Heron in Bamboo (Oriental Art) - Rakusan Tsuchiya - Framed Plate - 12"H x 16"W

Heron in Bamboo (Oriental Art) - Rakusan Tsuchiya - Framed Plate - 12"H x 16"W

Rakusan Tsuchiya (Born Kouzou Tsuchiya) was a Japanese artist. He had other "artist names" which included Rakuzan Koushisei, Koushisei, Rakusan, Rakuzan.

He is known for his beautiful and refined nature studies and he studied under the great Kyoto artist Seiho Takeuchi.

The herons are the long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae.

The word heron is rather old and of uncertain origin. It appeared in the English language in the 1300's, originating from the Latin aerius meaning aerial.

Herons are also known as "shitepokes", or euphemistically as "shikepokes" or "shypokes". Webster's Dictionary suggests that herons were given this name because of their habit of defecating when flushed.

This name for a heron is found in a list of gamebirds in a royal decree of James VI  of Scotland. The OED speculates that "shiterow" is a corruption of "shiteheron".

The bamboos are a subfamily of flowering perennial evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae. The word bamboo comes from the Kannada term bambu, which was introduced to English through Indonesian and Malay.