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Erik Thomsen 2013
Japanese Paintings and Works of Art
Table of contents
3
5
55
81
93
104
112
114
118
120
124
Foreword and Acknowledgements
Screens
Paintings
Bamboo Baskets
Lacquers
Signatures, Seals and Inscriptions
Appendix I
Appendix II
Notes
Bibliography
Checklist
Erik Thomsen Gallery
Foreword and Acknowledgements
I am delighted to present our fall 2013 catalogue,
painting from the brush of Shibata Zeshin, an Edo
with selections from four of my specialties in the
artist who learned much from his early sojourns in
field of Japanese art: screens, scroll paintings, bam-
the old capital, returning to his native city to create
boo baskets, and lacquer. All the items presented
a distinctive version of the Maruyama-Shijō style.
here are deeply rooted in traditional aesthetics
Our twentieth-century scrolls, rare paintings by rare
and cultural practices, but several of them are also
painters, offer a fascinating glimpse into a flourish-
eloquently expressive of Japan’s long endeavor
ing art world whose vitality, variety, and openness
to assimilate time-honored styles and methods to
to global influences are only just starting to come in
the growing impact of Western notions of pictorial
focus.
representation.
Once again we are proud to offer a group of
Our group of screens starts with works that take
twentieth-century baskets by masters from both the
themes from the classics of early Japanese litera-
Kanto and the Kansai regions. I am especially fond
ture and interpret them in a refined yet accessible
of the three baskets by the Iizuka family: Hōsai II,
manner that would have had a strong nostalgic
Shōun, and Shōkansai.
appeal for seventeenth-century viewers enjoying
a period of peace after centuries of almost inces-
We conclude with five lacquer works from the
sant warfare. Other Edo-period screens reflecting
Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras. Viewing these
Confucian values and renewed interest in things
meticulously crafted masterpieces and admiring
Chinese are followed by a remarkable group dating
their sophisticated transformation of themes from
from the early decades of the twentieth century, a
ancient art and literature, it is amazing to think that
period of growing wealth when large-scale works
only a few years ago we were inclined to regard
were eagerly sought by new patrons who supported
lacquer as an art form that had seen its best days
visionaries such as Muramatsu Ungai, Furuya Kōrin,
by the end of the nineteenth century. As with the
and Ishizaki Kōyō. Still little known outside of Japan,
later paintings and baskets documented here, we
these artists, lavish in their use of precious materials
are delighted to offer you this opportunity to join
and time-consuming techniques, adapted pre-mod-
us in our ongoing exploration of the achievements
ern painting traditions and transformed them to
of Japanese artists over the last hundred years.
create dazzling and unexpected new visual worlds.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of Joe
Our selection of hanging scrolls and handscrolls in-
Earle, now based in London, in expanding and edit-
cludes a varied group of eighteenth-century artists,
ing the explanatory texts. I am also grateful to our
starting with Ogata Kōrin, whose brilliant abstrac-
Frankfurt designer Valentin Beinroth and Frankfurt
tion, use of rich mineral colors, and sensitivity to na-
photographer Cem Yücetas, without whom this and
ture and the seasons inspired so many later painters
our earlier publications would not have been pos-
including his namesake Furuya Kōrin. In complete
sible. Above all I wish to thank my wife, Cornelia, for
contrast, Priest Hakuin’s depiction of Daruma, the
her partnership, encouragement, and support which
founder of Zen Buddhism, rapidly drawn in strongly
made our move to New York seven years ago and
contrasted tones of ink, is at once a striking graphic
the establishment of our gallery since then possible.
image and a powerful injunction to constant mindfulness. Two atmospheric scrolls from the Kansai
Erik Thomsen
cities of Osaka and Kyoto are followed by a lacquer
New York, September 2013
3
Screens
1
Anonymous, Tosa School 土佐派
Scenes from Early Chapters of Ise Monogatari
(Ise Stories)
Edo period (1615 –1868), 17th century
and creates a series of vignettes, including an un-
Two-panel folding screen; ink, mineral colors,
derstated sexual fantasy that is inspired by the text
gofun (white powdered shell), silver, and gold
but not mentioned in it.
on paper with gold leaf
19 5⁄8 × 57 ½ in. (50 × 146 cm)
For descriptions of the Ise monogatari episodes
depicted on this screen, along with transcriptions
This elegantly composed screen displays a series
and translations of the poems, see Appendix I.
of scenes from Ise monogatari (Ise Stories), a collection of poems and prose narratives dating from
the tenth century and centered around a “certain
man,” traditionally believed to be the courtierpoet Ariwara no Narihira (825 – 880), as he travels
from Kyoto, the capital, to the eastern provinces.
Each of the text’s 125 chapters typically opens
with a prose paragraph providing the context for
a poem or poems, sometimes followed by another
prose passage. Ise monogatari was a rich source
of inspiration not just for later literature but also
for later art—especially during the Edo period—in
part perhaps because its seemingly random structure left a good deal to the artist’s creativity and
imagination and made the selection and depiction
of individual scenes easier than the much longer,
more tightly organized Genji monogatari (Tale of
Genji).1
Made to be placed behind a the pillow, this low
screen featuring episodes from early chapters of
Ise monogatari is constructed so that a person
lying down would be able to view at close quarters the finely detailed figures and amorous texts
interspersed throughout the composition, and
admire in particular the lively, delicate depiction
of the faces, each one of them executed in ink
over a thick layer of gofun (white powdered shell).
Many of the scenes are clearly based, directly
or indirectly, on the illustrations in a celebrated
movable-type printed version of the story that was
first published in 1608, but other details might
have tested the knowledge or imagination of the
viewer.2 In depicting Chapter 18, for example, the
artist enters into the naive young girl’s daydreams
6
1 For a similar eighteenth-century Ise monogatari screen with inscriptions and some of the same chapters as the present screen,
see Tsuji et al. 1979 –1980, vol. 5, ills. 134 –135.
2 For a digital version of this important book, see Nakanoin 1608,
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
7
2
Anonymous, Tosa School 土佐派
Moon over Musashi Plain
Screens depicting nothing but grasses and the
Six-panel folding screen; ink, mineral colors,
moon first appeared in the Muromachi period, ap-
gofun (white powdered shell), silver, and gold on
parently without any particular geographical
paper with gold leaf, mounted with poem cards
association, but with the move of a substantial part
67 ¼ × 144 ½ in. (171 × 367 cm)
of Japan’s population to the growing metropolis
of Edo, Musashi Plain became an actual rather
Against a background of gold leaf, a dense, inter-
than an imaginary place. In response to renewed
laced mass of exquisitely drawn, brilliant mineral-
interest in the theme, painters in different tradi-
green grasses dominate the lower two-thirds of this
tions, including the Kano, the Rinpa, and the Tosa
screen, reaching up almost to the top of the fourth
schools, produced a number of Musashi screens.
panel from the right, where they partly obscure a
The present example, with its extensive use of
silver moon. Poem cards deftly positioned over the
strong mineral colors and lack of black ink outlines,
painting turn the finished work into an evocative
is likely the work of a Tosa-school artist.
monument with both visual and literary appeal.
Other seventeenth-century versions, including one
Some eight centuries before the Tokugawa shoguns
formerly in the Burke Collection and now in the
made the fishing village of Edo (modern Tokyo)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (67.235), depict several
the effective capital of Japan, Musashino (Musashi
different fall flowers among the grasses, but this
Plain) to the west and north of the city had already
example holds true to the more traditional concep-
entered the elite imagination of the Kyoto court as
tion of the Musashi Plain as a landscape dominated
a wild, distant, and featureless place. An episode
by a single species. Perhaps in specific reference to
from the tenth-century Ise monogatari (Ise Stories),
Michikata’s poem, the artist added “white clouds”
for example, tells how the exiled courtier hero and
of mature seedheads to some of the grasses, a de-
his lover hide in its grasses but are flushed out by
vice that both adds variety to the composition and
the threat of a fire set by the Governor’s men (see
firmly sets the scene in early fall—the eighth month
no. 1). Over time, the plain became associated with
of the lunar calendar and the most popular time of
a particular type of grass: susuki or obana, (Mis-
year for moon-viewing parties.
canthus sinensis, variously translated as “eulalia,”
“pampas grass,” or “plume grass”), an idea that
In keeping with the poetic associations of Musashi,
finds early expression in this poem by Minamoto no
each panel of the screen is enhanced by six colored
Michikata (1189 –1238):
poetry panels that form an indispensable part of
the overall composition. Written in both Chinese
Musashino wa / tsuki no irubeki / mine mo nashi /
and Japanese, the 36 poems are drawn from well
obana ga sue ni / kakaru shirakumo
known anthologies and include works by Bai Juyi,
in Japan the most beloved Chinese poet of the
On Musashi Plain / there are no mountains for the /
Tang-dynasty golden age, as well as three of the
moon to hide behind / just white clouds hanging
Japanese “Hundred Poets”: Ki no Tsurayuki, High
on the / tips of the pampas grasses
Priest Henjō, and Ki no Tomonori; there are also
Chinese poems by Japanese authors.
(Shoku Kokinwakashū 425)
For texts and translations of 19 selected poems,
see Appendix II.
10
11
3
Anonymous, Kano School 狩野派
Bamboo Grove and Fence
as ideological underpinning for their system
of government. The bamboo plants are symbols
gofun (white powdered shell), and gold on
of strength and resilience, but the choice of
paper with gold leaf
subject matter was also practical, since images of
69 5⁄8 × 143 ¾ in. (177 × 365 cm)
bamboo—an evergreen plant—could be displayed
throughout the year, an important consideration
Tracing its origins to the fifteenth-century court of
when planning for a range of significant ceremo-
the Ashikaga shoguns, the Kano school or acad-
nial events. Also interesting here is the interplay
emy occupied a dominant position in the world
between nature and the human world. We see not
of Japanese painting throughout the Edo period.
just bamboo growing, apparently in the wild, with
In the second decade of the seventeenth century
thick trunks and luxuriant leaves, but also, in the
several of its leading members moved from Kyoto,
middle, a rustic fence suggesting the presence of
the old imperial capital, to Edo, the new shogunal
man: even vibrant nature must be subject to proper
capital, where they were appointed goyō eshi
human control and jurisdiction. This theme would
(“painter in attendance”) to the Tokugawa govern-
have made the screen a fitting choice for a person
ment and were soon busily engaged in major paint-
of authority, symbolizing the owner’s position of
ing projects for Edo Castle and other symbolically
responsibility in an essentially feudal society.
important sites. Kano painters founded five hereditary ateliers in Edo but the academy also remained
active in Kyoto, while other branches, working for
local daimyo (feudal lords), were set up in castle
towns throughout the land.1
This striking painting was likely intended for the
interior of a regional castle or perhaps a daimyo
mansion in Edo, in a tradition stretching back to
the sixteenth century when expansive compositions
like this were first commissioned by the leading
warlords of the day. It was executed using the most
luxurious materials, with thick layers of crushed mineral pigment and extravagant passages of gofun
(white powdered shell) on a base of gold leaf over
a folding paper support with a silk-brocade border,
mounted on a framed wooden lattice. When used
at night, such a screen would reflect the light of
many candles, casting a golden glow over the
room and its contents.
Kano painters, above all when working on a large
scale, often favored subjects that conveyed moral
or ethical messages, not infrequently with their
origins in the Chinese belief system we call Confucianism, which the Tokugawa shoguns adopted
14
1 Gerhart 2003, pp. 14 –18; Screech 2000, pp. 125 –130.
15
4
Anonymous, Kano School 狩野派
Karako (Chinese Children) Playing Games
Edo period (1615 –1868), Genroku era
Their appearance at this time came close on the
(1688 –1704)
heels of a similar development in Chinese art and
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, mineral
there are even examples of Chinese-made ceramic
colors, gofun (white powdered shell), and gold
wares with Karako decoration that are thought to
have been made specifically for the Japanese
Each 43 ½ × 101 ¼ in. (110.5 × 257.5 cm)
market.3
Against a background of palatial buildings and
The treatment of the Karako theme in this particular
gardens in scenes separated by gold clouds, some
pair of screens also makes use of compositional
200 Chinese boys enjoy a multitude of games and
and other details derived from a book first pub-
pastimes. On the right-hand screen we have cock
lished in China in 1573, Dijian tushuo (in Japanese,
fighting, music and dance, a mock procession with
Teikan zusetsu, Illustrated Stories of the Conduct of
hobby horses, a game of oni gokko (blindman’s
Chinese Emperors), which featured the exemplary
bluff), and fishing. The left-hand screen shows
behavior of 81 emperors, as well as 36 cautionary
more music and dancing as well as boating and
tales relating to those who fell short of the ideal. A
fishing, another procession—this time with an indi-
copy was brought to Japan just over two decades
vidual mounted on a shishi (lion)—acrobats, another
later during the Korean campaigns of Toyotomi
game of oni gokko, a performing monkey, and
Hideyoshi (1536 –1598) and was inherited by his
other children playing with tops. Although these
short-lived son Hideyori (1593 –1615) who commis-
are children, their play mimics the adult world and
sioned a reprint in 1606. After the establishment of
incorporates a hierarchical structure expressed
the Tokugawa shogunate, the Kano academy (see
both by the relative sizes of the figures and by the
no. 3) started to make large-scale painted ver-
privileged treatment received by some, including
sions of Teikan zusetsu which share many features
servants protecting them from the sun with para-
with these screens, including imposing buildings
sols or serving them with rice cakes as they watch
with brightly colored tiled roofs and checkerboard
the fun from elevated positions indoors.
paving, an emphasis on courtly processions, fluttering banners, parasols, and a pervasive sense of
The origins of these intricate compositions can be
hierarchy.4
traced to two strands of Chinese visual culture that
reached Japan in the closing half century of the
These screens are in the middle-size format known
Ming Dynasty (1368 –1644) in the form of pictorial
as chūbyōbu. Its dimensions are very close to a pair
representations of, respectively, gamboling chil-
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Karako in
dren and virtuous emperors. Although one or more
paradisiacal scenery presided over by goddess-
Chinese children sometimes appear in earlier por-
like figures, and both pairs were likely intended for
traits of the Buddhist deity
Hotei,1
it was not until
private display, perhaps in the women’s quarters
the seventeenth century that they started to make
of an elite household.5 Another example, by Kano
frequent appearances in Japanese art, including not
Dōshun (17th –18th century), features children play-
only painting but also lacquer and, later, ceramics
ing in palatial settings.6
and netsuke. They are known in Japanese as Karako,
a term that seems to have been mostly used in con-
For the footnotes relating to this entry, see p. 118.
nection with pictorial art, and specifically denotes
children dressed in Chinese clothing, their hair
often cut in Chinese style with three topknots.2
18
19
5
Muramatsu Ungai 邨松雲外 (1870 –1926)
Snowy Pines
Late Meiji era (1868 –1912) or Taisho era
intense brushwork in the depiction of the pine nee-
(1912 –1926)
dles, a feature also seen in his painting of a crow
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and gold
on a pine branch exhibited at the St. Louis Exposi-
wash on paper
tion in 1904.2 The overall impact of the screens is
Each 67 × 147 ½ in. (170 × 374.5 cm)
further enhanced by the artist’s masterful gradation
of the bands of gold wash, ranging from very faint
Signature on right screen: Ungai Muramatsu hitsu
to almost solid, that form the background to the
雲外邨松筆 (Brushed by Ungai Muramatsu); signa-
pine trees, as well as his accomplished use of bare,
ture on left screen: Ungai Muramatsu Tei ga 雲外邨
unpainted paper to represent snow.
