--- title: "Art Beyond Boundaries 2025: A Live Sumi-e of Plum and Pine on a Gold Folding Screen" description: Tohun Kobayashi painted plum and pine live in ink on a gold folding screen at the Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 awards ceremony in Tokyo. See how it unfolded. image: https://www.sumieart.art/hubfs/screenshot%209.jpg --- [Ensō円 相](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog?hsLang=en) [Article](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog?hsLang=en) [About](https://www.sumieart.art/en/about?hsLang=en) [JA](https://www.sumieart.art/blog/abb2025-live-painting) / [EN](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog/art-beyond-boundaries-2025-live-painting) [Article](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog) — Suiboku # Art Beyond Boundaries 2025: A Live Sumi-e of Plum and Pine on a Gold Folding Screen Tohun Kobayashi painted plum and pine live in ink on a gold folding screen at the Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 awards ceremony in Tokyo. See how it unfolded. 2026.09.27 ![Tohun Kobayashi painting a landscape on a gold folding screen at the Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 awards ceremony, with a red-blossomed plum on the left and a pine on the right.](https://www.sumieart.art/hubfs/screenshot%209.jpg) Tohun Kobayashi painting a landscape on a gold folding screen at the Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 awards ceremony, with a red-blossomed plum on the left and a pine on the right. On 1 February 2025, at the awards ceremony of Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 at The National Art Center, Tokyo, Tohun Kobayashi, president of the International Association of SUMI, which organises the exhibition, painted a landscape live in ink on a gold folding screen. Plum is on the left and pine on the right, and he finished with his rakkan, the artist's signature and seal. The painting was published as a video of 4 minutes and 38 seconds on the Kokusai Bokuyukai (International Association of SUMI) YouTube channel. This article introduces the exhibition and follows the painting through the video. In this article: - How the landscape on the gold folding screen is composed - The dates, venue and organiser of Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 - The painting process, from the plum on the left to the pine on the right - What to watch: ink on gold, and the pairing of pine and plum ## Plum and Pine on a Gold Folding Screen A kinbyōbu is a folding screen, a byōbu ([JAANUS](https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/byobu)), covered with gold leaf. In this live painting, a landscape was painted in ink on a gold folding screen standing on the stage. Plum is on the left of the picture and pine on the right. The plum's thick trunk bends boldly, with branches reaching out to the side. The pine carries clusters of needles layered at the ends of its branches. Finally, the rakkan is added at the left edge. ## What Was Art Beyond Boundaries 2025? Art Beyond Boundaries, known in Japanese as Bi wa Kokkyō o Koete ("Beauty Beyond Borders"), is an international open exhibition organised by the International Association of SUMI and held at The National Art Center, Tokyo, in Roppongi. The 2025 exhibition ran as follows ([The National Art Center, Tokyo, Art Commons](https://www.nact.jp/artcommons/user/detail/78104), in Japanese). | | Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 | | --- | --- | | Japanese name | 美は国境を越えて 2025 | | Dates | 23 January – 2 February 2025 | | Venue | The National Art Center, Tokyo, Room 2A (7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo) | | Organiser | International Association of SUMI (Kokusai Bokuyukai) | | Genres | Painting, and three-dimensional work (sculpture, crafts and ceramics) | On his own website, Tohun Kobayashi introduces the exhibition as the open competition that he organises. It began as a show centred on sumi-e; as its circle widened, works came across genres and national borders, and it now receives entries from Europe as well as from Asia and the Pacific ([Tohun Kobayashi's website](https://tohun.la.coocan.jp/bigoe.html), in Japanese). The English-language information is on the [official website](https://www.sumi-e.net/). ## The Live Painting at the Awards Ceremony The live painting took place on 1 February 2025, near the end of the exhibition, at the awards ceremony held at The National Art Center, Tokyo. In the video, Tohun Kobayashi stands and draws with his whole arm, crouching or kneeling for the lower parts of the screen. At one point he carries on painting with a microphone in one hand. As you watch, follow the painting from left to right across the gold screen, from plum to pine. The video is edited down to 4 minutes 38 seconds, and according to its description the music is by RYU ITO. It has been viewed more than 20,000 times on the channel (as of September 2026). ## How It Was Painted | From the Plum on the Left to the Pine on the Right The video has no chapters, so here it is divided into a first half and a second half. ### First half: the plum The first half faces the left side of the screen. The thick trunk is pulled in a bold curve, branches are made to reach out sideways, and then many thin twigs are added. ### Second half: the pine The second half moves to the right side. More branches are added, and