Crows in snow

木に烏図屏風

This screen represents a cold winter day. Crows forage in vain on the frozen ground and perch on rocks and on an old tree. This bare, gnarled tree adds to the harshness of the scene. The artist used only black ink for this large, expressive painting. The variations in tones—including the intense black of the birds, the various grays of the tree and the sky, and the white of the snow on the tree trunk—may have been intended to evoke the severity of nature. Japanese culture has long fostered a deep sensitivity to seasonal changes, and various artists have expressed this in paintings and poems. The theme of crows and snow can be seen in many winter paintings by Japanese artists.