松貞画 (Painted by Ungai Muramatsu Tei); seals on
both screens: Mura Tei in 邨貞印 (Seal of Mura Tei);
Born in Ōmi Province (present-day Shiga Prefec-
Shiken 子堅
ture), Muramatsu Ungai was a student of Mori
Kansai (1814 –1894) and later of Suzuki Shōnen
This majestic composition reinterprets a theme that
(1849 –1918, see also no. 7), both of whom also
traces its origins to Maruyama Ōkyo (1733 –1795),
created versions of the pines-and-snow theme.
the Kyoto master who revolutionized Japanese
Ungai, two of whose other artist names—Tei and
painting with a compelling synthesis of Western
Shiken—are included in the signatures and seals on
realism combined with East Asian media and brush
the present pair of screens, won prizes at the Paris
techniques. Ungai loosely follows Ōkyo’s most
(1900) and St. Louis (1904) international exposi-
famous work, a pair of National Treasure screens in
tions as well as the first annual Nihon Bijutsuin
the Mitsui Memorial Museum,1 but with significant
(Japan Art Institute) exhibition (1898).3 He also
variations that make this version a classic instance
showed at the first Bunten Exposition in 1908.4 In
of the early-twentieth-century Nihonga style. On
2000, memorial exhibitions to mark the 130th an-
the right-hand screen, Ungai places the tree trunk
niversary of his birth were held in Shiga Prefecture,
much further to the right and depicts it at closer
and a catalogue of his works was published the
quarters than did his great predecessor, and unlike
following year.5
Ōkyo, who allowed the branch to extend only an
inch or two into the far left panel, Ungai extends it
right across and even beyond the available pictorial space.
On the left screen, by contrast, Ungai departs from
Ōkyo’s example in leaving the rightmost panel
completely blank and also omits a smaller tree that
Ōkyo placed at the left, replacing it with a carefully
rendered snowy slope that is very different from
Ōkyo’s more impressionistic drift of snow. While
retaining Ōkyo’s contrast between the older, assertive “male” tree on the right-hand screen and the
younger, yielding “female” tree on the left-hand
screen, Ungai intensifies the tensions between
the two and heightens the work’s dramatic impact
through his characteristic deployment of busy,
24
1 For the Ōkyo screens, see Sasaki and Sasaki 2003, pp. 76 – 81.
2 Yamashita 1904, no. 28, “Crow and pine in snow, by Muramatsu
(Ungai), Kioto.”
3 For biographical details see Araki 1991, vol. 2, p. 1974 and
Gokashōchō Rekishi Hakubutsukan Bunkyo no Kai 2001, and for
Ungai’s participation in international expositions, see also Tōkyō
Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 1997, nos. Q-10 (an ink landscape
shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1900), S-41, and T-804.
4 Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002, vol. 1, p. 236 (no. 78) and p. 337.
5 Gokashōchō Rekishi Hakubutsukan Bunkyo no Kai 2001.
25
6
Hasegawa Gyokujun 長谷川玉純
(1863 –1921)
Ōmi Hakkei 近江八景 (Eight Views of Ōmi Province)
Meiji era (1868 –1912), about 1910
handling of pictorial depth as in the depiction of
Eight-panel folding screen; ink, slight colors,
the Seta Bridge. Making liberal use of atmospheric
and gofun (white powdered shell) on silk
washes—a mark of his training in the Shijō style that
49 ¼ × 88 3⁄8 in. (125 × 224.5 cm)
dominated Kyoto painting during the nineteenth
century—and confining himself to ink with only a
Signature on each panel: Gyokujun 玉純; seal on
few occasional touches of slight color, Gyokujun
each panel: Gyokujun 玉純
effects a distinctive synthesis of approaches to
landscape drawn from both Asian and European
Ōmi Hakkei (The Eight Views of Ōmi Province) are a
traditions.
series of scenes owing their origins to the Chinese
Xiaoxiang Bajing (The Eight Views of Xiao and
Born to a family of painters, Hasegawa Gyokujun
Xiang), named for the Xiang River and its tributary
was first taught by his father, the famous Shijō-
the Xiao that empty into Lake Dongting in Hunan
school artist Hasegawa Gyokuhō 長谷川玉峰
Province. Already a popular painting subject in
(1822 –1879). In 1881 he became a committee
Japan during the Muromachi period (1336 –1568),
member, along with Takeuchi Seihō and other
the Chinese set was later often replaced by a series
artists, of the Seinen Sakka Konshin Kurabu (Young
of analogous Japanese views around the southern
Painter Support Club) and served as a judge at
part of Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake a few miles
exhibitions held by the Kyōto Seinen Kaiga
east of Kyoto. The themes of the Chinese originals
Kyōshinkai (Kyoto Youth Painting Support Group).
were retained so that, for example, Evening Glow at
He won prizes at several national and international
the Fishing Village becomes Evening Glow at Seta,
expositions, including the Chicago Columbian
a site known for its distinctive long, low bridge.
World’s Fair (1893), the Fourth National Industrial
The titles of the remaining views depicted on this
Exposition (1895), and the first exhibition of the
screen, reading from right to left, are: Sunset Sky
Nihon Kaiga Kyōkai (Japan Painting Association).
at Awazu, Autumn Moon at Ishiyama, Returning
After a spell working as an art teacher at elemen-
Sailboats at Yabase, Evening Bell at Miidera, Night
tary schools, in 1907 he moved to Ōtsu on the
Rain at Karasaki, Descending Geese at Katata, and
southwest shore of Lake Biwa where he taught at
Lingering Snow on Mount Hira.
the Women’s Vocational School, but returned to
Kyoto after the start of the Taisho era.1 It is likely
The Eight Views of Ōmi Province are popularly as-
that the present screen was created during his
sociated in the foreign view of Japanese art with
time in Ōtsu.
the numerous woodblock-print versions that were
produced by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 –1858) and
his followers, but this painted version by Hasegawa
Gyokujun, essentially a series of eight paintings
in hanging-scroll format mounted as a screen,
reminds us of the set’s origins in Chinese art of the
eleventh century. The choice of a tall, vertical shape
allowed the artist to present the scenes in a version
of traditional Chinese perspective, where “higher
up” means “further away,” modified here and
there by a more Western-inspired approach to the
30
1 Nichigai Asoshiētsu 2008, p. 469; for the Chicago prize see
Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 1997, L-50, M-61, and O-1572:
“Hasegawa Gyokjun. (Kinkaji). The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
(Painting.)”; for the 1895 prize see Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai
Kenkyūjo 1996, IV-406.
31
7
Furuya Kōrin 古谷紅麟 (1875 –1910)
Kureru Isobe 暮れる磯辺 (Shoreline at Dusk)
Meiji era (1868 –1912), 1910
dry by the shore: each and every strand, along with
other details such as the ropes used to tie the nets,
colors, gofun (white powdered shell), silver
is minutely delineated in high relief with silver paint
paint, silver flakes, and gold on silk
and three different shades of gold paint.
Each 70 ¼ × 145 5⁄8 in. (178.5 × 370 cm)
Born in 1875 in the village of Kaizu in Shiga PrefecSignature on each screen: Kōrin 紅麟; seals on each
ture, Furuya Kōrin went to Kyoto as a young man
screen: Tachibana Shinji 橘信弍; Kōrin no in 紅麟之印
in order to study Japanese and Chinese literature.
(Seal of Kōrin)
Once there, he became a student of the Shijō-style
Published and illustrated: Honda Ichijirō 1910
painter Suzuki Mannen, younger brother of the
better known Suzuki Shōnen (1849 –1918, see also
Better known to Western collectors as a designer of
no. 5) from whom he learned the basics of painting,
exquisite woodblock-printed books, Furuya Kōrin is
and of the pioneering art director and Rinpa reviv-
revealed here as a master painter with the ability to
alist Kamisaka Sekka (1866 –1942, see also no. 29),
deploy his miniaturist skills to magnificent effect in
who taught him the elements of design. He formed
this dramatic pair of folding screens, his last major
close collaborative friendships with a number of
published work. Developing, like Muramatsu Ungai
other leading artists of his time, acquiring the ele-
(no. 5), compositional ideas that Maruyama Ōkyo
ments of architecture and interior decoration from
pioneered in the eighteenth century, Kōrin uses
the architect Matsumuro Shigemitsu (1873 –1936),
two gnarled old pine trees by the sea shore to an-
and studying charcoal drawing with the leading
chor a powerful composition whose other elements
Western-style painter Asai Chū (1856 –1907) when
are fishing nets, gulls, and waves. As his assumed
the latter was invited to serve as a professor at the
artist name suggests, Furuya Kōrin saw himself as
Polytechnic High School in Kyoto.
the artistic descendant of the great painter Ogata
Kōrin (1658–1716) from whom the artistic move-
At the early age of 22, Kōrin achieved his first break-
ment we call Rinpa takes its name, but while his pic-
through by winning the prize for painting at the sec-
ture books combine the graphic power of flat, pure
ond annual Shinko Bijutsu Tenrankai (Exhibition of
pigment with a Japanese version of Art Nouveau, in
New and Old Art). He was to keep a close connec-
this screen he synthesizes a wider range of differ-
tion to this Kyoto institution, becoming an exhibition
ent tendencies in contemporary Kyoto painting.
judge and showing the present pair of screens at
These include not only the dramatic, Ōkyo-esque
the fifteenth exhibition of 1910 shortly before his
management of pictorial space, but also the
sudden death at the age of 36. He also exhibited
unusual, elevated viewpoint; the widespread use of
and won prizes at a number of national exhibitions,
the Rinpa technique of tarashikomi (applying pig-
showing both as a painter and as a designer of lac-
ment and ink to earlier layers of paint that are not
quer and textiles.1 In 1900 he became a teacher at
fully dried to create random, half-controlled effects
the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, where
as the colors merge; see also no. 11); the same ex-
he reached the rank of assistant professor in 1905.
pressionistic brushwork in the depiction of the pine
Like his mentor Kamisaka Sekka he published nu-
needles as seen in the Ungai screens; the close and
merous woodblock-printed books through Yamada
lifelike rendering of birds often seen in Shijō paint-
Unsōdō of Kyoto, 2 who also published the cata-
ing; and the lavish, meticulous use of gold and
logues of the Shinko Bijutsu Tenrankai exhibitions.
silver paint. This last feature is particularly apparent
in the rendering of the fishing nets hanging up to
34
35
8
Ishizaki Kōyō 石崎光瑶 (1884 –1947)
Vying Peacocks
Showa era (1925 –1989), about 1929
generation artistic descendant of Sakai Hōitsu
(1761–1828), founder of the Edo-Rinpa style
whose features include the bold outlines and dra-
on silk with urahaku (gold leaf applied to the
matic use of pigment evident in Kōyō’s paintings.
reverse)
At age 19 Kōyō moved to Kyoto where he trained
Each 67 ¼ × 172 in. (171 × 437 cm)
under the great Takeuchi Seihō (1864 –1942). A
keen mountaineer, Ishizaki was also, like Seihō,
Signature on each screen: Kōyō 光瑶; square seals
an inveterate traveler who visited many parts of
on each screen: two-character seal mark and Kōyō
Asia including Indonesia, India, and the Himalayas
no in 光瑶之印 (Seal of Kōyō)
(1916), and Europe (1922 – 23), all the while studying early Buddhist sites, making copious sketches,
In this depiction of a contest between two flamboy-
and taking many photographs.2 His paintings often
ant peacocks, an exotic subject favored by artists of
deal with birds and flowers and some of his iconic
the early Showa era working in several different me-
images are set in tropical countries.3
dia,1 Ishizaki Kōyō has dramatized a private moment
in the natural world and enlarged it to spectacular,
Ishizaki was selected for the Shinko Bijutsu Tenrankai
monumental proportions on two screens that are
(Exhibitions of New and Old Art) at which Furuya
almost five feet wider than a standard pair. Spread
Kōrin also exhibited (see no. 7) and, starting in 1911,
across several panels of each screen, the two male
became an active participant in the national exhibi-
birds seem like immortal beings engaged in a
tions, receiving awards for his work at the twelfth
cosmic battle, one of them seated on the ground
Bunten (1918) and the first Teiten (1919), among
defending a female bird which sits modestly in the
others. From 1936 he served as a professor at Kyoto
background while the other soars aggressively in
City University of Arts. In 1928 he paid another visit
the air, disconnected from all earthly bounds. The
to India to carry out research for a series of fusuma
peacocks’ heroic qualities are further emphasized
(sliding screen) paintings for the guest wing of the
by the contrast between their brilliant colors and
Kongōbuji Temple on Mount Kōya, but this major
the drab grays of the peahen, a contrast which is
commission was left incomplete upon his death.4 It is
deftly offset by a shimmering gold background en-
only recently that Ishizaki Kōyō has achieved the rec-
hanced with gold leaf applied to the entire reverse
ognition he deserves, in large part thanks to a major
side of the silk. Much favored by screen painters
retrospective held in 2008 at Fukumitsu Art Museum
during the early decades of the twentieth century,
in his native city of Nanto in Toyama Prefecture.5
this elegant technique was a consequence of the
growing use of silk, rather than paper, as a support
The present work is related to a two-panel screen
for these large compositions, since gold leaf on the
exhibited at the tenth Teiten exhibition in 1929 and
front of the silk would have created too reflective a
now preserved in the Fukumitsu Art Museum along
surface. Sparsely placed flowering dandelion plants
with a hanging scroll with a similar motif, painted in
balance the overall composition and give a hint of
the same year.6 Based on the style and subject, as
the confrontation’s natural setting.
well as the common practice of executing commissions based on works recently shown in official ex-
Ishizaki Kōyō, one of the outstanding painters
hibitions, it can safely be assumed that the present
of the Taisho and early Showa eras, was born in
screens were created at around the same time.
