Lin Hejing and his crane

The poet Lin Hejing (Rin Nasei in Japanese) sits by a gnarled plum tree with a crane by his side. Lin Hejing (967-1028) retired to Gushan Island in the West Lake and is said to have lived there for several decades without returning to the nearby city of Hangzhou. He was a passionate lover of plum blossoms and kept cranes at his home, leading people to say of him that he spent his days "with plum blossoms for wives and cranes for children."