Since ancient times, it has been a proposition for artists to depict rain in Japanese-style paintings. In the world of ukiyoe, many of the works in the “Tōkaidō Gojū-san Tsugi” series by Utagawa Hiroshige expressed rainfall by drawing lots of straight lines from the top to the bottom of the picture. The works of Yokoyama Taikan and Kawai Gyokudō, considered the master of the modern Japanese art world, on the other hand, made full use of shades of sumi ink to allow the audience to imagine rain.

This work features a sudden rain shower, painted by Sugihara Genjin, who gained popularity for his sumi ink paintings in ultramarine color. The line of sumi ink drawn vigorously from the upper right to the lower left of the screen portrays rain, letting the force of the lines indicate its intensity. A person with a fishing rod is depicted on the bridge, as if looking for a place to shelter from the rain, perhaps because of such a sudden rain shower while fishing. This is a gem of a scene from everyday life to be poetically depicted by Sugihara Genjin’s masterful brushwork.