Nanto, Toyama Prefecture and started his training
in Kanazawa under Yamamoto Kōichi, a second-
40
41
9
Kamewari Takashi 亀割隆志 (1901–1981)
Sekishun 惜春 (Regret for the Passing of Spring)
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1929
with those by a select handful of other artists, were
originally displayed in Rikizō’s private home, out of
gofun (white powdered shell), gold, and silver
public view, but following the establishment of the
wash on silk
Meguro Gajoen Museum, Kamewari’s paintings were
84 5⁄8 × 96 5⁄8 in. (215 × 245.5 cm)
transferred there until its closure in 2002. Another
painting by this artist with the same provenance was
Signature: Takashi 隆志; seal: Takashi saku 隆志作
featured in our 2008 publication.1
(Made by Takashi)
Provenance seal on reverse: Meguro Gajoen Mu-
Kamewari was born to a farming family in Nagano
seum, Japan
Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. From an early age
Published: Nihongashū Kankōkai 2000, no. 12 and
he showed great ability in painting, first demon-
cover of slipcase; Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 –2002,
strating his skills at the tender age of three and
vol. 9, pp. 110 and 523.
later learning from local artists such as Fujimura
Sozan. Supported by his mother but against the
An elegant pleasure boat is moored under the
wishes of his father, who wanted him to enter the
flowering branches of a cherry tree whose white
family business, in 1923 he traveled to Tokyo in
blossoms are offset by a stand of yellow yamabuki
order to find an artist with whom to study, but his
(Kerria japonica, Japanese rose); on the grass and
visit to the capital was cut short by the Great Kanto
on the deck of the boat, a scattering of fallen cherry-
Earthquake. Returning the following year, Kame-
blossom petals evoke the wistful theme implied by
wari earned the approval of Tsutaya Ryūkō, a spe-
the work’s title, Regret for the Passing of Spring. This
cialist in the revival Yamato-e style. Tsutaya was an
painting was executed early in his career by Kame-
accomplished draftsman and technician in a num-
wari Takashi, a bird-and-flower specialist who creat-
ber of different genres whose private academy, the
ed major exhibition works featuring unusually thick
Takureisha, was located close to Tokyo School of
applications of mineral pigment, naturalistic details,
Fine Arts in a district rich with art teachers, artists,
and crisp, abstracted compositions—features which
and fellow art students, providing a stimulating at-
reinterpret motifs, styles, and techniques pioneered
mosphere for the young man fresh from the coun-
during the Edo period by artists of the Rinpa school
tryside.2 Tsutaya’s status as an active participant in
(see no. 11). The generous use of both mineral pig-
the national exhibitions doubtless eased Kamewari’s
ments and gofun (white powdered shell), built up to
entrance into the Teiten but he did not disappoint
create a three-dimensional effect, is especially ap-
his teacher and was soon producing a wide range
parent here on the trunks of the trees and the cher-
of work at a high level of distinction. In only his
ry-blossom petals. Sekishun owes its unusual size
second year as a student of Tsutaya, Kamewari not
to the fact that it was shown at a major official exhi-
only had a painting accepted into the Teiten but
bition, the tenth Teiten held in 1929; these events
also won a special award at the Nihongakai exhibi-
were held in very large galleries which encouraged
tion. The Nihongakai painting won the additional
artists to submit works that exceeded standard
distinction of being purchased by the Minister of
dimensions. It was purchased at the exhibition by
Education, Nakabashi Tokugorō. Judging from this
Hosokawa Rikizō, flamboyant owner of Meguro Ga-
phenomenal start, Kamewari must have entered
joen, a famous Tokyo restaurant complex, wedding
Tsutaya’s academy as an accomplished artist who
venue, and luxury hotel that he began to develop
needed little new instruction.
in the same year. Kamewari was clearly among
Hosokawa’s favorite artists since his paintings, along
46
47
10
Suzuki Kinji 鈴木欣二 (born 1911)
Plovers Flying over Waves
Showa era (1926–1989), about 1960
convey a variant on the original message, and that
Two-panel folding screen; mineral colors, gofun
by depicting birds and waves without the unmov-
(white powdered shell), and silver leaf on paper
ing cliffs of the poem, he might have been suggest-
68 × 80
1⁄8
in. (172.5 × 203.5 cm)
ing a new democratic world, without the emperor
at its center, where power lies in the hands of the
Signature: Kinji 欣二; seal: Kin 欣
people, here shown as flying birds navigating the
sky above the stormy sea.
This screen by Suzuki Kinji reworks the timehonored subject of chidori (plovers) flying over
Born in Tokyo at the end of the Meiji era, Suzuki
foamy waves, motifs that refer back to a famous
Kinji was a leading student of Gōkura Senjin
poem from Kokinshū (A Collection of Old and New
(1892 –1975), a prominent painter and teacher. He
Poems), an anthology of 31-syllable waka poems
began his professional career during the turbulent
commissioned by Emperor Daigo early in the tenth
early years of the Showa era, specializing in large-
century:
scale bird-and-flower compositions, but starting
around 1990 he also became noted for depictions
Shio no yama / Sashide no iso ni / sumu chidori /
of Japanese monkeys, earning himself the nick-
kimi ga miyo o ba / yachiyo to zo naku
name “The Mori Sosen of the Heisei era” in allusion
to the celebrated Edo-period artist who was
The plovers that live / on salty cliffs above the /
famous for his monkey paintings. His first entry into
shores of Sashide / cry yachiyo wishing for / our
the prestigious Inten exhibition was in 1951 and he
lord’s eight-thousand-year reign
continued to exhibit regularly until 1997. In 1991
he was awarded Mukansa status in recognition of
(Kokinshū 345)
his lifetime achievement, making him exempt from
evaluation when submitting his work to official
In the ancient poem, the images of plovers and
exhibitions.1
the ocean combine to create a poetic allusion to
the nation’s desire for long and stable imperial rule,
since the plovers’ characteristic repeated cry of
chiyo is homophonous with the Japanese locution
chiyo, “a thousand years.” In Japanese, the number
ya (eight) can also mean “many” or “myriad,” so by
changing chiyo to yachiyo, “eight thousand years,”
the poet implies that the birds express a wish for
not just prolonged but eternal imperial rule.
Whether the artist intended the same symbolism
for this work is debatable. The design of flying
plovers has become an artistic—or even merely
decorative—motif in its own right, divorced from
its imperial connections, and is often rendered in
a highly stylized fashion that contrasts with Suzuki
Kinji’s Nihonga-inflected Western-style naturalism.
Nevertheless, it is possible that he intended to
50
1 For this artist’s career see Bijutsu Nenkan Henshūbu 1985, p. 88;
Bijutsu Meikan Henshūbu 1993, p. 204; Nihon Bijutsuin 1993, pp.
79 and 114; and Nihon Bijutsuin 1997, p. 84.
51
Paintings
11
School of Ogata Kōrin 尾形光琳
(1658 –1716)
Clematis
a term of quite recent origin that refers to the artist
Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll; ink,
Ogata Kōrin (1658 –1716) although it is also ap-
mineral colors, gofun (white powdered shell),
plied to the work of his predecessors in the early
and gold on paper with gold leaf
seventeenth century as well as his successors down
Overall: 46
5⁄8
× 18
7⁄8
to the twentieth century, including Furuya Kōrin
in. (118.5 × 48 cm)
Image: 13 7⁄8 × 13 ¼ in. (35.2 × 33.7 cm)
(see no. 7). The characteristics of the Rinpa style,
as developed by Ogata Kōrin, include a penchant
With fitted wooden storage box
for motifs drawn from the natural world, especially
plants, a strong sense of seasonality, boldly ab-
Executed in rich mineral colors, ink, and gofun
stracted composition, and the use of rich mineral
on gold paper, this fan painting depicts a tessen
pigments, often with a gold ground. This particular
(clematis) plant in full bloom. Originating in central
fan shape was favored by Kōrin and examples have
China, during the Kanbun era (1661–1673) the six-
survived which are still on their original bamboo
petaled clematis arrived in Japan where it was soon
mounts instead of being remounted as hanging
a popular garden plant, available in several cultivat-
scrolls, as here; also typical of Kōrin and his follow-
ed varieties with a range of different
colors.1
Along
with asagao (morning glories), tessen became
ers is the concentration of motifs at the top of the
composition.2
favored subjects for Japanese artists and started to
appear frequently in paintings, prints, and textile
designs. Flowering when the weather grows warm
and humid in the late spring and early summer, the
clematis is a perfect image to place on a fan.
The colors of this fan were laid on in a complex
manner that is not immediately apparent to the
naked eye. For example, a fine underpainting of
crushed lapis lazuli was applied beneath the gofun
paste of the white petals so that light traces of
blue barely show through the white, enhancing the
visual interest and depth of the image, while ink
was added under the petals of the single deepblue flower. The artist also made sparing use of
the tarashikomi technique (see also no. 7) on the
flower and the darker leaves, applying pigment
and ink over earlier layers of paint that were not
fully dried to create random, half-controlled effects
as the colors merged.
The composition, the color palette, the absence
of ink outlines, and the use of the tarashikomi
technique clearly mark this as a work of the school
known today as Rinpa, literally “School of [Kō]rin,”
56
1 Makino 1961, p. 185 (no. 738).
2 For examples of other Rinpa fans see Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan 2008, p. 162 (nos. II-22–II-24) and Watson 1981, p. 75 (no. 43).
12
Hakuin Ekaku 白隠慧鶴 (1685 –1768)
Daruma
Edo period (1615 –1868), 1757
Hovering as so often in Hakuin’s work between
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
humor and forceful expression, the patriarch’s
Overall: 50 × 24 ¼ in. (127 × 61.5 cm)
features underline the concentration and commit-
7⁄8
ment called for by the words of the inscription. As
Image: 14 ¼ × 19
in. (36 × 50.5 cm)
noted by Audrey Yoshiko Seo, “Hakuin defined and
Inscription: Daruma Daishi iwaku, moshi hito chōju
described the actual practice of meditation more
o tamotte Butsudō o jōzen to hosseba, tsune ni
fully than previous masters,” often using two closely
subekaraku kokoro o shite tanden kikai no aida ni
related terms of Daoist origin that appear in the
mitashimu beshi 達磨大師曰　若人保長寿　欲成
inscription on this work: tanden, translated by Seo
佛道　常須　使心充丹田　気海之間 (Great Master
as, “the center of energy of the lower abdomen,”
Bodhidharma said: “If you wish to maintain a long
and kikai. The whole term tanden kikai (the body’s
life and attain the way of the Buddha, you should
center and the spirit sea) appears repeatedly
CONSTANTLY make your heart fill the body’s cen-
in Hakuin’s writings to denote a physical place,
ter and the spirit sea.”)
located three fingers’ breadth beneath the navel,
Signature: Kinoko no ushi no fuyu Sarajukarōnō
that he considered to be the center of the human
sho キノコノ丑ノ冬　沙羅樹下老衲書 (Inscribed by
spirit. Hakuin was very fond of enlarging individual
the Old Monk under the Sala Trees in winter of the
characters for both artistic and educational effect,
kinoko-ushi year); seals: top left: Kokan’i 顧鑑咦 ;
as with the word tsune 常 (CONSTANTLY) that
bottom right: Hakuin 白隠; Ekaku 慧鶴
dominates the third line from the left.3
With fitted wooden storage box inscribed: Daruma
gasan Hakuin Oshō hitsu 達磨画讃　白隠和尚筆
This is a rare example of a dated work by Hakuin.
(Daruma painting and inscription, brushed by Priest
In Japan (as in China) years within the sixty-year
Hakuin)
cycle are rendered as a combination of one of the
jikkan (ten calendar signs) with one of the jūnishi
Hakuin, a great teacher for whom art was above
(twelve zodiac animals); Hakuin makes ushi (ox)
all a means of conveying religious messages, here
the zodiac animal, but the other word he gives,
combines thickly brushed, gray-to-black-toned
apparently kinoko キノコ (mushroom) is not one
calligraphy, typical of his later years, with a bold,
of the calendar signs. This might simply be an
simple image of Bodhidharma (in Japanese,
example of Hakuin’s humor, but in any case he has
Daruma), founder of Zen
Buddhism.1
Bodhidharma
something of a reputation for getting his calendar
is presented here as a weighted doll that always
signs wrong. Since 1757 was an ox year and the
returns to a vertical position after it has been
present work resembles others painted during his
knocked over, symbolizing the resilience of Bud-
tour of the Ina Valley, it can be dated to that year
dhist belief; other versions of this image by Hakuin
with some confidence.
bear inscriptions including the Japanese word for
such a doll, okiagari-koboshi. The present painting
is similar to a group of works created by Hakuin
in 1757 during a well documented tour of the Ina
Valley in Shinano Province (present-day Nagano
Prefecture). By this time, his fame as an artist was
such that he received advance requests for paintings at a series of temples and many of these works
are still in their original locations.2
58
1 For discussion of changes in Hakuin’s calligraphic style, see Seo
and Addiss 2010, pp. 31 and 152.
2 Yoshizawa 2009, pp. 72 – 73 (nos. 86 – 89); no. 87 has a similar inscription to the present piece (including the outsize tsune), while
nos. 88 and 89 identify the image as okiagari koboshi.
3 For tanden and ki, see Seo and Addiss 2010, p. 9.
13
Nagasawa Roshū 長沢蘆洲
( 1767 –1847)
Drying Fishing Nets by the Crescent Moon
Edo period (1615 –1868), box dated 1847
well as in screen paintings by artists such as Kaihō
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
Yūshō (1533 –1615).1 While Yūshō’s compositions
Overall: 69
5⁄8
× 17 ¾ in. (177 × 45 cm)
Image: 38 ¾ × 13 ¾ in. (98.5 × 35 cm)
deploy multiple nets, bamboo, and stretches of
water to produce a highly complex geometry, here
Roshū reduces the motif to its bare essentials, yet
Signature: Ōju Roshū 応需　蘆洲 (Roshū, by re-
still manages to arrange things so that the acute
quest); seals: Roshū 蘆洲; Rin 鱗 (?)
angles of the net in the foreground find visual
With fitted wooden storage box inscribed: Mika-
echoes in the minimally represented crescent
zuki hoshiami e Nagasawa Roshū hitsu Kōka yonen
moon.
yowai hachijūichi 三日月干網画　長沢蘆洲筆　弘
化四年　齢八十壱 (Painting of drying fishing nets
A native of the Tanba region not far from Kyoto,
by the crescent moon, by the brush of Nagasawa
Nagasawa Roshū was a pupil of two of eighteenth-
Roshū, fourth year of Kōka [1847], aged 81 years)
century Japan’s greatest painters, first Maruyama
Ōkyo (1733 –1795) and then Nagasawa Rosetsu
Working to special commission, Nagasawa Roshū,
(1754 –1799), whose adopted son he became.2
an artist whose works only rarely emerge onto
Ōkyo’s emphasis on precise and naturalistic depic-
the market, here depicts two of the most beloved
tion was reflected in some of Roshū’s output,3 but
motifs in Japanese literature and the visual arts—the
this highly atmospheric painting, done in the very
crescent moon and a drying fisherman’s net—mas-
last year of the artist’s long life, instead shows how
terfully combining them into a single evocative
he had absorbed Rosetsu’s penchant for bold,
image. Starting with the Manyōshū, Japan’s first
simple compositions and juxtapositions of objects
poetry collection compiled in the eighth century,
of very different scale. Rather than minutely de-
the crescent moon has frequently been likened to
lineate each strand of the net, Roshū allowed the
the eyebrow of a lover, as in this poem by Ōtomo
weave of the silk to convey its texture and applied
no Yakamochi (d. 785)—a major contributor to as
a carefully gradated wash to depict its overall form.
well as a reputed compiler of the Manyōshū anthology—composed when he was sixteen years old:
Furisakete / mikazuki mireba / hitome mishi / hito
no mayobiki / omōyuru kamo
When I turn my gaze / upwards to the crescent
moon / I am reminded / of the painted eyebrows of /
one I only glimpsed just once
(Manyōshū 6, 994)
The crescent moon has a very long literary pedigree while fishing nets, stretched out to dry on
vertical poles, first became a popular visual motif
around the Momoyama period, where they are
seen in the decoration of tea wares, especially
those of the Karatsu, Oribe, and Shino types, as
60
1 Examples of screens by Kaihō Yūshō with this motif are in the
Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shōzōkan; a seventeenth-century Hasegawaschool pair of screens also featuring nets was included in one of
our previous exhibitions, see Erik Thomsen 2008, no. 3.
