To understand the origins and significance of this phenomenon on Japanese material culture and even on bonsai leads one quickly to further reading in Japanese Bunjin Painting and Chinese Southern Sung painting (the origin of all things “literati”). Nineteenth century Japanese Bunjin aesthetics particularly looked back to the Southern Sung painters, poets, scholars, and even the penjing as portrayed in text and painting for inspiration.
Mountain Market in Clearing Mist, signed Xia Gui (active ca. 1195-1230) Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) Album leaf; ink on silk.
