波濤図屏風|Rough Waves

Created by Ogata Kōrin, this two-panel folding screen dates to approximately 1704 through 1709. This timeframe corresponds to the artist's residence in Edo and his use of the pseudonym "Dōsū," which appears as a seal on the work. While one record specifies the year 1706, broader analysis places the creation during this transitional period marked by Kanō school influences.

The painting entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1926. The acquisition was made possible through financial support from the Fletcher Fund. No specific original commissioner is identified in the available records, though the work later influenced artists such as Sakai Hōitsu, whose family had previously commissioned pieces from Kōrin.

Rough Waves is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The museum acquired the two-panel folding screen in 1926 with financial support from the Fletcher Fund. While specific inventory or accession numbers are not detailed in the available records, the work is classified within the museum's paintings department. The screen has been highlighted as a significant piece within the institution's collection of Japanese art.

Ogata Kōrin's Rough Waves (c. 1704–1709) stands as a pivotal work in Japanese art history, often cited as the most significant depiction of the sea prior to Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Created during the artist's Edo period, the screen reflects a transitional phase marked by the influence of the Kanō school and the gloomy landscape traditions of Tawaraya Sōtatsu. While drawing inspiration from the dynamic wave imagery of Sesson Shukei, Kōrin employed a distinctive two-brush technique to render threatening, claw-like crests that convey a sense of violent natural force unusual for his typical style.

The work's critical legacy is evidenced by its profound impact on the later Rinpa master Sakai Hōitsu, who studied the screen closely and produced his own abstract yet demonic interpretation, Waves, in 1805.

Rough Waves later exerted a formative influence on Rinpa successors, notably Sakai Hōitsu, whose 1805 screen Waves reinterprets Kōrin’s swirling wave motifs in an even more abstracted, ink-on-silver idiom while preserving the original’s ominous atmosphere. The work has been held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection since its 1926 acquisition, situating it within a major transpacific repository of Japanese screens and reinforcing its canonical status in surveys of Edo-period painting. Its dramatic composition and technical synthesis of ink, color, and gold leaf have continued to exemplify Rinpa ideals, influencing later modern and contemporary artists who revisit dynamic wave imagery in diverse media.

Ogata Kōrin's screen painting, titled Rough Waves (波濤図屏風), captures a powerful marine scene. Created between approximately 1704 and 1709, this two-panel folding screen utilizes ink, color, and gold leaf on paper. The work presents a dramatic portrayal of ocean swells, characteristic of the artist's distinctive approach to natural forms. It is a significant example of Japanese screen painting from the Edo period.