Three Owls on a Branch

Artist Beishu (Japanese)

DateMeiji Era (1868-1912)

Dimensions13 1/8 × 9 1/4 in. (33.3 × 23.5 cm)

Mediumwatercolor

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1912.601

Not on View

Label TextThe owls depicted in this watercolor may be Blakiston’s Fish Owls, named after the English naturalist Thomas Blakiston (1832–1891; buried in Columbus, Ohio), who collected the original specimen in northern Japan in 1883. Critically endangered in Japan, the species is large, measuring between 23 and 28 inches tall with a six-foot wingspan. It lives in forests near bodies of water, preying mainly on fish, which it hunts by wading in shallow water or by watching for movement from a nearby river bank. These owls usually lay one to three eggs, with the young remaining with the parents for up to two years, a behavior represented in this image of an adult with two immature owls. Blakiston’s Fish Owls are revered by the indigenous Ainu peoples of Hokkaido Japan as a Kamuy (divine being) called Kotan kuru Kamuy (God that Protects the Village).Exhibition HistoryTMA: Transparent Color, May 3 - August 25, 2002