Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) drew the work when he was 31 years old. That year, his teacher Okakura Tenshin (1863-1913) was expelled from Tokyo Art School and founded Tokyo Art Academy. 

Similarly, Qu Yuan (A.C. 343-A.C. 278) was a poet and politician of Xi who scented the plot of Zhao’s Zhang Yi and advised his king of Xi, but his claim was not accepted and committed suicide in despair. 

The reason why Taikan chose the theme that he walked around the wilderness was that Tenshin who went out of power, and Qu Yuan who was relegated by a slander seemed to overlap.

Tenshin himself told a newspaper interview that this his disciple’s work expresses a conflict between resentment and restraint.