Hasegawa Tōhaku's Pine Forest: How to Look at Japan's National Treasure Screens of Mist and Ink

Pine Forest (Shōrin-zu byōbu), also known in English as Pine Trees, is a pair of folding screens on which the painter Hasegawa Tōhaku depicted pines standing in mist, using nothing but shades of ink on white paper. It is a National Treasure owned by the Tokyo National Museum, and in recent years it has been shown every New Year; in 2027 it is scheduled to be on display from 1 to 17 January in Room 12 of the Honkan (Japanese Gallery).

There is no colour, and the trees are not drawn in careful detail. Even so, the museum's commentary invites you to see light breaking through the mist, to feel the cold, damp air and to hear the wind in the pines. This article follows that commentary in the order you would look at the screens, and adds an ink painter's point of view.

In this article:

• What Pine Forest is, with the key facts
• Who Hasegawa Tōhaku was
• What to look for up close, from a distance and in the mist
• The open questions: which pine grove, reversed screens, a preparatory work?
• When the screens are on display in Tokyo, and a tip for looking
• What ink painters can take from them

What Is Pine Forest? | Mist and Pines in Nothing but Ink

On the screens you see groups of pines standing in mist, and behind them the faint outline of a snowy mountain. The work is painted in ink on paper, with no colour at all. The Tokyo National Museum describes it as pines looming in mist, depicted with powerful brushstrokes and shades of ink alone.

Key Facts

The details follow the museum's record on ColBase. No specific year of painting is known; the museum dates the work to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century.

A Pair of Six-Panel Screens

Each screen is made of six panels joined so that it folds, and two screens make a pair. The screen placed on the right as you face them is the right-hand screen, and the other is the left-hand screen. Each is about 1.6 metres high and 3.6 metres wide, so side by side the pair stretches to more than seven metres.

Hasegawa Tōhaku | From Buddhist Painter in Noto to Rival of the Kanō

Hasegawa Tōhaku (1539–1610) came from Nanao in Noto Province, in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture. In his twenties he called himself Nobuharu and worked in Noto mainly as a painter of Buddhist pictures.

In his thirties he moved his base to Kyoto, where he mixed with leading figures of the day. He took commissions from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and painted for great temples, and with his sons and pupils he formed the Hasegawa school, which competed with the Kanō school. This outline follows the Nanao Art Museum's introduction to its Tōhaku exhibition (in Japanese).

The Tokyo National Museum's English commentary places him in an age of both devastating civil war and lively artistic activity, and says that in Pine Forest he brought new life to the traditional subject of a pine forest with the Chinese-style ink painting he had mastered.

How to Look | Up Close, from a Distance, and into the Mist

Up Close: Needles Drawn in a Single Rush

Step close and look at the pine needles. The museum's Japanese commentary says the force of the brush is so fierce that it almost makes you step back: delicate, yet drawn without hesitation in a single rush.

What kind of brush Tōhaku used is not known. A brush made of several tips bound together, bamboo split into fine strands at the end, and a bundle of straw have all been suggested, but the question remains open.

From a Distance: Four Groups of Pines and the Path of the Wind

Now step back. The trunks seem to sway in the wind, as if dancing in a Noh play. According to the museum's Japanese commentary, the pines are arranged in about four large groups, placed so that the wind can pass between them.

Mist, Light and a Snowy Mountain: Gradations of Ink

The gradations of ink show the strength and weakness of the light and create a pine grove wrapped in mist. Soft light falls through gaps in the mist, a snowy mountain appears in the distance, and the air feels cold and damp. On the left-hand screen, the outline of the mountain is faintly drawn behind the trees.

Is it late autumn, with winter on the way, or spring, when the snow begins to melt? The museum leaves the question to the viewer. Its point is that the work's charm lies less in reproducing the exact shape of each tree than in letting you feel the air of the place, which, the Tokyo National Museum notes, is why the work has been described as the pinnacle of Japanese ink painting.

Open Questions | Which Pine Grove? Reversed? A Preparatory Work?

The museum's commentary also lists questions on which scholars disagree.

• Which pine grove is it? Some say a grove on the shore of the Noto Peninsula, Tōhaku's home province; others suggest Miho no Matsubara or Amanohashidate, both long-established subjects in Japanese painting
• Were the screens once the other way round? A pine cut off at the right edge of the right-hand screen seems to continue into the tips of branches at the left edge of the left-hand screen, which has led some to suggest that the two screens were originally arranged in reverse
• Was it a preparatory work? The paper joins do not line up in a straight horizontal line and the paper is coarser than usual, so some think the screens may have been a preparatory version. Others point out that the ink is of high quality

The museum ends by saying that there is no right answer, and that each viewer should enjoy the work in their own way.

