Full moon over pine covered mountain

Nothing could be more telling of the unique Japanese aesthetic than the mysterious poetry of this screen, as abbreviated in its delivery as it is fulfilling in its effect. Watanabe Shikô belonged to the very Japanese Rinpa school of painting, named after Ogata Kôrin (1658-1716) with whom Shikô studied. The school's origins go back to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, when the artists Tawaraya Sôtatsu and Hon'ami Kôetsu sought to re-establish the brilliant style and unique sensitivity of the aristocratic art of Japan's 'golden age', the Heian period (794-1184). Hallmarks of the Rinpa school are a rich but refined decorative effect, achieved through an impeccable compositional balance; a fondness for metallic washes and inlays; and an emphasis on nature. Here the full autumn moon peers out from the mountain-side, and pine trees are defined by a few sparse but expressive black ink strokes.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999. pg. 278.