This painting depicts a monk on a pilgrimage carrying Buddhist scriptures on his back. Faxian, Hyecho and Xuanzang were three of the most famous monks depicted in such works. There are several paintings on this theme including those kept in the Guimet Museum in France and the Tenri University Library in Japan, most of which show a monk holding a stick and many scriptures. This, however, is the only work depicting a monk heading leftward.