A Barefoot Hermit on the Shore of Lake Suwa
The figure stands with his hands clasped behind his back, chin tilted upward, gazing at something beyond the edge of the paper. His hair is a shock of dense black ink. His robe falls in a few decisive strokes. This is Kanzan, the legendary recluse-poet of Tang-dynasty China, painted in Japan sometime in the fourteenth century by an artist known only by the seal he left behind: Kao.
The hanging scroll, formally designated Shihon Bokuga Kanzan-zu (Kanzan, ink on paper), was named a National Treasure on November 22, 1952. It belongs to the Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts, which faces Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, and it counts among the earliest masterworks of Japanese ink painting. For decades the scroll remained in private hands and was rarely seen; its first public showing at the museum, in a 2016 exhibition marking thirty years since the death of collector Ichiro Hattori, drew admirers of medieval painting from across the country.
Who Was Kanzan?
Kanzan, called Hanshan in Chinese, is said to have lived on Mount Tiantai in eastern China during the Tang dynasty, scribbling poems on rocks and tree trunks and laughing at the monks of nearby Guoqing Temple. He appears in legend alongside his companion Jittoku (Shide), a kitchen worker who fed him scraps. Zen tradition came to regard the ragged pair as incarnations of the bodhisattvas Monju and Fugen, which made them irresistible subjects for monk-painters: enlightenment hiding inside two disheveled eccentrics.
Most paintings show Kanzan holding an open scroll, a nod to his poetry. Kao chose differently. Here the hermit holds nothing at all. Seen from behind and slightly to the left, he simply stands and looks upward, and the viewer is left to wonder what he sees.
Why the Painting Is a National Treasure
Japanese painters began working seriously in monochrome ink during the late Kamakura and Nanbokucho periods, absorbing techniques that Zen monks carried home from Song- and Yuan-dynasty China. Works from this formative moment, before the great Muromachi masters such as Josetsu and Shubun, are scarce. This Kanzan is one of the finest to survive, which is the core of its designation.
The brushwork rewards close attention. The artist reserved his darkest, wettest ink for the hair and the straw sandals, anchoring the figure at top and bottom. The robe in between is drawn with abbreviated, forceful lines, while the face is rendered in threads of pale ink so fine they nearly disappear. Art historians have noted that this economy of means, conveying a whole personality through the fewest possible strokes, places the work among the supreme examples of early Zen-circle ink painting in Japan.
In the lower corner sit two red seals, one reading "Kao" and a smaller one often deciphered as "Ninga." These seals are nearly all we know of the painter. One theory identifies him as Kao Sonen, a Zen monk who traveled to Yuan China in 1320, returned in 1326, and served as abbot of major monasteries including Kennin-ji and Nanzen-ji before his death in 1345. Another reads the seals as the signature of Kao Ninga, a professional Buddhist painter of the Takuma school. A century of scholarship has not settled the question, and the mystery has become part of the painting's allure. A scroll of nearly identical composition, attributed to the same hand, hangs in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Seeing the Painting in Person
The Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts opened in 1995 on the eastern shore of Lake Suwa, about a ten-minute walk from JR Kami-Suwa Station. Its collection was built by Ichiro Hattori (1932 to 1987), the first president of Seiko Epson and a member of the family behind the Seiko watch empire. Alongside the Kanzan scroll, the museum owns a second National Treasure, the white Raku tea bowl named Fujisan by Hon'ami Koetsu, plus medieval ink paintings, tea utensils, and a group of European paintings that includes works by Renoir and Redon.
One practical note matters above all: the Kanzan is not on permanent display. Ink paintings on paper are fragile, and the museum rotates its holdings through several themed exhibitions a year. Check the exhibition schedule on the museum's website before planning a trip around this particular scroll. Even when the Kanzan rests in storage, the tea ceramics and rotating displays justify the visit, and the second-floor cafe looks straight out over the lake.
Around the Museum
The lakefront makes for an easy half day on foot. The Kitazawa Museum of Art, two minutes away, holds a celebrated collection of Art Nouveau glass by Emile Galle. Walk a few minutes further and you reach the public foot bath in the lakeside park, free to use, and beyond it the Suwa Lake Geyser Center. Katsurakan, a 1928 European-style bathhouse designated an Important Cultural Property, still welcomes bathers to its thousand-person bath about ten minutes from the museum.
Suwa itself is a hot-spring town with deep roots. Suwa Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrine complexes, spreads across four sites around the lake, and the Masumi sake brewery in the old town offers tastings. Trains on the JR Chuo Line connect Kami-Suwa with Shinjuku in roughly two and a half hours, and drivers reach the museum in about fifteen minutes from the Suwa Interchange on the Chuo Expressway, where seventy free parking spaces await.
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Q&A
- Can I see the Kanzan painting any time I visit?
- No. The scroll is shown only during selected exhibitions, sometimes years apart, to protect the fragile paper and ink. Always confirm the current exhibition on the museum's official website before visiting.
- Who painted it?
- An artist who signed with the seal "Kao," active in the fourteenth century. Scholars debate whether he was the Zen monk Kao Sonen or a professional Buddhist painter named Kao Ninga; his true identity remains unresolved.
- How do I get to the Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts?
- It is about a ten-minute walk from JR Kami-Suwa Station on the Chuo Line, or fifteen minutes by car from the Suwa Interchange. Free parking is available.
- Is photography allowed inside the museum?
- Photography in the galleries is generally not permitted, as is standard for Japanese museums displaying delicate works. Check with staff on arrival for current rules.
- What else in the collection should I look for?
- The museum's other National Treasure, the white Raku tea bowl "Fujisan" by Hon'ami Koetsu, appears periodically in tea-themed exhibitions, alongside Important Cultural Property paintings and fine tea utensils.
Basic Information
| Name | Kanzan, ink on paper, by Kao (Shihon Bokuga Kanzan-zu, Kao hitsu) |
|---|---|
| Designation | National Treasure (painting), designated November 22, 1952 |
| Period | Nanbokucho period (14th century) |
| Quantity | One hanging scroll |
| Artist | Kao (identity debated; seals "Kao" and "Ninga") |
| Owner | Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts (public interest incorporated foundation) |
| Location | 2-1-1 Kogandori, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Viewing | Not on permanent display; shown only during selected exhibitions |
| Museum hours | 9:30 to 16:30; closed Mondays (open on national holidays), year-end holidays, and during exhibition changes |
| Access | About 10 minutes on foot from JR Kami-Suwa Station; 15 minutes by car from Suwa IC |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/10297
- Cultural Heritage Online: Shihon Bokuga Kanzan-zu (Kao)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/db/heritages/detail/207260
- Sunritz Hattori Museum of Arts (official site)
- https://sunritz-hattori-museum.or.jp/
- Internet Museum: First public showing of Kao's Kanzan (2016)
- https://www.museum.or.jp/news/3854
Last verified: 2026.06.11