We offer you a delightful scene of nature, silent but full of the Japanese sense of connection to nature. Note the leaning pine tree (symbol of longevity), with its branches pointing down towards two ducks on an old stump. One is observing or anticipating diving in a pond, shown with the sketchiness of Sumi-e The other looks over its shoulder to the unseen nature behind it (Zen Mu)) and pays no attention to the koi skimming the surface of the pond as if in the air, all following the leftward, direction given to the eye by the tree—a traditional form common for much Japanese visual art. The reeds point to the ducks and stump in the foreground, and the whole scene is given its diagonal composition by the leaning tree that is typical for much art of this kind. Don’t forget to notice a dominant theme in Japanese culture, the sun, here reflecting on the misty water to the lower right of center, all the other aspects of the form focusing on the stump and ducks as though through a viewfinder. Taisho c. 1919
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