Kan Tanju was a friend of Japan's greatest Nanga School artist, Ike Taiga. Together with their friend and artist Ko_ Fuyo_, they climbed mountains and discussed Chinese literati painting and poetry. Unlike Taiga, Tanju's style is restrained and usually in pure ink. Here he follows the method of I Fu-chiu, a Chinese merchant and painter who visited Japan between 1720 and 1747. Although not expressly identified as such, it is likely that I Fu-chiu originally composed the poem that Tanju included on this painting:

How can I compare myself to those

who wander aimlessly on the river?

Turning my face towards the autumn wind,

I fish along with my bamboo pole.