Keywords
Art History
Painting
The three types of distances desired for mountains in Chinese ink painting as defined by the famous Academy landscapist of the Northern Sung, Guo Xi (Jp: Kaku Ki 郭煕; after 1000-ca. 1090) in The Lofty Message of Forests and Streams (Ch: Linquan gaozhi; Jp: Rinsen Kōchi 林泉高致). They are based on his own observations of nature: 1) kō-en 高遠 (Ch: gaoyuan; high distance), looking up at a mountain from below; 2) shin-en 深遠 (Ch: shenyuan; deep distance), looking out from the front of a mountain and to see other mountains behind it; and 3) hei-en 平遠 (Ch: pingyuan; flat or level distance), looking out from a mountain to neighboring low-lying hills.