“Bamboo and Sparrows”

Nagasawa Rosetsu

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Artist Name: Nagasawa Rosetsu
Title: “Bamboo and Sparrows”
Dimensions: painting：117.0×31.5cm
full length：196.5×42.0㎝
Medium: ink with colors on paper
Description: Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754–1799) was born in the fourth year of Hōreki (1754), the son of Uesugi Hikouemon, a samurai in the service of the Sasayama domain in Tanba Province.

At the age of twenty-five, Rosetsu produced the Higashiyama Meisho-zu Byōbu (Screens of Famous Places in Higashiyama) at Maruyama Ōkyo’s residence, indicating that he was already a member of Ōkyo’s circle at that time.

Between 1786 and 1787 (Tenmei 6–7), he stayed in the Kii region (Nanki), where he executed numerous large-scale sliding-door paintings. Many of these works remain preserved in local temples to this day.

In 1799 (Kansei 11), Rosetsu died while traveling in Osaka.

He is said to have possessed a free-spirited and arrogant temperament, and various anecdotes surround his life—claims that he was expelled by Ōkyo or even poisoned. However, documentary evidence concerning his life is scarce, and he remains an enigmatic figure. Today, he is counted among the so-called “eccentric” painters (kisō no eshi) of the Edo period, celebrated for his bold imagination and unconventional style.