White Rakuten Statue on Silk

Portrait of Bai Juyi on Silk: A Hanging Scroll That Bridges Tang China and Heian Japan

Among the treasures of Kyoto's classical heritage stands a remarkable painted hanging scroll designated as an Important Cultural Property: the silk-mounted colored portrait of Bai Juyi, known in Japanese as Hakurakuten. This refined image captures the likeness of the great Tang dynasty poet whose verse shaped the literary imagination of Heian-period Japan more profoundly than perhaps any other foreign writer. For visitors interested in the dialogue between Chinese and Japanese culture, this painting offers a rare and intimate window onto a thousand-year conversation between two civilizations.

Who Was Bai Juyi (Hakurakuten)?

Bai Juyi (772–846), whose courtesy name Letian is read as Rakuten in Japanese, was one of the most beloved and widely read poets of the Tang dynasty. Born into a modest family, he distinguished himself through extraordinary talent for verse, eventually rising to high office while producing a body of work prized for its emotional clarity, accessible language, and humane sympathy for ordinary people. His most celebrated long poems, the "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" (Chōgonka) describing the tragic love of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, and the "Song of the Pipa" (Biwakō) lamenting a fallen courtesan's life, have remained foundational texts of East Asian literature for over a millennium.

What makes Bai Juyi particularly significant for Japanese culture is the speed and intensity with which his work was embraced at the Heian court. His collected poems, the Hakushi Monjū, became the single most influential foreign literary source for Japanese aristocrats. Sei Shōnagon's Pillow Book and Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji are saturated with allusions to his verse, and a courtier who could quote Bai Juyi from memory was considered cultivated indeed.

The Artistic Tradition of Kenpon Chakushoku Portraits

The technical name "kenpon chakushoku" indicates a painting executed with mineral pigments and ink on a silk ground, mounted as a hanging scroll. This format, developed in China and refined in Japan, was the preferred medium for portraits of revered figures, whether religious masters, literary heroes, or imperial ancestors. The silk surface allowed for delicate gradations of color and the fine linework needed to convey individual character, while the hanging scroll mounting permitted the image to be displayed for ceremonial occasions and stored carefully between viewings.

Portraits of Chinese cultural heroes formed a distinct subgenre within this tradition. Such images were not merely decorative but functioned as objects of veneration and inspiration, often hung in studies, poetry gatherings, or temple halls dedicated to learning. A painted likeness of Bai Juyi would have served as a focal point for literary appreciation and a reminder of the lineage of poetic excellence to which Japanese writers aspired.

Why This Painting Was Designated an Important Cultural Property

Designation as an Important Cultural Property reflects the painting's exceptional value across several dimensions. As a portrait of a Chinese literary figure preserved in Japan, it embodies the deep cultural exchange that defined East Asian civilization for centuries. As a work of silk-painting craftsmanship, it represents the technical excellence of its era. And as a surviving object connected to the elite literary culture of premodern Japan, it serves as material evidence of how Japanese readers and artists imagined the great poets they so admired.

Paintings of this kind are rarely placed on permanent public display because of the fragility of silk and pigments. They are typically rotated through carefully controlled exhibitions, which means that an opportunity to encounter such a work in person is treasured by scholars and admirers alike.

Highlights to Appreciate

When viewing portraits in this tradition, visitors are encouraged to attend to several elements. The face is rendered with particular care, as the artist sought to convey not only physical likeness but inner character: the calm intelligence, gentle melancholy, or quiet authority associated with the figure depicted. The robes, often painted with extraordinary precision, indicate official rank and the cultural milieu of the subject's life. Background elements, where present, may include suggestions of landscape or scholarly objects that situate the subject within a literary world.

For Bai Juyi in particular, Japanese imaginations often associated him with two famous narratives: his governorship of Hangzhou, where he constructed the famous causeway across West Lake, and his legendary encounter with the Zen master Daolin (Dōrin Zenji), who was said to live in a tree and answered Bai Juyi's question about the essence of Buddhism with the simple maxim "do no evil, do good."

Exploring Kyoto's Literary and Artistic Heritage

While viewing this specific painting may require careful planning around exhibition schedules, Kyoto offers many surrounding experiences that illuminate the world it represents.

The Kyoto National Museum is the city's central repository of classical painting and frequently features exhibitions of religious and secular portrait scrolls, often including works on loan from temples and shrines that do not maintain their own permanent display galleries. Its Heisei Chishinkan wing presents a thoughtfully curated selection of national treasures and important cultural properties on rotation.

The Gion Festival in July offers another remarkable connection to Bai Juyi: the Hakurakuten-yama, one of the festival's processional floats, depicts the famous encounter between the poet and the Zen master Daolin. Visitors during the yoiyama evenings preceding the parade can see the float's sacred figures up close in the small townhouse where they are displayed.

For those interested in the literary world that prized Bai Juyi most highly, the world heritage sites of the former imperial capital, including the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the temple complex of Daigo-ji, and the gardens of villas such as Katsura, all preserve atmospheres in which his verse would have been recited and admired.

Surrounding Attractions Worth a Visit

Visitors making the cultural pilgrimage to view classical Japanese painting in Kyoto often combine their museum visits with broader exploration of the eastern hills district.

Sanjūsangen-dō, with its hall of one thousand and one statues of the Thousand-Armed Kannon, lies within walking distance of the Kyoto National Museum and offers one of the most overwhelming experiences of Japanese sacred art available anywhere. The Toyokuni Shrine and the great Kyoto temple of Chion-in are also nearby. For lovers of the Heian poetic world, a visit to the Tale of Genji Museum in Uji or to the Shimogamo and Kamigamo shrines provides further immersion in the world that received Bai Juyi's poetry so warmly.