Chikanobu's Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety - The Chinese scholar Guo Jujing wrote the book "The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Devotion" during the Yuan Dynasty. Inspired by the loss of his own parents, he scoured history for examples of the most respectful and devoted children. Alluding to the famous stories of the twenty-four children and their extraordinary devotion to their parents and relatives, Chikanobu's series juxtaposes the paragon in the upper panel with a more modern equivalent below. The artist plays off the old stories, offering serious parallels as well as lighthearted and humorous contrasts in the modern versions.

No. 23, Meng Zong: Tears That Brought Bamboo Shoots From The Frozen Earth - Handsome depiction of a beauty using a bamboo broom to sweep snow from a garden. She smiles as she lifts the sleeve of her intricately patterned green kimono, clumps of snow falling onto her from the bamboo leaves arching overhead. This scene above shows Meng Zong (Moso in Japanese) trudging through the snow to find bamboo shoots to make broth for his sick mother. Normally unavailable in winter, Meng Zong searched high and low without finding any shoots. Thinking of his poor mother, his tears began to fall. Just then, he tripped over a clump of earth, and miraculously found shoots rising through the snow, and so was able to fulfill his mother's wish. A lovely winter design.

Artist - Chikanobu (1838 - 1912)

Image Size - 13 1/4" x 8 3/4" + margins as shown

Condition - With excellent color and detail as shown. Slight paper remnants on reverse from previous backing. Slight soiling and rubbing, a few small stains. Please see photos for details. Good overall.