Mynah Birds Attacking an Owl

Sesson Shūkei

Hanging scroll, ink on paper

Metropolitan Museum of Art

A beleaguered owl sits hunched on a gnarled branch, its feathers puffed defensively as a mob of sharp-beaked mynah birds closes in from both sides, their wings and tails rendered in confident, inky strokes. Sesson Shūkei, one of the most inventive ink painters of Muromachi-period Japan, captures the tension of this age-old folk motif—owls mobbed by smaller birds—with a loose, expressive brush that owes much to Chinese Song and Yuan painting traditions he studied secondhand. The muted sepia tones and economical linework give the scene a timeless, almost humorous quality, turning a moment of avian conflict into a meditation on vulnerability and nature's pecking order. This hanging scroll would bring a touch of classical Japanese ink painting's wit and restraint to any wall.