Early Plum Blossoms

Early Plum Blossoms (Sōbai, 早梅) is a 1936 hanging scroll in the collection of the Adachi Museum of Art in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, where Goun is represented by one of the museum's strongest modern Kyoto-school holdings. The painting was scanned in high resolution as part of the Google Art Project initiative and is preserved on Wikimedia Commons at maximum zoom (2946 by 2641 pixels), allowing close inspection of the brushwork and pigmentation. The composition shows an owl perched in a gnarled plum tree, the white-and-pink blossoms set against the dark winter branches in a classic ume (plum) configuration. The plum is the first flowering tree of the Japanese calendar, blooming in late winter while snow may still cover the ground, and is the central symbol of the literati Three Friends of Winter (sai-han no san-yū) alongside pine and bamboo. Goun's choice of an owl as the perched bird is unusual; most Kyoto kachō-ga (bird-and-flower) treatments of plum pair the tree with warblers, pheasants, or finches. The owl gives the composition a nocturnal quality that aligns it with the meditative title Sōbai — early plum implying both seasonal timing and contemplative attention. The painting was completed two years before Goun's death and represents his fully mature style: confident brush economy in the branches, soft graded color in the blossoms, and a single carefully rendered bird as the compositional anchor. The Adachi Museum, founded in 1970 by industrialist Adachi Zenkō with a focus on early-twentieth-century Japanese painting, displays the work as a key example of late Goun.