The word san means yama (mountains), sui means mizu (river), gameans a picture. There is the work which aimed at reproduction of real scenery, but there is also  "created scenery" "image scenery" which constituted scenery elements such as the mountains / trees / rocks / rivers by realism again. Artistic licence. Taking an existing scene and enhancing it in a way that would attract the buyer to place this on the wall of their home. but more than this it was a representation of a spiritual place. Mountains where spirits reigned, hidden valleys full of myths and legends.

The art of Japan has a powerful  Chinese influence. There was originally no word for  simply "Fukeiga (Fukei=scenery-ga=Picture)". The picture which assumed a representation of natural scenery was simply called "a landscape painting". Originally "Sansuiga(landscape painting)" began as spiritual world expression to be based on a legendary Chinese hermit with miraculous powers of thought.. On the other hand, the Meiji era began, and the words of "scenery" became established with the full-scale introduction of Western paintings. In "Fukeiga (Scenery)",the  eyes of the naturalism or realism assumed a form that was different from a conventional "Sansuiga (landscape painting)" the basis of the landscape scenery style of painting were incorporated, and natural reproduction by a rational technique was aimed at the subject matter of the art work.. However, while taking in such techniques, some of the traditional Japanese landscape painting became based on a sense of beauty of the subject matter rather than the actual image itself. So floating clouds and misty forests, cool waterfalls and scented glades became the holy grail of the Japanese Landscape painter of scrolls.. The scroll therefore does not have to be as detailed as a western landscape but rather an impression, a feeling of what the viewer is looking at. A successful landscape scroll delivers this. The waterfall should make you feel cool ad the forest should suggest the smell of damp leaves and birdsong and the mountain should make you feel that you become part of the birds flying below the cold peaks.

Viewing a Japanese landscape scroll relies on the viewer relaxing and becoming one with the scene. For more information on Japanese and Asian art read this-click