2 For further biographical information, see Araki 1991, vol. 2, p.
2708.
3 For an outstanding example of Roshū’s more literal naturalistic style, compare Birds and Flowering Plants, a pair of hanging
scrolls in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (95.70.1); compare also
an early painting of a Shimabara courtesan in the Price Collection:
Tsuji 2006, no. 73
14
Mori Ippō 森一鳳 (1798 –1872)
Moon and Clouds
Edo period (1615–1868), about 1847
Hanging scroll; ink and gold wash on silk
Overall: 73 ¼ × 18 7⁄8 in. (186 × 48 cm)
Image: 37 5⁄8 × 13 5⁄8 in. (95.6 × 34.7 cm)
Signature: Ippō 一鳳; seals: Mori Keishi no in 森敬
之乃印 (Seal of Mori Keishi) and Shikō-shi 子交氏
(Master Shikō)
With fitted wooden storage box inscribed: Mori
Ippō Tsuki kenpon 森一鳳月絹本 (Moon, [painting
on] silk by Mori Ippō)
This autumnal painting in the Maruyama-Shijō
style—a masterpiece of ink control—depicts the full
moon through dreamy banks of cloud that occupy
most of the surface. The entire composition is
executed in shades and modalities of ink, with the
exception of a thin line of gold on the left edge
of the moon which imparts three-dimensionality
and glow to the scroll’s main subject.
Born in Kyushu, Japan’s westernmost main island,
Mori Ippō moved to Osaka where he became the
adopted son, and then son-in-law, of Mori Tetsuzan
(1775 –1841), who was himself counted as one of
the “Ten Great Disciples of Maruyama Ōkyo” (see
no. 5). Educated in the Maruyama-Shijō style along
with Mori Kansai, another nineteenth-century master,1 Ippō was extremely popular and enjoyed the
patronage of the powerful Hosokawa family, lords
of Kumamoto in Higo Province in his native Kyushu.
There are numerous examples of his landscapes
and bird-and-flower paintings in the West, including several in the William Sturgis Bigelow collection
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and others in
the British Museum, which owns a screen dated
1847 and bearing the same signature and seals as
the present scroll. It is likely that this painting was
done about the same time.2
1 For more information on the artist, see Araki 1991, vol. 1, p. 24.
2 For this screen, see Hirayama and Kobayashi 1992, and Smith,
Harris, and Clark 1990.
62
15
Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1807 –1891)
Butterfly, Ferns, and Horsetail in the Late Spring
Meiji era (1868 –1912), 1880s
an album of urushi-e paintings (listed as “Invented
Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll;
by Shibata Zeshin”) to the Philadelphia Interna-
lacquer on paper
tional Exhibition, where he won a prize. The citation
Overall: 46 ¾ × 14
3 ⁄8
in. (119 × 36.5 cm)
Image: 11 × 10 in. (28 × 25.5 cm)
read: “The application of urushi-e to thin paper is a
remarkable technique. His depiction of the natural
world is very lifelike and full of strength.”1 Several
Signature: Zeshin 是真; seal: Koma 古満
of Zeshin’s surviving urushi-e paintings, especially
those preserved in album format, are dated, with
dates ranging from about 1879 to 1891, the last
In this tranquil rural scene, a butterfly has landed
year of his life.2
on one of three stems of warabi fern. Two of the
ferns are in the process of unfurling, while the top
of the third is placed just out of view—one of the
artist’s favorite devices—encouraging the viewer
to imagine the wider world beyond the confines
of this small fan leaf. The other plants are sugina
(Equisetum arvense, horsetail) in varying stages of
development, whose combination with ferns pinpoints the season as late spring. Zeshin depicted
these plants together often, not only in painting
but also in lacquered boxes and other utensils,
sometimes with the addition of tanpopo (dandelion). Remarkably delicate and exact, the lines are
brushed in liquid lacquer, a highly challenging
technique called urushi-e that was developed by
Zeshin himself.
Lacquer had occasionally been applied to paper
with a brush by earlier artists including Hara
Yōyūsai (1772 –1845), but Zeshin discovered ways
of coloring the lacquer without altering its physical properties. In an article published in 1907,
Zeshin’s son Reisai recalled that his father developed urushi-e so as to achieve in lacquer the same
effects as Western oils, but in fact his works in
urushi-e make no attempt to emulate the colors of
nineteenth-century oil painting. Instead, he used
the technique for some of his most intimate celebrations of traditional Japanese life and culture.
According to one account, Zeshin first worked in
urushi-e in 1872 and it is certain that the technique
was well developed by 1876, when he submitted
64
1 Earle and Goke 1996, pp. 28–30 and 44–46; for the album
exhibited in 1876, see Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 1997,
nos. F-617 and H-156.
2 For dated urushi-e works by Zeshin, see Izzard 2007, nos. 44.46
and 52 and Nezu Bijutsukan 2012, nos. 106.20, 107.16, 108.1, 109.4,
110.3, 110.6, 111.9, 111.19, 114.10, 120, 123, 124, 125, and 126.
16
Nasu Hōkei 那須豊慶
(active early 20th century)
The Four Seasons
Meiji era (1868 –1912), about 1908
Arashiyama on the outskirts of Kyoto, and finally
Hōkei is celebrated in Taiwan for an important
commission, since Koxinga was born in Hirado to
Handscroll; ink, mineral colors, and gold on silk
the colors turn white with the snows of winter.
commission he undertook in 1911: a tracing of one
a Chinese father and a Japanese mother. At the
Hinting at—rather than literally depicting—specific
of Taiwan’s greatest indigenous cultural treasures,
end of his fruitful stay in Taiwan, it seems that Hōkei
places, the artist has created an ideal of national,
the oldest known portrait painting of Koxinga (in
became a successful art teacher in Tokyo, but few
even nationalistic, natural beauty.
Chinese Zheng Chenggong, 1624 –1662) a warrior
details are yet available regarding the later stages
and Ming-dynasty loyalist who drove the Dutch from
of his professional career.
Overall: 11
3 ⁄8
× 149 ¼ in. (29 × 379 cm)
Image: 10 × 126 3⁄8 in. (25.5 × 321 cm)
Signature: Hirado-shi no tanomi ni ōjite Hōkei kore
o egaku 應平戸氏嘱　豊慶画之 (Painted by Hōkei at
Nasu Hōkei was educated in Japan and became
the island in the last two years of his life. Zheng
Mr. Hirado’s request); Seal: Zuike Yōkai 瑞家楊廻
an art teacher at a leading school in Tokyo, in 1911
Weilong, a direct descendant of Koxinga, had do-
publishing a well-received manual with sections
nated the painting to the Taiwan Shinto Shrine after
on illustration and painting as well as instructions
the Japanese conquest and Hōkei’s copy exactly
copies.1
depicts its condition as it was in the early twentieth
This long scroll offers us an evocative stroll
on how to make traced
through Japan’s four seasons, executed in a daring
however, for his activities on the newly colonized
century. In 2009 both paintings—the original as well
fusion of traditional brushwork and format with
island of Taiwan, which had been taken by Japan in
as the traced copy—were exhibited alongside one
confidently assimilated Western approaches to
1895 as a part of the settlement following the First
another at the National Palace Museum.3 Hōkei’s
the handling of light and perspective, expressed
Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese government was
meticulous work on the Koxinga painting deployed
in vibrant color and exquisite detail. We start with
quick to establish its presence in Taiwan, not only
the same skills that he devoted to the crisp detail of
a dramatic New Year’s view of early dawn on the
militarily but also culturally, establishing schools
the present landscape scroll.
coastline at Matsushima, one of the traditional
and other institutions. Hōkei was one of the first
Nihon Sankei (Three Great Sights of Japan), with
artists to be invited to work in the new colony,
The “Mr. Hirado” named in Hōkei’s inscription as
the sea mist lifting as the sun’s first rays fall on two
where he stayed from1908 to 1911 as well as mak-
having commissioned this landscape scroll is most
of the region’s craggy, tree-topped islands. This
ing at least one return visit in the spring of 1914
likely Count Akira (Matsura Akira, 1840 –1908),
seascape gives way to a spring scene in a verdant,
when he gave an impromptu painting demonstra-
the twelfth-generation head of the Matsura clan
forested valley with a waterfall, followed as we
tion.2
and former daimyo of the Hirado Domain; it is
He is best known,
move inland by a shimmering summer vista of
even possible that there may have been some link
an isolated lotus lake surrounded by mountains.
between the Count and the Koxinga portrait
The deep perspective draws our eyes to a couple
of tiny, distant sailing boats beyond an island,
hinting at human presence. Next come the variegated russet hues of the Japanese fall, perhaps at
66
1 For a digital version of this book, see Nasu 1911.
2 For the activities of Japanese art teachers in Taiwan during the
colonial period, see Lai and Mori 2010, and for Hōkei’s return visit
see Huang 2011, p. 191.
3 For this exhibition, see National Palace Museum 2009.
67
17
Attributed to Tomita Jun 富田純
(active 1919)
Fatsia
Taisho era (1912 –1926), 1920s
thanks to recent diligent indexation projects
Hanging scroll; mineral colors, gofun (white
carried out by the National Research Institute for
powdered shell), and gold on silk; ink signature
Cultural Properties in Tokyo, but at present nothing
Overall: 91 ¾ × 41 3⁄8 in. (233 × 105 cm)
else is known about Tomita’s life or work.
Image: 58 ¾ × 32
7⁄8
in. (149.5 × 83.6 cm)
Signature: Jun 純; unidentified seal
Combining bold, almost monumental composition
with closely observed Western-style botanical naturalism and shading, this accomplished painting depicts the luxuriant, glossy hand-shaped leaves and
white flower heads of a yatsude (Fatsia japonica,
also known in North America as Aralia japonica),
a shrub that flourishes in western Honshu and
Kyushu; the plant’s botanical name, Fatsia, derives
from one of the two Japanese words for “eight,”
yattsu and hachi, denoting the typical number of
lobes on each leaf.1 During the second and third
decades of the twentieth century, a wide range of
new plant and animal subjects made their way into
the repertoire of Japanese painting, among them
the fatsia, rarely seen in the pre-modern period.
This exotic evergreen offered the artist numerous
opportunities to deploy his skill in using traditional
mineral pigments to depict the varying textures
and tones on both sides of the leaves, as well as
different stages in the development of the intricate
clusters of small, creamy-white flowers that the
plant produces in late fall.
The painting is signed at bottom right, between
two of the leaves, with a single, confidently
brushed character Jun followed by a three-character seal that has so far defied interpretation. The
style of the painting suggests a date in the Taisho
or early Showa era, and a search of biographical
dictionaries and exhibition records relating to that
period reveals a little known painter called Tomita
Jun who is documented for a work entitled Zakuro
(Pomegranates), exhibited in Osaka in 1919.2
This nugget of information has become available
70
1 Makino 1961, p. 429 (no. 1715); Bailey and Bailey 1976, pp. 97
and 471.
2 See Tōkyō Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 2002, pp. 49 and 313, recording a
painting of pomegranates exhibited at the fifth Ōsaka Bijutsuten
(Osaka Art Exhibition).
18
Yasuda Hanpo 安田半圃 (1889 –1947)
Yahan Kaito 夜半開戸 (Open Door at Dead of Night)
Taisho era (1912 –1926), 1922
successful participant in national exhibitions, enter-
ing his first Bunten exhibition in 1917 and later
Overall: 71 ½ × 26
Image: 30
3 ⁄8
× 19
1 ⁄8
5 ⁄8
in. (181.5 × 66.5 cm)
in. (77.3 × 50 cm)
showing at numerous Teiten exhibitions; in all, he
took part in 22 national events of this kind.1 Known
for his delicate and evocative landscape paintings,
Signature: Hanpo sha 半圃写 (Drawn by Hanpo)
he was a founding member of the Nihon Nanga-in
seals: Ta Jun no in 田順之印 (Seal of [Yasu]da Jun);
(National Academy of Nanga Painters).
Hanpo 半圃
With fitted wooden tomobako box inscribed out-
This unusual composition dates from a period
side: Suibokuhō Yahan Kaito zu 水墨法夜半開戸圖
when many Japanese started to travel overseas.
(Open Door at Dead of Night, a picture painted
China was a particularly attractive destination for
using the suiboku technique); inscribed inside:
artists, not just because it was close by but also
Yo sennen Tōto ni manabite tamatama Taikan sensei
because it offered educated Japanese a chance
ni kono zu o tokui shite ima isshō o kou yue Toyoda
to visit sites they had previously only been able to
Hitoshi kei ni okuru. Saiji mizunoe inu aki no hi dai
experience through Chinese literature and paint-
narabi ni fuki Hanpo Jun 余先年学東都大観先生偶
ing. Here Hanpo creates a view of Japan’s great
得以此圖今贈豊田雅兄以乞一笑　歳次壬戌秋日題
continental neighbor and cultural mentor that is
並附記半圃順 (During my studies last year in the
based partly on first-hand knowledge of traditional
Eastern Capital [Tokyo] I happened to meet Master
Chinese city architecture and partly on poems of
Taikan and got the idea for this painting. I now
the Tang and other dynasties that speak of lovers’
present it to my friend Toyoda Hitoshi hoping it will
longings and dreamy midnight meetings.
make him laugh. Titled and inscribed by Hanpo Jun
on an autumn day in the mizunoe-inu year [1922]);
The long inscription inside the box, appropriately
seals: Ta Jun no in 田順之印 (Seal of [Yasu]da Jun)
enough written in classical Chinese, throws inter-
and Hanpo 半圃
esting light on connections within the Taisho-era
art world. Hanpo speaks of a chance meeting with
This mysterious, atmospheric painting shows us a
Yokoyama Taikan (1868 –1958), a giant of Nihonga
Chinese city late at night, with a full moon and the
painting, who gave him the idea for this composi-
outlines of several two-story buildings by a river
tion; interestingly, Taikan too was going through
or lake. Through skillful use of ink lines and wash,
a phase of painting Chinese scenes during these
Yasuda Hanpo expertly conveys a sense of dreamy
years, as can be seen through works he exhibited
silence and a darkness relieved only by moonlight.
at national exhibitions.2
A single balcony door is open, revealing a female
figure whose delicate features bear an enigmatic
smile. The title offers no clue as to whether she is
smiling in anticipation of a clandestine tryst or just
delighting in the moonlit scenery.
Born in Niigata, Yasuda Hanpo was active in Osaka
during the Taisho and early Showa eras. Thanks to
his training under Mizuta Chikuho (1883 –1958)
and Himejima Chikugai (1840 –1928), he excelled
in Nanga-style ink painting and became a highly
72
1 For additional information, see Yui Kazuto 1998, p. 393, and
Nittenshi Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002.
