1870 - 1931

Label TextA prolific painter and teacher, Tsuji Kakō was among the most prominent artists in Taishō-period Kyoto. In this inventive take on an ancient subject, he shows a pair of red-crowned cranes moving right to left along a beach. The cranes are rendered with multiple tones of ink and gofun, a white pigment made with crushed shells. The waves receding into the background feature a combination of azurite blue and gold washes. In the foreground, near the birds’ legs , Kakō used wet azurite and gold pigments together in a technique known as tarashikomi, developed in the early 1600s and a trademark of Japanese painting in the so-called Rinpa style during the Edo period (1615–1868). Kakō’s cranes symbolize both longevity and marital bliss.

Object number2010.41.80

Photo CreditPhoto: Eduardo Calderon

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Live Long and Prosper: Auspicious Motifs in East Asian Art, May 23, 2009 - February 21, 2010. Washington, D.C., Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Sotatsu, Oct. 24, 2015 - Jan. 31, 2016. Text by Yukio Lippit and James T. Ulak. Cat. no. 54, reproduced p. 298. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Deities & Demons: Supernatural in Japanese Art, October 20, 2022 – May 18, 2025 (on view December 7, 2024 – May 18, 2025).Published ReferencesMichiyo, Morioka; Berry, Paul. "Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, p. 163, illus. 39.

Credit LineGift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

DimensionsOverall (incl. mounting, endknobs, hanging braid): 81 7/8 × 27 3/16 in. (208 × 69 cm) Image: 49 3/16 × 19 5/8 in. (125 × 49.8 cm)

MediumColor on silk