clusters of pine needles are layered at their ends. ### Finishing: the rakkan Finally, the rakkan, the artist's signature and seal added at the edge of a finished painting ([JAANUS](https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/rakkan)), goes in at the left edge of the screen. ## What to Watch | Ink on Gold, and the Pairing of Pine and Plum The first thing to watch is ink settling onto gold leaf. Thick lines of dark ink and broad areas of pale ink spread little by little across the gold ground. The second is the pairing of pine and plum. Together with bamboo, pine and plum make up shōchikubai (松竹梅). Because all three endure the cold, they are also called the three friends of winter (歳寒三友), and they have long been used as auspicious motifs on celebratory occasions ([Daijisen, "Shōchikubai"](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9D%BE%E7%AB%B9%E6%A2%85-532516), in Japanese). Plum is also one of the Four Gentlemen of ink painting; see [the Four Gentlemen](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog/four-gentlemen-sumi-e). The third is painting with the whole body. Facing a large gold screen, Tohun Kobayashi both stands and reaches with his whole arm and crouches to paint the lower parts. It is a kind of movement that belongs to live painting, far from work on paper at a desk. ## The 2026 Live Painting At the following year's awards ceremony, for [Art Beyond Boundaries 2026](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog/art-beyond-boundaries-2026-live-painting), Tohun Kobayashi painted Mount Fuji and pine on a white folding screen. Side by side, the two years compare as follows. | | 2025 | 2026 | | --- | --- | --- | | Date | 1 February 2025 | 31 January 2026 | | Venue | The National Art Center, Tokyo | The National Art Center, Tokyo | | Screen | Gold folding screen | Large white folding screen | | Subject | Landscape with plum on the left and pine on the right | Landscape with pine, rocks, water, distant trees, Mount Fuji and the moon | | Video | 4 min 38 s | 15 min 46 s, with chapters | In April 2026, an exhibition bearing the Art Beyond Boundaries name was also held in Borja, Spain; see [Sumi-e in Spain: inside the 2026 Borja exhibition](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog/ink-art-exhibition-borja-spain-en). Works by Tohun Kobayashi and Tohsei Kobayashi are featured in our exhibition report [Yin Yang in Japanese ink painting](https://www.sumieart.art/en/blog/yin-yang-japanese-ink-painting-kobayashi-tonun-toharu-exhibition). ## Frequently Asked Questions ### When and where was Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 held? It was held from 23 January to 2 February 2025 at The National Art Center, Tokyo (Room 2A) in Roppongi, and organised by the International Association of SUMI. ### When did the live painting take place? On 1 February 2025, at the awards ceremony held at The National Art Center, Tokyo. ### What did Tohun Kobayashi paint? A landscape on a gold folding screen, with plum on the left and pine on the right. He finished by adding his rakkan at the left edge. ### How long is the video? It runs for 4 minutes and 38 seconds. According to the description, the music is by RYU ITO. ### How does it differ from the 2026 live painting? In 2025 he painted plum and pine on a gold folding screen; in 2026 he painted Mount Fuji and pine on a white folding screen. Both were live paintings at ceremonies held at The National Art Center, Tokyo. ### What does the pairing of pine and plum mean? Together with bamboo, pine and plum make up shōchikubai. Because all three endure the cold, they are also called the three friends of winter, and they have long been used as auspicious motifs on celebratory occasions. ## Summary - On 1 February 2025, at the awards ceremony of Art Beyond Boundaries 2025 (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 23 January – 2 February, organised by the International Association of SUMI), Tohun Kobayashi painted live on a gold folding screen. - He painted a landscape with plum on the left and pine on the right: the plum in the first half, the pine in the second, and finally the rakkan at the left edge. - Pine and plum, with bamboo, form shōchikubai, an auspicious combination. The 2026 live painting makes a good comparison. Watch the ink spread across the gold in the video. ![Jin](https://www.sumieart.art/hubfs/IMG_3607-2.jpg) Jin Sumi-e Artist Jin is a sumi-e artist and calligrapher whose practice brings Western calligraphy into dialogue with the Japanese tradition of ink painting. In Jin's work, letterforms, brushed lines, and ma — the resonant negative space at the heart of sumi-e — come together in compositions that speak across cultures. This East–West synthesis grounds an ongoing exploration of artistic possibilities that reach beyond cultural boundaries. Jin currently serves as a Director of the International Association of SUMI, and was recently honored with the Special Jury Award — the Arisumi Mitamura Prize — at Art Beyond Boundaries. Rooted in tradition yet attentive to the present, Jin continues to share a contemporary vision of sumi-e with audiences around the world. ## RelatedArticle ### [![What Is Mokkotsu? The Boneless Technique and How It Differs from Kōroku](https://www.sumieart.art/hubfs/thumbnail-kabu.jpg) Suiboku / Japanese Art / Sumie What Is Mokkotsu? 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