2 Yui Kazuto 1998, pp. 419 – 421.
19
Kawamura Manshū 川村曼舟
(1880 –1942)
Unzan Gyōshoku 雲山曉色
(Mountains in Clouds, Colors of Dawn)
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1930s
new judges installed by the Ministry of Education
Hanging scroll; ink, mineral color, and gold
during a major reform of the official exhibition
wash on silk
system that saw the removal of Takeuchi Seihō and
Overall: 93 × 25
5 ⁄8
in. (236 × 65 cm)
Image: 56 ½ × 19 7⁄8 in. (143.5 × 50.5 cm)
the other senior figures from the selection process,
as well as the renaming from Bunten to Teiten.1
Manshū continued to exhibit, winning a prize at the
Signature: Manshū 曼舟; seal: unread
Teiten in 1922, when he also became full professor
With fitted wooden double tomobako box. Inner
at the Kyoto Art and Crafts School. In 1931 he was
box inscribed outside: Unzan gyōshoku 雲山曉色
made a member of the Imperial Art Academy and
(Mountains in Clouds, Colors of Dawn); box signa-
in 1936 he became principal of the Kyoto Art and
ture (inside): Manshū no dai 曼舟之題 (Inscribed by
Crafts School.2
Manshū); unread seal
Kawamura Manshū’s works are in the collections
This large hanging scroll is a masterful combina-
of Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Shiga
tion of different techniques: a patterned layering
Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Aichi Prefec-
of large wet dots of ink in the manner associated
tural Art Museum, Kyoto City Art Museum, and
with the Chinese painter Mi Fu (1051–1107),
other institutions. A painting with a similar title
along with lavish use of traditional Japanese gold
to the present work, Hōun gyōka (Bright Clouds,
wash, and a miniaturist depiction, using a mineral
Dawn Mist), was exhibited at the Esposizione d’arte
pigment, of a secluded temple pagoda. The artist
Giapponese, an exhibition organized by Yokoyama
succeeds in combining these disparate elements
Taikan and held in Rome in 1930.3 Another work
into a convincing and striking synthesis to capture
in the Shiga museum, entitled Sangaku tōhan
the moment when, as the title suggests, the first
(Ascending the Mountains), dating from the 1930s,
golden rays of the sun hit a mountain top while
resembles the present work in size, composition,
the lower peaks and valleys are still in darkness. As
and use of ink and colors.
in a Chinese landscape, large areas of unpainted
silk suggesting bands of mist add a sense of
depth, but their strong contrast with the areas of
gold wash creates an almost abstract, decorative
effect—very different from Manshū’s earlier exhibited works—that is reminiscent of some Japanese
screen painting.
An influential artist and educator, Kawamura
Manshū was born in Kyoto and trained in the
Nihonga tradition at Yamamoto Shunkyo’s
(1871–1933) Sanaekai painting academy, assuming
its leadership after Shunkyo’s death. He was first
accepted by the Bunten exhibition in 1908 and
became a regular participant, winning a special
prize at the Bunten in 1916. He was also one of the
74
1 Hirano 1995, p. 105.
2 For biographical and exhibition details, see Nichigai Asoshiētsu
2008, p. 199 and Nittenshi Iinkai 1980–2002, vol. 1, pp. 206 – 207;
vol. 4, p. 379; and vol. 6, pp. 32 – 33 and 415.
3 Nichigai Asoshiētsu 2008, p. 199.
20
Nakamura Shūho 中村秀甫 (born 1897)
The Four Seasons
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1930s
divided horizontally by a broad river crossed by a
Set of four panels; mineral colors, gofun (white
railroad bridge serving a substantial town, perhaps
powdered shell), gold, and gold wash on silk
the first destination for the harvested crops. Finally,
Each overall: 70
5 ⁄8
× 36 ¼ in. (179.5 × 92 cm)
Images: 62 ¼ × 27 ½ in. (158 × 70 cm)
in the winter panel, the mountains dominate more
than ever as the village, now virtually cut off from
the outside world, settles down for the long, cold
Signature on each: Shūho 秀甫; seal: Shūho 秀甫
months.
Nakamura Shūho here presents four appealing
Little is known about Nakamura Shūho, other than
views that record the changing seasons in a farming
the fact that he was a student of Fukada Chokujō
valley high in the mountains. Maintaining roughly
(1861–1947), a Shijō-style painter and noted
the same bird’s-eye viewpoint for each panel and
teacher from Ōtsu who moved to Osaka in 1886
combining vanishing-point perspective with more
and frequently exhibited landscape paintings at
traditional means of suggesting height and dis-
national exhibitions.1
tance, the artist partly follows long-established East
Asian landscape conventions derived ultimately
from the Chinese artistic canon, organizing his compositions so that the human world is dwarfed by its
natural setting. However, the representation, side by
side, of traditional thatched farmhouses and newer
buildings, as well as a country town and a railroad
track with an iron bridge, tells us that Nakamura’s
subject is not the idealized, semi-imaginary world
often seen in pre-modern painting, but an actual
geographical location where rural life is undergoing
gradual, irreversible change.
In the spring landscape, snow still lingers on the
mountain but down in the valley people can at
last move freely about their village and the agricultural year has begun, with a few fields already
green with early vegetables; in the depiction of
the house, figures, and tall evergreen trees one
detects, perhaps, the influence of American naïve
painting. Further up, rich mineral pigments are
skillfully used, as in the other paintings in the set,
to convey awe-inspiring mountain scenery. The
next panel depicts early summer. The snow is now
all but gone from even the highest peaks and the
flow of water in the riverbed has diminished to a
trickle; apart from a few people and animals, no
one stirs in the midday heat. The artist’s palette
changes for the fall panel, where the foreground is
76
1 Saitō 1934; for works exhibited by Fukada Chokujō early in his
career, see Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 1996, nos. IIIa-283,
IV-590 – 591, and V-431.
Bamboo Baskets
21
Iizuka Hōsai II 飯塚鳳斎 (1872 –1934)
Flower Basket
Taisho era (1912 –1926) or early Showa era
Although Hōsai would occasionally engage in a
(1926–1989), 1920s
freer style of basketry, exemplified by an example
Madake (Japanese timber bamboo) and rattan,
in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,2 for the most
finished with charcoal dust and lacquer; otoshi
part he preserved and developed the very me-
(flower and water holder) cut from a stem of
ticulous, regular, and formal techniques that had
madake bamboo and finished in tamenuri (clear
been pioneered by his father. The body of this
lacquer)
piece is woven in chidori-ami (plover plaiting), so
26 × 8
5 ⁄8
in. (66 × 22 cm)
called because the combination of a simple plaited
ground with two finer undulating strips of bamboo
Signature: Hōsai 鳳斎
creates a delicate crisscross pattern that is said to
resemble the tracks left by a small bird in wet sand.
side: Hanakago 花籃 (Flower basket); box signature
Below the chidori-ami are six rows of nawame-ami
(inside): Hōsai saku 鳳斎作 (Made by Hōsai); seal:
or twining, in which three or four fine strips of bam-
Hōsai 鳳斎
boo are twisted around wider vertical elements,
resulting in a staggered twill effect. As with most
This elegant container for flower arrangements
formal flower baskets dating from this period, the
is the product of an artistic dynasty that traces its
foot, rim, and handle are largely constructed out of
roots to Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, where
tō (rattan), an imported trailing palm that is used
the first Iizuka Hōsai (1851–1916) worked toward
instead of bamboo—which is too brittle—in places
the end of the nineteenth century. In 1910 Hōsai’s
that require tight, intricate binding.
son Kikuji, who would become the second Hōsai
in 1916, and his still more famous younger brother
Several features of this work are reminiscent of the
Rōkansai (see nos. 23 and 24) moved to Tabata in
heritage of Karamono, Chinese or Chinese-style
Tokyo. The business flourished in this new environ-
baskets that became popular among an educated
ment: the whole family received a commission to
elite during the nineteenth century along with a
make ritual baskets for the formal enthronement
vogue for sencha parties that aspired to recreate
ceremony of the Taisho Emperor in 1915, and Hōsai
the atmosphere and aesthetic of a cultivated gath-
II himself won prizes at the Tokyo Taisho Exhibition
ering of Chinese scholars. These include the tight
the previous year and at other domestic exhibitions
weaving, the tall handle, and the overall form of the
from 1918 until 1929, as well as at the celebrated
body, which makes clear allusions to time-honored
Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et
Chinese wheel-thrown ceramic forms. To get the
Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of
antique look preferred for baskets in Karamono
Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts) held in
style, charcoal dust was applied to the surfaces and
Paris in 1925.1 His entry for that great event was
then partially brushed away so it remained more
a kikyoku, a cabinet for utensils needed at social
visible on the vertical bamboo strips. Hōsai finished
gatherings for the enjoyment of sencha or Chinese
the piece by applying a thin layer of lacquer and
steeped tea, and it was the world of sencha that
carving his signature with two cursive characters on
provided much of the demand for fine-art basketry
a bamboo plaque under the base.
in Japan during the early decades of the twentieth
century, not only in Tokyo but also in the Kansai
region, represented in this publication by the work
of Tanabe Chikuunsai II (see no. 22).
82
1 For information regarding the career of Iizuka Hōsai II, see Rinne
2007, pp. 29 and 63; Newland 1999, p. 372; and Rokando.
2 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2004.567.
22
Tanabe Chikuunsai II 田辺竹雲斎
(1910 – 2000)
Flower Basket in the Shape of an Armor Box
Showa era (1926 –1989), early 1940s
Tanabe Chikuunsai I apprenticed with Waichisai
Split arrow shafts, madake (Japanese timber
at age 12, became independent in 1901, and in
bamboo), rattan, gold leaf, and red and black
1910 moved his business from Osaka to Sakai,
lacquer; otoshi (flower and water holder) cut
where he developed two different styles: sencha
from a stem of madake bamboo and finished in
flower containers inspired by examples in Chinese
tamenuri (clear lacquer)
paintings, and baskets made out of antique ar-
15
5 ⁄8
× 9 × 8 ¾ in. (39.7 × 22.9 × 22.4 cm)
rows.1 While retaining several features of a typical
sencha basket, including the tall handle that makes
Signature: Chikuunsai kore o tsukuru 竹雲斎造之
an important contribution to the visual impact of
any flower arrangement, Chikuunsai’s basket has
side: Koyadake yoroibitsugata hanakago 古矢竹鎧
a shape and outline—almost square with rounded
櫃形　花籃 (Flower basket in the shape of an armor
corners, swelling toward the midpoint and then
box, made from old arrow shafts); box signature
narrowing toward the rim—that evokes the form
(inside): Sakaifu nansō Chikuunsai kore o tsukuru
of a storage box for Japanese armor. Chikuunsai
界府南荘　竹雲斎造之 (Made by Chikuunsai of the
split the old arrows used for the verticals in two,
Nansō Studio in Sakai); seals: Tanabe no in 田辺之印
selecting mostly plain shafts but including some
(seal of Tanabe) and Chikuunsai 竹云斎
that still retain their original black-and-gold or
red-and-gold lacquer.
For more than a century, successive generations of
the Tanabe Chikuunsai line have occupied a pre-
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, possesses a simi-
eminent position in the world of basketry in Japan’s
lar basket by Chikuunsai I; the mate to that piece,
Kansai region, largely thanks to their reputation as
with the positions of the red- and black-lacquered
makers of formal flower containers for sencha tea
shafts reversed, is in the Cotsen Collection.2 Those
gatherings. Although sencha can refer generally to
two baskets are thought to date from about 1930,
tea made with whole green leaves, in contrast to
while this example was made by Chikuunsai II about
matcha, powdered leaves used in the traditional
a decade later. During the early years of the Showa
chanoyu (tea ceremony), in its narrower sense the
era (1926 –1989), craftsmen in many media started
term denotes a new style of formalized tea drinking
to include assertive, nationalistic, motifs in their
introduced to Japan from China in the seventeenth
work.3 Bamboo artists were no exception and these
century. Sencha requires utensils—deliberately differ-
Chikuunsai baskets are a fascinating adaptation of
ent from those for chanoyu—that evoke the imagined
an imported Chinese form, using references to two
lifestyle of the Chinese scholar-recluse, including Chi-
elements from Japan’s martial past—samurai armor
nese baskets or Japanese baskets made in imitation
and archery—to express a new attitude toward the
of them. Masterpieces of sencha bamboo art from
outside world, China included.
the hands of both Tanabe Chikuunsai I (1877 –1937)
and his eldest son and pupil Chikuunsai II, as well as
their predecessor Wada Waichisai (1851–1901), are
in several Western public and private collections, but
while the present basket might well have been used
in the Sinified world of sencha, it belongs to a group
of Chikuunsai pieces that also have a somewhat
different, Japan-specific significance.
84
1 Rinne 2007, p. 26.
2 MFA 2006.1278; Newland 1999, no. 84.
3 Numerous examples are illustrated in Brown 2012.
23
Ishikawa Shōun 石川照雲 (1895 –1973)
Flower Basket
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1960s
1957; both of these are about the same size as
the present example. A third tabane-ami basket by
finished with dust and lacquer; otoshi (flower
Rōkansai was exhibited at the twelfth Nitten exhibi-
and water holder) cut from a stem of madake
tion, held in 1956.2 It was probably not until after
bamboo and finished in tamenuri (clear lacquer)
Rōkansai’s death that Shōun would have felt able to
10 ¼ × 9 ¼ in. (24.1 × 23.5 cm)
put his signature, neatly carved with three cursive
characters on a bamboo plaque under the base, to
Signature: Shōun saku 照雲作 (Made by Shōun)
such an ambitious emulation of one of his master’s
most distinctive innovations; what little we know of
side: Hanakago 花籃 (Flower basket); box signature
his earlier work seems to have been rather conser-
(inside): Shōun saku 照雲作 (Made by Shōun)
vative, to judge, for example, from the very tightly
Seal: Ishikawa Shōun 石川照雲
woven formal footed platter he exhibited in 1940 at
Seal on cloth wrapper: Ishikawa Shōun 石川照雲
the prestigious Kigen Nisenroppyakunen Hōshuku
Bijutsuten (Art Exhibition to Celebrate the 2600th
This imposing basket was made by Ishikawa Shōun,
Anniversary of the Founding of the Empire).3
recorded as a pupil of Iizuka Rōkansai (1890 –1958),
the sixth son of Iizuka Hōsai I (1851–1916) and
After completing a few rows of ajiro-ami (twill
younger brother of Iizuka Hōsai II (1872 –1934, see
plaiting), in which strips going in one direction are
no. 21). Rōkansai is widely regarded as the great-
“floated” over strips going in the other direction in
est of all twentieth-century bamboo artists living
a regular pattern creating a herring-bone texture,
and working in eastern Japan, but Ishikawa Shōun
Shōunsai embarked on the process of weaving
proves himself a worthy
successor.1
Among the
whole bundles of strips to form the sides of the
senior artist’s many innovations was the tabane-ami
piece. He sometimes stacked them vertically and
(bundle-weave) plaiting seen here, a style unique
sometimes spread them a little at different points in
to his part of the country that can only be executed
the intricate weave; very occasionally, near the be-
with bamboo prepared using the masawari (radial
ginning of the process, he added reinforcing knots
splitting) technique, in contrast to the flat or tangen-
of rattan. Throughout this procedure, he never lost
tial cutting customary elsewhere in Japan. Radial
sight of the need to create the elegant, slightly
cutting of the thick stems of a mature bamboo plant
rounded profile seen in the finished work. To form
produces strips of material that can be bent from
the basket’s neck, he spread the bundles flat and
side to side, but this does not mean that tabane-ami
reverted once more to ajiro-ami, finished off at the
is at all easy to do, requiring as it does not only ex-
top with a wide strip of bamboo bound with rattan.
ceptional manual skills acquired through long years
of training, but also an impressive ability to plan
and memorize complex weaving processes that will
take many days, if not weeks, to complete.
