The six distances in Chinese landscape painting. Read riku-en. First mentioned by Han Zhuo (Jp: Kan Setsu 韓拙, active ca.1095-ca. 1125), who wrote the Shanshui Chunquan Ji (Jp: Sansui junzenshū 山水純全集, Chunquan Compilation on Landscape). Han Zhuo asserted that in addition to Guo Xi's (Jp: Kaku Ki 郭煕, after 1000-ca. 1090) three distances, there were three other distances:
1) katsu-en 闊遠 (Ch: kuoyuan; broad distance), generally a wide stretch of water with a shore in the foreground and a spacious sweep to distant mountains;
2) mei-en 迷遠 (Ch: miyuan; hidden distances), thick mists and fogs that interrupt streams and plains, and cause them to disappear; and
3) yū-en 幽遠 (Ch: yoyuan; obscure distance), scenery that becomes obliterated in vagueness and mistiness. These three, together with Guo Xi's *san-en 三遠, are called the riku-en or six distances employed in landscape painting in China.