Ume blossoms that Ogata Kōrin painted

This ume tree is on a small stream in Shimogamo Jinjya Shrine. It is said that this tree is one of the trees that Ogata Kōrin (尾形光琳, ca. 1657 - 1716) painted in "Kōbai-Hakubai-Zu Byōbu (紅梅白梅図屏風)", or "Folding Screen of Red and white Ume Blossoms". His birthplace was in the walking distance from this shrine.


Ogata Kōrin is known by his decorative style of painting. As described in Wikipedia, the characteristic of his style is a bold impressionism, which is expressed in few and simple highly idealized forms, with an absolute disregard for both realism and the usual conventions. Notice the stylized expression of the stream in the byōbu above. The school of painters who followed Kōrin's style is called Rinpa (琳派) school. The influence of Rinpa (also spelled as Rimpa) was strong in the Japanese art scene in the 18th and 19th century, and even today Rinpa style paintings and designs are popular.

Rinpa shool arts also influenced some European artists. It is believed that an Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt was inspired by the Rinpa school arts when he painted his highly decorative works.