Kappa Sumie Wallscroll

***This is not an Akutagawa Painting. It is based upon the painting of the Kappa by Akutagawa. It was painted with calligraphy done by Horinouchi, Natsuko. A sumie and shodo artist located in Germany. This was ordered as a gift for someone back east.
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You can read about the legend of the Kappa at this link to Wikipedia.
Although it says in this article, that it is specific to Saga Prefecture, it was a constant and recurring image, along with the Game, in the town of Yatsushiro in Kumamoto prefecture where I lived for 7 months in 1994.
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I really enjoyed making this scroll. It was a challenge due to the size, but also the theme. I chose the Ichimonji to represent the flowing water in which it lived, and the green/yellow silk to represent the grassy/mossy banks that surround some of the rivers that I saw in the countryside. The kakehimo, is hard to see, but it is a light green, (Kinka) to complement the green cloth. The dark Ebony (kokutan) jikusaki really match well with the Earthtones of brown, and tan in the Fuchin. I used the Brown hanging string to blend invisibly onto the jikusaki.

Scroll Dimensions as follows:


Name in Kanji Name in English Size in Bun Size in Inches
天 Ten 114 13.60
上一文字 Ue Ichimonji 15 1.79
紙本の幅さ Artwork Width 158 18.85
紙本の長さ Artwork Length 290 34.59
柱 Pillars 9 1.07
下一文字 Shita Ichimonji 12 1.43
地 Chi 75 8.95
掛け軸の幅さ Scroll Width 176 21.00
掛け軸の長さ Scroll Length 506 60.36