Published examples of Rōkansai’s own works in
this demanding technique include one entitled
Kotobuki (Longevity) in the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, dating from between 1935 and 1945, and
another in the National Museum of Modern Art,
Tokyo, entitled Ankō (Angler Fish) and made in
86
1 For information regarding Ishikawa Shōun’s career, see Rinne
2007, p. 67 (no. 25) and for Iizuka Rōkansai, see ibid. pp. 28 – 30
and Rokando.
2 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2004.566a-b; National Museum of
Modern Art, Tokyo Bm001; Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002, vol.
19, pp. 316 and 330 (no. 30).
3 Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002, vol. 14, pp. 249 and 265 (no. 44).
24
Iizuka Shōkansai 飯塚小玕斎 (1919 – 2004)
Flower Basket Named Kyokkō
(Light of the Morning Sun)
Showa era (1926 –1989), about 1970 –1975
Although the standard narrative relates that
Hōbichiku (smoked dwarf bamboo), madake
Shōkansai graduated from the Tokyo School of
(Japanese timber bamboo), and rattan, finished
Fine Arts in 1942 with a degree in oil painting and
with lacquer; otoshi (flower and water holder)
then went on to study bamboo craft under his
cut from a stem of madake bamboo and fin-
father, records reveal that as early as 1940, at the
ished in black lacquer
tender age of 20 or 21, he submitted a work to the
11 ¾ × 13
3⁄8
Kigen Nisenroppyakunen Hōshuku Bijutsuten (Art
in. (30 × 34 cm)
Exhibition to Celebrate the 2600th Anniversary
Signature: Shōkansai saku 小玕齋作 (Made by
of the Founding of the Empire); this was a highly
Shōkansai)
orthodox square tray that gives no hint of his future
With fitted wooden tomobako box inscribed
genius.3 Later, Shōkansai would become a regular
outside: Hōbichiku hanakago 鳳尾竹花籃 (Flower
participant in the Nitten exhibition, showing there
basket made from hōbichiku bamboo); inscribed
20 times and receiving several awards, but he later
inside: Kyokkō 旭光　小玕斎作 (Light of the Rising
came to the conclusion that it was impossible to
Sun, made by Shōkansai); seal: Shōkansai 小玕斎
deny the “craft” nature of bamboo and from 1974
displayed his work at the Dentō Kōgei Ten (Japan
As the box inscription indicates, Iizuka Shōkansai
Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition). In 1982, when he
made this basket mostly using hōbichiku, a term
was 63 years old, Shōkansai was designated Jūyō
referring to any type of nemagaridake (dwarf
Mukei Bunkazai no Hojisha (Holder of an Important
bamboo; Sasa kurilensis is one variety) that has
Intangible Cultural Property), an honor better
darkened naturally through decades of exposure
known by its popular name Ningen Kokuhō (Living
to smoke from a kitchen hearth; a favorite with
National Treasure). He was the second bamboo
bamboo artists in eastern Japan, this material is
artist to receive this level of official recognition,
now becoming increasingly hard to
find.1
Shōkansai
split the smoked bamboo into thin strips about
¼ – 1⁄3
following Shōno Shōunsai, a Kyushu artist, who was
so honored in 1967.4
in. (6 – 9 mm) in width, then plaited them in
a powerful irregular pattern, adding reinforcing
As part of his project to elevate the status of bam-
knots in eight places. He formed the neck of the
boo art, Rōkansai would often speak of his work
basket with standard madake bamboo, cut into
in terms of the three concepts of shin, gyō, and
round sticks that he positioned radially using the
sō (roughly speaking ”formal,” “semi-formal,” and
sensuji-gumi (thousand-line or parallel construc-
“cursive” or “informal”), which had originally been
tion) method, not plaiting them but binding them
applied to calligraphy and later to flower arrange-
together with tightly knotted rattan. The base of the
ment. Shōkansai followed his father in this practice,
basket was formed by the seamless continuation of
and it is interesting to think of the present basket
the irregular weave, a style of construction that was
as a kind of creative hybrid, with an informal,
pioneered by the great Iizuka Rōkansai (1890 –1958,
cursive base, and a more formal, upright shoulder
see no. 24), Shōkansai’s father and
teacher.2
and neck.
Shōkansai also followed his father in giving the
basket an evocative name which he inscribed on
the storage box.
88
25
Noguchi Ranpōsai 野口籃鳳斎 (born 1923)
Flower Basket Named Mizuho 瑞穂
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1970s
a lustrous brown color through prolonged exposure
Susutake (smoked bamboo) and rattan
to domestic wood-burning fires; bamboo with this
9×8
5 ⁄8
×8
5 ⁄8
in. (22.8 × 22 × 22 cm)
character is prized by artists and collectors and is
now becoming scarce.3 Like his teacher Takesonosai,
Signature: Ranpō 籃鳳
Ranpōsai favors the sensuji-gumi (thousand-line
or parallel construction) method, which he used
side: Susutake hanakago 煤竹　花籃 (Flower basket
to make this piece, fixing the vertical elements not
made from smoked bamboo); inscribed and signed
only at the base and rim, but also with three extra
inside: Mizuho Heian Fukakusa no sato Ranpōsai
horizontal strips, one of them just above the base
saku 瑞穂　平安深草之里　籃鳳斎作 (Mizuho, made
and the other two near the bottom of the sides; in
by Ranpōsai of Fukakusa in Kyoto) with seals Ranpō
all five places, the vertical elements were secured to
籃鳳 and unidentified four-character seal
the horizontals with rattan. The basket owes its special character to the unusual way in which Ranpōsai
A consistent participant in the official Nitten exhibi-
carved the verticals prior to construction so that
tion, Noguchi Ranpōsai is famous in the world of
some of them have a section that is twice as wide as
bamboo for the fact that Lloyd Cotsen purchased
the rest of their length. These wider sections, always
one of his baskets in about
1975.1
Although
located just below one of the natural nodes in the
Cotsen, the world’s most famous connoisseur of
bamboo stem, are distributed at irregular heights
Japanese bamboo art, had already been amass-
and with variable spacing to create a fascinating
ing baskets for about a quarter of a century, this
array of shapes that becomes more complex when
was the very first contemporary piece to enter
the basket is viewed from the side and two different
his collection. As Robert T. Coffland relates, “Mr.
patterns are superimposed.
Cotsen was so excited by the scale and form of
the basket that he misunderstood the price. When
The title Mizuho (literally, “Auspicious Ears of Rice”)
the bill arrived, he found that it was by far the
not only aptly describes the wider sections of bam-
most expensive basket he had ever acquired.” This
boo but also evokes an ancient name for Japan
encounter led to Cotsen’s meeting Ranpōsai and
found in the eighth-century Kojiki and other early
his highly influential teacher Higashi Takesonosai
historical writings: Toyoashihara no Mizuho no Kuni
(1915 – 2003); it also paved the way for the col-
(Land of Abundant Reed Plains and Rice Fields).
lector’s outstanding patronage of contemporary
Japanese bamboo art, culminating in the year
2000 with the establishment of the Cotsen Bamboo Prize.2
As the box inscription indicates, Ranpōsai made this
elegant, deceptively simple piece from susutake
(literally, “sooty bamboo”), similar to the hōbichiku
employed by Iizuka Shōkansai for his flower basket
in this publication (no. 24) with the difference that
the raw material here is not dwarf bamboo but
madake or regular timber bamboo, taken from
the construction materials of traditional Japanese
farmhouses. Over the years, such bamboo takes on
90
1 For the artist’s participation in the Nitten, see Nitten Hensan Iinkai
1980–2002, vol. 28, pp. 255 and 283 (no. 343); vol. 29, pp. 251 and
279 (no. 349); vol. 30, pp. 257 and 284 (no. 352); vol. 31, pp. 251
and 278 (no. 336); vol. 32, pp. 210 and 233 (no. 269); vol. 33, pp. 212
and 237 (no. 285); vol. 34, pp. 212 and 235 (no. 272); vol. 38, pp.
215 and 248 (no. 389); vol. 39, pp. 219 and 252 (no. 396); vol. 40,
pp. 221 and 254 (no. 390); and vol. 41, pp. 226 and 259 (no. 403).
2 Rinne 2007, pp.11–12.
3 Ibid., p. 138.
Lacquers
26
Writing Box with Poem, Pines, and
Waves
Meiji era (1868 –1912), about 1900
much so that it eventually found its way into Aikoku
Wood, with decoration in gold and silver
hyakunin isshu, a compilation of one hundred
hiramaki-e and takamaki-e (high- and low-relief
patriotic waka published from 1941 to 1943.
lacquering), togidashi-e (polished-out lacquering), nashiji (gold flakes suspended in lacquer),
The pines and waves motif suggested by the
and other lacquer techniques; ink stone with
text continues on the inside: the ink stone has a
gold-lacquered rim and sides; silver suiteki
carved design of waves and pines, the silver suiteki
(water dropper) in a gilt-copper recess
(water dropper) is in the shape of pines with finely
1
3⁄8
× 6 ¾ × 8 ¾ in. (3.5 × 17.1 × 22.1 cm)
engraved details, and the gilt-copper inset holding
the suiteki is in the shape of foamy waves. Further,
the insert that holds the stone is decorated in gold
lacquer with stylized waves, which continue on the
The top of this sumptuous suzuribako (writing box)
sides of the stone. A band of kiri-mon (paulownia
takes the form of a poem card surrounded by pine
crests) around the sides lends the box a distinctly
trees and waves and inscribed with a verse that
formal air. Following the abolition of the shogunate
offers a key to the entire decorative scheme. 26 ir-
in 1868, the connection between the kiri-mon and
regularly positioned characters in the central band,
the Emperor—somewhat dormant during the Edo
executed in slightly-raised takamaki-e gold lacquer
period—was reestablished and it was used in the
on a ground of clouds and mist banks in two-toned
design of imperial honors such as the Order of
togidashi-e and hiramaki-e gold lacquer, give the
the Rising Sun. The prominent use of kiri-mon on
text of the seventh poem from Book Five, Ga no uta
the present box suggests that it may have been
(Songs of Celebration), of the imperial anthology
an imperial gift. The execution of the crests, using
Kin’yōwakashū (A Collection of Golden Leaves of
e-nashiji (picture nashiji) in which gold flakes are
Waka), compiled in 1124 and revised in 1127:
applied not just as a general background texture
but to emphasize specific parts of the design, shows
Kimi ga yo wa / matsu no uwaba ni / oku tsuyu no /
that the artist was aware of a style of lacquer decora-
tsumorite yomo no / umi to naru made
tion known as Kōdaiji maki-e. Closely associated
with the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 –1598)
My lord may your reign / last until dewdrops falling /
and his family, Kōdaiji maki-e became the focus
upon pine needles / gather in such quantities / that
of renewed interest from lacquer historians and
they fill the four oceans
practitioners during the later nineteenth century.
Unusually for a waka poem on a lacquer box and
perhaps for the benefit of less erudite readers, the
inscription also gives the name of the anthology,
Kin’yōwakashū, in characters reading horizontally
from right to left at the top, and at the bottom
(again from right to left) the name and court title of
Minamoto no Toshiyori (also called Shunrai) Ason
(1055 –1129), who was both the compiler of the
anthology and author of this particular poem. The
poem’s loyalist tone likely found favor during the
Meiji era’s revival of respect for the Emperor, so
94
27
Zōhiko Studio 象彦
Writing Box with Ferns
Taisho era (1912–1926) or early Showa era
Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558 –1637), the protean artist
(1926 –1989)
who pioneered the style that would become known
Wood, with decoration in gold hiramaki-e and
as Rinpa (see nos. 2, 7, 8, and 11).
characters inlaid in shell on a black-lacquer
ground; the interior with gold nashiji flakes; the
Two Kōetsu boxes, one in the Larry Ellison collec-
suiteki (water dropper) silver with decoration in
tion and the other—designated an Important Art
gold hiramaki-e and nashiji; the ink stone with a
Object—in Tokyo National Museum,2 are decorated
gold-lacquered rim; silver rims
with shinobu ferns and the characters tare yue ni,
3 ¾ × 5 × 8 ½ in. (9.7 × 13 × 21.6 cm)
but unlike other works of the Zōhiko studio that are
close copies of seventeenth-century originals,3 the
With fitted wooden tomobako box inscribed and
present example freely adopts and adapts diverse
signed outside: Kōetsu shinobugusa maki-e on-
elements from the Edo-period lacquer tradition. The
jūsuzuribako Heian Zōhiko 光悦忍草蒔絵　御重硯筥　elongated rectangular shape and tiered construc-
平安象彦 (Tiered writing box with maki-e decora-
tion relate not to the Kōetsu shinobu boxes but to
tion of shinobu grasses [after] Kōetsu by Zōhiko of
other boxes associated with Kōetsu’s successor Kōrin
Kyoto); seal: Zōhiko, the Zō in the form of a stylized
(1658–1716, see no. 11); however, there are signifi-
elephant, followed by the character 彦
cant variations on the Kōrin model.4 The corners and
edges, instead of being rounded in the typical Rinpa
The decoration of this elegant tiered writing box,
manner, are crisply beveled and the rims are finished
consisting of fronds of shinobu (Davallia Mariesii,
in silver metal instead of gold lacquer. In addition,
hare’s-foot fern) and shell-inlaid characters reading
the lid is flush with the containers below it, whereas
tare yue ni, refers to a verse by Minamoto no Tōru
in a Kōrin box it would usually cover the whole
(822–895) from the imperial anthology Kokinshū
ensemble, reaching almost to the bottom.
(A Collection of Old and New Poems, see no. 10):
Inside the box, although the left-of-center placeMichinoku no / Shinobu mojizuri / tare yue ni /
ment of the ink stone echoes Kōrin lacquers, gold
midaresomenishi / ware nara naku ni
nashiji replaces the more typical black lacquer.
