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Hirayama Ikuo Painting Work
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A Sketch of the The “Transmission of Buddhism”

  • Hirayama Ikuo
  • 1959
  • Color on Paper (Japanese Style Painting, Nihonga)
  • 31.5×37.0cm

Xuanzang was in the oasis after his long journey back from India. The trees around the two monks grew vigorous with green leaves, flourishing like brocade. It is said that Hirayama Ikuo was at a low point in his career as a painter. He was troubled at both the health and economic levels, and his mental state was also under great pressure. With the idea that "if death is unavoidable and you can only draw one picture before that, you must draw a moving piece of work", Hirayama devoted himself to painting, and finally completed his first painting to the painting world, “The Spread of Buddhism” (1959). This painting is a small sketch of the same work that Hirayama Ikuo kept with himself all his life (the formal painting is in the Saujiu Museum of Modern Art).