Seeing It in Tokyo | Every New Year at the Tokyo National Museum

In recent years the Tokyo National Museum has shown Pine Forest every New Year. According to the museum's annual schedule, in 2027 it will be on display from 1 to 17 January in Room 12 of the Honkan (Japanese Gallery). In 2026 it was shown from 1 to 12 January in Room 2, the National Treasure Gallery, and in 2023 from 2 to 15 January in Room 7.

The screens are also part of the museum's own history. When Japan's new constitution came into force on 3 May 1947, the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum was transferred from the Imperial Household to the state and renamed the National Museum. Pine Forest was one of the first works it purchased after the war (the museum's 150th-anniversary page, in Japanese).

The museum also offers a tip for looking. Stand in front of the screens and move back and forth until the ground in the painting seems to join the floor you are standing on; it should feel as if you are stepping into the pine grove.

Display periods, rooms and opening hours can change, so check the Tokyo National Museum's website before you go.

Trying It in Ink | Pale in the Distance, Dark up Close

Looked at by someone who paints in ink, Pine Forest offers several clues for your own work. What follows is a painter's view, not a claim about Tōhaku's intentions.

• Distant pines in pale ink, near pines in dark ink: the difference in tone alone creates depth and air
• The white of the paper, where nothing is painted, reads as mist and light; what you leave unpainted is part of the picture
• Lines drawn quickly and without hesitation; that kind of confidence comes slowly, through practice

For painting near, middle and far distances in different tones of ink, see How to Paint a Sumi-e Landscape; for practising decisive lines, see How to Practise Sumi-e Brushwork.

In the video below, Tohun Kobayashi of Kokusai Bokuyukai paints a pine grove on a shikishi in ink alone. He sets down the clusters of needles first and runs the trunks through afterwards; the trees behind are in pale ink and the pines in front in dark ink, so that the order of painting and the difference in tone build the depth as you watch. To finish, he adds a bank and a boat carrying two figures in hats.

It is a small work on a shikishi, not a screen, and it does not recreate Tōhaku's method. Watch it as one example of how ink tone can give a pine grove its depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I see Pine Forest?

It belongs to the Tokyo National Museum. In recent years it has been shown every New Year, and in 2027 it is scheduled to be on display from 1 to 17 January in Room 12 of the Honkan, according to the museum's annual schedule. Check dates, room and opening hours on the museum's website before you go.

When was Pine Forest painted?

The Tokyo National Museum dates it to the Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century. No specific year is known.

What is Pine Forest painted with?

It is ink on paper, painted in shades of ink alone. The brush Tōhaku used is not known; a brush with several tips, split bamboo and a bundle of straw have all been suggested.

Which pine grove does Pine Forest show?

Some say a grove on the shore of the Noto Peninsula, Tōhaku's home province; others suggest Miho no Matsubara or Amanohashidate. It has not been settled.

Was Pine Forest a preparatory work?

Some think so, because the paper joins do not line up and the paper is coarser than usual. Others point out that the ink is of high quality. The Tokyo National Museum says there is no right answer.

Who was Hasegawa Tōhaku?

A painter from Nanao in Noto Province (1539–1610). In his twenties he worked in Noto as Nobuharu, mainly painting Buddhist pictures; in his thirties he moved to Kyoto, took commissions from Toyotomi Hideyoshi and great temples, and formed the Hasegawa school with his sons and pupils.

How big is Pine Forest?

It is a pair of six-panel folding screens; each screen is 156.8 cm high and 356.0 cm wide.

How can I paint a pine grove in sumi-e?

Paint the distant trees in pale ink and the near pines in dark ink, and the difference in tone alone will create depth. Tohun Kobayashi's demonstration in this article and the landscape tutorial show how; the video is an example of sumi-e, not a recreation of Tōhaku's method.

In Closing

• Pine Forest is a pair of folding screens on which Hasegawa Tōhaku painted pines in mist with nothing but shades of ink; it is a National Treasure at the Tokyo National Museum
• Up close the brush is fast and decisive; from a distance the pines sway in the wind and the mist appears
• Which grove it shows, whether the screens were reversed and whether it was a preparatory work are still open questions
• In 2027 it is scheduled to be on display at the Tokyo National Museum from 1 to 17 January, in Room 12 of the Honkan

For another way of painting air rather than outlines, from a different age and in a different medium, read about Hishida Shunsō and Mōrōtai. Among our articles on artists and their works, Hokusai's Daily Exorcisms follows the lions Hokusai painted almost every morning in his eighties. If you would like to try ink painting yourself, start with Sumi-e Painting for Beginners.