Instead of being a plain rectangular shape, the
Like a patterned cloth / tangle-dyed in Shinobu / in
suiteki (water dropper) is elaborately modeled
the farthest north / it must be because of you / that
as two Japanese books, in reference to the box’s
my heart is in turmoil
literary theme. On the outside, the characters are
inlaid in delicate shell in place of the thick, bold
(Kokinshū
724) 1
lead favored by Kōetsu and the decoration of ferns
is executed in two carefully contrasted hues, an
Shinobu has three different significances in this
effect achieved by varying the proportions of silver
highly complex, ambiguous poem whose many
and gold. The smooth refinement and elegance of
meanings can only be hinted at in the English
this box mark it out as an outstanding expression of
paraphrase given above. It is both a type of fern, a
the early-twentieth revival of Rinpa themes, refash-
place in northern Japan called Shinobu that was a
ioned to appeal to the patriotism and sophistica-
source of dyed cloth, and a verb meaning “to long
tion of a new urban elite.
for” or “to endure.” As the box inscription makes
clear, the Zōhiko workshop’s choice of poem and
motif alludes to lacquer wares associated with
96
28
Minoya Studio 美濃屋
Tray with Ferns
longer be possible to maintain its high standards
(1926 –1989), about 1920 –1940
in the changed social and economic climate of the
postwar era, in 1945 Inagaki Sōichirō, the owner
takamaki-e on a black-lacquer ground
of Minoya, closed the business and in 1990 its
2 ¼ × 19 1⁄8 × 15 in. (5.6 × 48.5 × 38.3 cm)
collections were given to Kyoto National Museum.
The 260 donated items, including trade samples,
pieces from the private collection of each head of
outside: Shida maki-e hirobuta 歯朶蒔絵広葢 (Tray
the family, and detailed catalogues, together form
with maki-e decoration of ferns); seals: Heian 平安
an invaluable archive relating to the history of the
(Kyoto) and Minoya sei 美濃屋製 (Made by Minoya)
Kyoto lacquer industry during the later Edo period
and the modern era.1
Over a lustrous polished black-lacquer ground,
the specialist craftsmen who decorated this tray
used different mixtures of gold and silver powder
to emulate the contrasting shades typically seen
on either side of fern leaves, while the stems
were executed in a special version of takamaki-e
(high-relief lacquering) that reproduces the rough
texture seen in real-life ferns. The spare, elegant
design is concentrated on the left-hand side, where
leaves and stems spread over the rims and onto
the sides; at top and right the plants are made to fit
within the confines of the tray, an arrangement that
combines naturalism with acute design sense in a
way that marks this tray as an outstanding example
of twentieth-century Kyoto lacquer design. Rectangular trays like this one, with relatively high sides,
are known in Japanese as hirobuta and were used
to present formal gifts of clothes and other items.
The lid of the tray’s storage box bears the seal
of the Minoya studio, founded in 1772 and one
of the finest lacquer workshops in Kyoto. Minoya
brought together, under one roof, all the skills
required for the production of high-class maki-e,
from preparation of the wooden core through to
completion of the last layer of decoration. The
business thrived during the Meiji and Taisho eras
and as late as 1943, at the height of World War II,
was able to fulfill an order for a complete set of
lacquer ware for the wedding of Princess Terunomiya (Shigeko), eldest daughter of the Emperor,
to Prince Higashikuni. Realizing that it would no
98
1 Kyōto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan 2001.
29
Miyazaki Heiandō Studio 宮崎平安堂
Writing Box and Document Box with Poem, Grasses
and Flowers
include only a few words and rely on the viewer to
(1926 –1989), about 1920 –1940
use them in combination with visual clues—as with
the writing box in Kōetsu style, no. 27—to recon-
characters inlaid in silver on a black-lacquer
struct the entire text. This older approach to lacquer
ground; the interior with gold hirame flakes
decoration required, of course, a thorough knowl-
and decoration in two tones of gold hiramaki-e;
edge of the classic poetic canon, something that
the suiteki (water dropper) and rims silver; the
could not always be expected of a mid-twentieth-
ink stone with a gold-lacquered rim
century buyer. Even so, the present set would have
The writing box 1 ¾ × 7 ½ × 9 ¾ in.
presented a challenge to most viewers, since the
(4.6 × 19 × 24.8 cm); the document box
poem is relatively obscure, no clues are given as to
4 ¾ × 12 ½ × 15 ¾ in. (12.3 × 31.5 × 40.3 cm)
its identity (in contrast to no. 26), and the artist used
archaic script forms that would not have been fa-
miliar to many readers. A set of a writing box and a
outside: Roiro uta-moji maki-e ryōshi bunko 蝋色
document box in the Los Angeles County Museum
歌文字蒔絵　料紙文庫 (Document box with maki-e
of Art by designer Kamisaka Sekka (1866 –1942, see
decoration of characters from a poem); Roiro uta-
no. 7) and his lacquerer brother Kamisaka Yūkichi
moji maki-e suzuribako 蝋色歌文字蒔絵　硯箱 (Writ-
(1886 –1938), also featuring susuki and hagi, similarly
ing box with maki-e decoration of characters from
gives the full text of a poem, although in that case it
a poem); both boxes inscribed inside: Miyazaki
appears to be an original composition rather than
Heiandō 宮崎平安堂
a quotation from an anthology.1 Susuki and hagi
are two of the Aki no Nanakusa (Seven Grasses of
The decoration of this matching set of boxes com-
Autumn). For some reason the makers of the present
bines susuki or obana, (Miscanthus sinensis, plume
set did not choose a poem that matched the
grass, see also no. 2) and flowering stems of hagi
autumn theme, but the moon-shaped suiteki (water
(Lespedeza bicolor, bush clover) in hiramaki-e with
dropper) reinforces the connection between word
25 inlaid silver characters, on both lids and on two
and image.
sides of the larger box, that spell out the full text of
a poem by Jōsaimon’in no Hyōe (active late twelfth
century) from Book 1 of the imperial anthology
Senzai wakashū (Poem Collection of a Thousand
Years, presented to the Emperor in 1188):
Hana no iro ni / hikarisashisou / haru no yo zo /
konoma no tsuki wa / mibekarikeru
On spring evenings / when the colors of the
flowers / are picked out by its / bright light shining
through the trees / that’s the time to view the moon
As with no. 26, every single syllable of the poem
is spelt out, in contrast to many earlier lacquers,
dating from the thirteenth century onwards, that
100
1 Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.2007.12.1-.2; see LACMA
in the Bibliography. Special thanks are due to Hollis Goodall,
Curator of Japanese Art, for supplying additional information
relating to this piece.
30
Yoshida Ikkei 吉田一畦
(active about 1930 –1989)
Carved Lacquer Writing Box
Showa era (1926 –1989), 1930s
The Hyakkaen represented both Yoshida Ikkei and
Wood, with decoration in colored and carved
Ishii Keidō (1874 –1944), a former trainee of Zōkoku
lacquer with marbled effect; the interior black
who taught Ikkei the local lacquer-carving tech-
lacquer; ink stone; silver suiteki (water dropper)
nique. The son of a maker of Buddhist altars, Ikkei
4 × 9 ½ × 11
3⁄8
in. (10.2 × 24.1 × 28.9 cm)
participated in local as well as national exhibitions,
and his carved lacquer box with a design of birds
With fitted wooden tomobako box inscribed inside:
and flowers was accepted into the prestigious
Ikkei no saku 一畦之作 (Made by Ikkei); seal: Ikkei in
Kigen Nisenroppyakunen Hōshuku Bijutsuten (Art
一畦印 (Seal of Ikkei); underside of suiteki stamped
Exhibition to Celebrate the 2600th Anniversary
in the style of a Western hallmark Jungin 純銀 (Pure
of the Founding of the Empire), held in 1940. He
silver)
enjoyed a long life and was still active in Takamatsu
in the year 1989. His works are well represented in
The intricate yet forceful decoration of stylized
Japanese museums.1
lotus flowers and stems on this remarkable
suzuribako (writing box) was deeply carved out
of multiple layers of differently colored lacquer
previously applied one at a time to a wooden
base—a painstaking, slow process that would have
taken several months to complete. The work of
Yoshida Ikkei, the box represents the culmination
of a venerable craft tradition based in Kagawa
Prefecture (formerly Sanuki Province) on the island
of Shikoku. Starting with Matsudaira Yorishige
(1622 –1695), who came to the domain from the
Mito branch of the Tokugawa family, successive
daimyo (local lords) supported research into
Chinese lacquer and the development of new local
techniques that reached their zenith in the work
of Tamakaji Zōkoku (1806 –1869), a Kyoto-trained
artist who established a highly influential workshop
in Takamatsu, the principal city in the area. After
Zōkoku’s death, his sons and relatives, as well as
a whole range of specialists who had worked for
him, made Kagawa one of the most innovative
lacquer centers in Japan. Their success was due in
large part to the entrepreneur Tanaka Kumakichi,
who established the Hyakkaen studio to market
the works of local artists and also opened a branch
store in Tokyo that sold pieces to leading restaurants in and around the capital.
102
1 For a thorough study of Zōkoku’s life and works, see Takamatsu-shi
Bijutsukan 2004, which discusses individual pieces in terms of
techniques and historical contexts and includes a wide range of
original documents and letters. Further information on Yoshida
Ikkei can be found in Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002, vol. 14, pp.
260 and 309 (no. 579); Kagawa-ken Bijutsu Kōgei Kenkyūjo 1989;
Sumikawa 2005; and Tsukuda 1979, pp. 91– 96.
Signatures and Seals
Reproduced actual size except as noted
No. 6
No. 9
No. 8
½ size
No. 5
½ size
No. 7
½ size
104
No. 10
No. 12
105
Signatures and Seals
Reproduced actual size
No. 15
No. 19
No. 13
No. 14
No. 16
No. 20
No. 17
106
No. 18
No. 21
No. 22
No. 23
No. 24
No. 25
107
Box Inscriptions
Reproduced half size except as noted
No. 14
No. 21
No. 13
1 ⁄3
size
No. 19
No. 22
No. 12
1 ⁄3
size
No. 18
1 ⁄3
size
No. 13
No. 23
108
109
Box Inscriptions
Reproduced half size except as noted
No. 24
No. 29
Writing box
Dokument box
No. 25
No. 28
No. 27
110
1 ⁄3
size
No. 30
111
Appendix I
Scenes from Early Chapters of
Ise Monogatari (Ise Stories), no. 1
Descriptions of Episodes
Transcriptions and Translations of Poems
Right-hand panel, top right: Chapter 1.
Right-hand panel, top and bottom left: Chapter 14.
Chapter 1
Chapter 12
The “certain man” tries to sneak a look at two sisters
The man hurries away with his servant as a cock
Kasugano no / wakamurasaki no / surigoromo /
Musashino wa / kyō wa na yaki so / wakakusa no /
he admires, but is stopped by their maid. Two deer
crows on a tree. Inside the house, a woman mourns
shinobu no midare / kagiri shirarezu
tsuma mo komoreri / ware mo komoreri
on the hillside identify the location as Kasuga, a
the departure of her lover. Later the servant deliv-
rustic district near the old capital, Nara.
ers a letter from the man. She is shown three times:
My robe has been stained / with young purple from
Fields of Musashi / do not set a fire today / for in
mourning, receiving the letter, and reading it.
the fields / of Kasuga plain / its patterns mirroring
the new grass / my lover lies hiding here / and I too
the / utter anguish of my love
lie hiding here
Chapter 18.
Chapter 4
Chapter 14
A girl picks fading chrysanthemums and sends them
Tsuki ya aranu / haru ya mukashi no / haru naranu /
Yo mo akeba / kitsu ni hamenade / kutakake no /
with a poem to the young man, who replies with a
waga mi hitotsu wa / moto no mi ni shite
madaki ni nakite / sena o yaritsuru
Left-hand panel, top right: Chapter 4.
Left-hand screen, middle and lower registers:
He sits disconsolately waiting for the moon to set
as he reflects upon an unrequited love.
Right-hand panel, middle right: Chapter 5.
poem rejecting her. This is by far the longest of the
Slipping in through a break in a wall he manages a
inscriptions, consisting of the entire chapter includ-
Is this not the moon / and is spring not that same
When day breaks I’d like / to toss him in the cistern /
tryst with a lady in the eastern Gojō district, but the
ing both the prose passage and the two poems. The
spring / as in times gone by / is it only I that stay /
that wretched rooster / cockadoodling much too
master of the house posts a guard to put a stop to
girl is shown picking the flower, imagining herself
the same as I always was?
soon / and chasing my man away
his visits.
making love with the man, and then receiving the
Chapter 5
Chapter 18
Hito shirenu / wa ga kayoiji no / sekimori wa / yoiyoi
Kurenai ni / niou wa izura / shirayuki no / eda mo
goto ni / uchi mo nenanamu
tōo ni / furu ka to mo miyu
Mikawa. Later, they are about to cross the Sumida
Unknown to the world / I could come and go but
Gorgeous crimson glow / where I wonder might
River when the sight of an unfamiliar gull fills them
for / the watchman on guard / how I wish that he
it be / it looks to me like / the whiteness of white
with sorrowful thoughts of the capital they have left
might fall / asleep every evening
snowflakes / fallen on a bending bough
Chapter 9
Kurenai ni / niou ga ue no / shiragiku wa / orikeru
letter of rejection. The young man is seen examining
Right-hand panel, lower register: Chapter 9.
The “certain man” and his friends sit down at the
the flowers and writing his poem.
edge of a marsh in the distant eastern province of
so far behind.
Left-hand panel, top left: Chapter 12.
hito no / sode ka to mo miyu
Na ni shi owaba / iza koto towamu / miyakodori /
The man hides with his lover in the grasses of dis-
waga omou hito wa / ari ya nashi ya to
tant Musashi Province (see no. 2). The Governor’s
Gorgeous crimson glow / glinting on the petals of /
white chrysanthemums / it looks to me like the
men are about to set fire to the fields when the girl
Judging by your name / I can ask you this I think /
cries out and the couple are detected.
oh capital bird / is the woman whom I love / in this
sleeve / of the one who plucked the flower
world or is she not?
112
113
Appendix II
Selected Japanese and Chinese poems on Moon
over Musashi Plain, no. 2, from right to left and top
to bottom:1
Panel 1, Sheet 1
Panel 3, Sheet 1
Panel 3, Sheet 4
Panel 4, Sheet 1
三秋岸雪花初白　一夜林霜葉尽紅
花間覓友鶯交語　洞裏移家鶴卜隣
Tsuyu nagara / orite kazasamu / kiku no hana /
經為題目佛為眼　知汝花中殖善根
oisenu aki no / hisashikarubeku
In the third month of fall there is snow on the
Among the flowers I look for friends and warblers
riverbanks and the first white blossoms show; frost
exchange words with me; I move my home into a
Picked still wet with dew / let us wear you in our
the sutras; plant healthy roots so that the flower of
in the forest lasts through the night and the leaves
cave and cranes choose me as their neighbors.
hair / chrysanthemum flowers / so that autumn
your enlightenment can grow.
Let the Buddha open your eyes to the doctrines of
never ends / and stays with us for all time
have all turned red.
Ki no Haseo (851– 912)
Wen Tingyun (Chinese, 812 – 870)
(Wakan rōeishū
(Wakan rōeishū 553)
Minamoto no Tamenori (died 1011)
Ki no Tomonori (died 907)
Panel 3, Sheet 2
Panel 4, Sheet 4
Panel 3, Sheet 5
Panel 2, Sheet 5
石床留洞嵐空拂　玉案抛林鳥獨啼
臺頭有酒鶯呼客　水面無塵風洗池
Aki kaze ni / hatsu karigane zo / kikoyu naru / taga
Minasegawa / arite yuku mizu / nakuba koso / tsui
ni waga mi o / taenu to omowame
A stone couch left in a cave where the mist floats
tamazusa o / kakete kitsuramu
in vain; a jade desk abandoned in a wood where a
If there really was / no actual water flowing / in the
bird sings alone.
the guests; the water’s surface is free from dust as
On the autumn wind / the cries of the first wild
Sugawara no Fumitoki (899 – 981)
you bear / as you fly down from the skies
(Kokinshū
Up on the terrace wine is served as warblers call
breezes brush the pond.
geese / make me wonder whose / letter it is that
river bed / of our love then in the end / I think that I
would cease to live
(Honchō reisō 71) 5
(Kokinshū 270)
370) 2
Bai Juyi (Chinese, 772 – 846)
Ki no Tomonori (died 907)
793)3
Panel 3, Sheet 3
(Kokinshū 207)
Panel 4, Sheet 5
Aware chō / koto dani naku wa / nani o ka wa / koi
Panel 3, Sheet 6
Itsu tote mo / tsuki minu aki wa / naki mono o /
Panel 2, Sheet 6
Sayo fukete / ama no to wataru / tsukikage ni /
no midare no / tsukane o misemu
wakite koyoi no / mezurashiki kana
Asaborake / ariake no tsuki to / miru made ni /
akazu mo kimi o / aimitsuru kana
If we did not have / the word aware (pity) / what
In the depths of night / crossing through the gates
could we then use / as a cord to hold in place / the
of heaven / lighted by the moon / you and I will not,
confusion of our love
Yoshino no yama ni / fureru shirayuki
It’s always the way / in autumn when the moon’s
not out / things that don’t exist / suddenly come to
As night turns to day / moonlight in the morning
light so / we’ll see some rare sights tonight.
haze / seems to us just like / white snow falling
my love, / ever tire of our meetings
(Kokinshū 502)
gently on / the mountains of Yoshino4
Fujiwara no Masatada (died 961)
(Gosenwakashū 325)6
(Kokinshū 648)
Sakanoue no Korenori (died 930)
(Kokinshū 332)
1 The poets’ names and dates (where known) are given after each
poem; the unattributed poems are anonymous.
2 Wakan rōeishū compiled about 1013, is a collection of poems
for recitation and includes verses in both Japanese and Chinese,
the latter by both Chinese and Japanese poets. It is divided into
many sections and there is no agreed through-numbering system;
114
that followed here is taken from http://miko.org/~uraki/kuon/furu/
text/waka/wakan.htm, accessed May 28, 2013.
3 Kokinwakashū or Kokinshū (A Collection of Old and New Poems)
is an imperially commissioned poetry collection completed early
in the eleventh century, the first of 21 such collections.
4 The text as written here substitutes yama (mountain) for the
more canonical sato (village, country).
5 Honchō reisō is an anthology of Chinese poems by 36 Japanese
poets compiled around 1010.
6 Gosenwakashū or Gosenshū an imperially commissioned anthology of Japanese poetry compiled in 951, contains 1,426 poems.
115
Panel 4, Sheet 6
Panel 5, Sheet 6
Panel 6, Sheet 6
Kokorozashi / fukaku somete shi / orikereba /
Samidare no / sora mo todoro ni / hototogisu / nani
Hana no iro wa / kasumi ni komete / misezu to mo /
kieaenu yuki no / hana to miyu ramu
o ushi to ka / yo tadanaku ramu
ka o dani nusume / haru no yamakaze
So deeply had my / heart been filled with yearning /
When the fifth month’s rains / rumble through the
Even though we can’t / see the beauty of the flow-
that when I picked them / I thought the lingering
darkened skies / oh nightingale / what secret grief
ers / hidden in the haze / at least we can steal their
snowflakes / looked just like the flowers of spring.
is it that / makes you sing the whole night long?
scent / carried on the mountain breeze.
(Kokinshū 7)
Ki no Tsurayuki (died 945)
High Priest Henjō (816 – 890)
(Kokinshū 160)
(Kokinshū 91)
Panel 5, Sheet 3
Panel 6, Sheet 4
與君後会知何處　為我今朝尽一盃
Chigirikemu / kokoro zo tsuraki / Tanabata no / toshi
When will I see you again and where is it we’ll
ni hitotabi / au wa au ka wa
meet? This morning take a cup of wine and drain it
for my sake.
Cruelly she’s pledged / to meet me just once a year /
like the Weaver Girl / but can such a rare meeting /
Bai Juyi (Chinese, 772 – 846)
really be called a meeting? 7
Fujiwara no Okikaze (active early 10th century)
Panel 5, Sheet 5
(Kokinshū 178)
Chirinu to mo / ka o dani nokose / ume no hana /
Panel 6, Sheet 5
koishiki toki no / omoide ni semu
Yamazato ni / ukiyo itowamu / tomo mo gana /
Even though you’ll fall / at least leave your scent
kuyashiku sugishi / mukashi kataramu
behind / fragrant plum blossoms / to serve as a
reminder / and comfort me when you’re gone.
How I need a friend / to share my loathing of this
world / in a mountain hut / talking together about /
(Kokinshū 48)
the miseries we have endured.
Priest Saigyō (1118 –1190)
(Shin Kokinshū 1659) 8
7 Held on the seventh of the seventh month, the Tanabata Festival
marks the one day of the year when the Herd Boy and the Weaver
Girl, separated on either side of the Milky Way as a punishment
for neglecting their duties, are allowed to meet.
116
8 Shinkokinwakashū or Shinkokinshū is the eighth imperial
anthology of Japanese poetry, commissioned by retired emperor
Go-Toba in 1201 and completed in 1205. It contains close to 2,000
poems.
117
Notes
No. 4 Anonymous, Kano School
No. 8 Ishizaki Kōyō
No. 24 Iizuka Shōkansai
1 For a fifteenth-century example see Museum of
1 For examples in different media see Brown 2012,
1 Rinne 2007, p. 136.
Fine Arts 2008, p. 100.
cats. 89 and 90; Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980–2002,
vol. 9, p. 13, a painting of peacocks by Ikegami
2 For a work by Rōkansai using irregular weaving,
2 For early uses of the word Karako, see
Shūho; and a two-panel screen by Araki Kanpo
see our previous publication, Erik Thomsen 2008,
Shōgakukan 2001, vol. 3, s.v. Karako.
featured in our 2010 publication, Erik Thomsen
no. 19; for another example by Shōkansai, see
2010, no. 4.
Newland 1999, no. 107.
3 For example, a Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
dish of the type called Kosometsuke in Japan, about
2 A collection of 100 of his collotype photographs
3 Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980 – 2002, vol. 14, pp. 248
1620 –1630, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with
of Buddhist caves was published in 1919. See
and 264 (no. 38).
a design of Chinese children playing blindman’s
Ishizaki 1919.
4 For information regarding Iizuka Shōkansai’s
bluff under a tree, C.20 -1932.
3 For his interest in tropical birds, see Shōhaku
career, see our previous publication, Erik Thomsen
4 An example by Kano Sanraku is reproduced in
Bijutsukan 2007. His prize-winning work at the 1918
2008, no. 18; Newland 1997, pp. 372 – 373; and
Tsuji et al. 1979 –1980, vol. 4, ill. 62 – 64; a related
Bunten was a tropical scene.
Rokando.
example by Kano Mitsunobu, depicting the Tang
emperor Ming Huang and his consort Yang Guifei,
4 For biographical and exhibition information,
is in the Freer Gallery of Art, see ibid., ill. 71– 72.
see Araki 1991, vol. 1, p. 632; Nichigai Asoshiētsu
The use of Teikan zusetsu in Japan is traced by
2008, p. 44; and Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1990.
No. 27 Zōhiko Studio
1 The poem appears in a slightly different version
Gerhart 1997, pp. 1– 7, while the Japanese printed
edition is reproduced and discussed in Kokuritsu
5 Fukumitsu Bijutsukan 2008. The Fukumitsu Art
in Chapter 1 of Ise monogatari (Ise Stories, see no.
Kōbunshokan.
Museum, which has amassed a collection of over
1 and Appendix I).
450 pieces by Kōyō, also held exhibitions of his
5 Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009.260.1, 2.
work in 1999 and 2002.
6 Edo Tōkyō Hakubutsukan 1998, pp. 58 – 59.
6 Nitten Hensan Iinkai 1980–2002, vol. 9, pp. 84
2 Allen, Rinne, and Sano 2013, pp. 129 –131 (no.
40); Tokyo National Museum H-4615.
and 101; Fukumitsu Bijutsukan 2008, pp. 29 and 28
3 Spink & Son Limited 1997, p. 44 (no. 38), a Zōhiko
respectively.
near-replica of the Suminoe writing box.
No. 7 Furuya Kōrin
4 For examples of Kōrin boxes with this construc1 See for example Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai
No. 9 Kamewari Takashi
132 –133 (no. 41), and Watson 1981, pp. 250 – 251
Kenkyūjo 1996, V-943, designs for interior decoration exhibited at the fifth National Industrial
tion, see Allen, Rinne, and Sano 2013, pp. 129 and
1 Erik Thomsen 2008, no. 5.
(no. 165).
Exposition in 1903.
2 For biographical information, see Nihongashū
2 Recently published examples include Shasei sōka
Kankōkai 2000.
moyō (Patterns of Plants and Flowers from Nature,
1907), Museum of Fine Arts 2008, p. 211; Kōrin
moyō (Kōrin Patterns, 1907), Carpenter 2012, cats.
36 and 86.
118
119
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122
123
Checklist
Screens
No.
Page
1
6
Paintings
Artist
Title
Description
Date
Size
No.
Page
Anonymous, Tosa
Scenes from Early
Edo period
19 5⁄8 × 57 ½ in.
11
56
School
Chapters of Ise Mo-
(1615 –1868),
(50 × 146 cm)
土佐派
nogatari
paper with gold leaf
17th century
Artist
Title
Description
Date
Size
School of Ogata Kōrin
Clematis
Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll; ink,
Edo period
Overall: 46 5⁄8 × 18 7⁄8 in.
尾形光琳
mineral colors, gofun (white powdered shell),
(1615 –1868),
(118.5 × 48 cm)
(1658 –1716)
and gold on paper with gold leaf
18th century
Image: 13 7⁄8 × 13 ¼ in.
(35.2 × 33.7 cm)
(Ise Stories)
2
10
Anonymous, Tosa
School
Moon over Musashi
Plain
土佐派
3
14
5
18
24
(1615 –1868),
paper with silver leaf, mounted with poem cards
17th century
12
58
(171 × 367 cm)
Hakuin Ekaku
Daruma
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
白隠慧鶴
Edo period
Overall: 50 × 24 ¼ in.
(1615 –1868), 1757
(127 × 61.5 cm)
Image: 14 ¼ × 19 7⁄8 in.
(1685 –1768)
Edo period
69 5⁄8 × 143 ¾ in.
School
Fence
gofun (white powdered shell), and gold on paper
(1615 –1868),
(177 × 365 cm)
with gold leaf
17th century
Anonymous, Kano
Karako (Chinese
Edo period
Each 43 ½ × 101 ¼ in.
School
Children) Playing
(1615 –1868), Genroku
(110.5 × 257.5 cm)
狩野派
Games
era (1688 –1704)
Muramatsu Ungai
Snowy Pines
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and gold
Late Meiji era
Each 67 × 147 ½ in.
wash on paper
(1868 –1912) or
(170 × 374.5 cm)
(36 × 50.5 cm)
13
Ōmi Hakkei 近江八景
Eight-panel folding screen; ink, slight colors, and
Meiji era (1868 –1912),
49 ¼ × 88 3⁄8 in.
長谷川玉純
(Eight Views of Ōmi
gofun (white powdered shell) on silk
about 1910
(125 × 224.5 cm)
Nagasawa Roshū
Drying Fishing Nets
長沢蘆洲
by the Crescent Moon
Edo period
Overall: 69 5⁄8 × 17 ¾ in.
(1615 –1868),
(177 × 45 cm)
box dated 1847
Image: 38 ¾ × 13 ¾ in.
(98.5 × 35 cm)
62
Edo period
Overall: 73 ¼ × 18 7⁄8 in.
森一鳳
(1615–1868),
(186 × 48 cm)
(1798 –1872)
about 1847
Image: 37 5⁄8 × 13 5⁄8 in.
Mori Ippō
Moon and Clouds
Hanging scroll; ink and gold wash on silk
(95.6 × 34.7 cm)
15
Hasegawa Gyokujun
60
(1767 –1847)
14
Taisho era (1912 –1926)
(1870 –1926)
30
67 ¼ × 144 ½ in.
Bamboo Grove and
邨松雲外
6
Edo period
Anonymous, Kano
狩野派
4
64
Shibata Zeshin
Butterfly, Ferns, and
Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll;
Meiji era (1868 –1912),
Overall: 46 ¾ × 14 3⁄8 in.
柴田是真
Horsetail in the Late
lacquer on paper
1880s
(119 × 36.5 cm)
(1807 –1891)
Spring
Image: 11 × 10 in.
Province)
7
8
9
10
34
40
46
50
(28 × 25.5 cm)
Kureru Isobe
Meiji era (1868 –1912),
Each 70 ¼ × 145 5⁄8 in.
古谷紅麟
暮れる磯辺
colors, gofun (white powdered shell), silver paint,
1910
(178.5 × 370 cm)
(1875 –1910)
(Shoreline at Dusk)
silver flakes, and gold on silk
Ishizaki Kōyō
Vying Peacocks
Showa era
Each 67 ¼ × 172 in.
石崎光瑶
colors, gofun, and gold on silk with urahaku (gold
(1925 –1989),
(171 × 437 cm)
(1884 –1947)
leaf applied to the reverse)
about 1929
Furuya Kōrin
66
Nasu Hōkei
The Four Seasons
Handscroll; ink, mineral colors, and gold on silk
那須豊慶
Meiji era (1868 –1912),
Overall: 11 3⁄8 × 149 ¼ in.
about 1908
(29 × 379 cm)
Image: 10 × 126 3⁄8 in.
(active early 20th
(25.5 × 321 cm)
century)
17
70
Attributed to Tomita
Fatsia
Jun
Kamewari Takashi
Sekishun 惜春
Showa era
84 5⁄8 × 96 5⁄8 in.
亀割隆志
(Regret for the Pass-
gofun (white powdered shell), gold, and silver
(1926 –1989),
(215 × 245.5 cm)
(1901–1981)
ing of Spring)
wash on silk
1929
Suzuki Kinji
Plovers Flying over
Two-panel folding screen; mineral colors, gofun
Showa era
68 × 80 1⁄8 in.
鈴木欣二
Waves
(white powdered shell), and silver leaf on paper
(1926–1989),
(172.5 × 203.5 cm)
(born 1911)
16
18
72
Hanging scroll; mineral colors, gofun (white
Taisho era (1912 –1926),
Overall: 91 ¾ × 41 3⁄8 in.
powdered shell), and gold on silk; ink signature
1920s
(233 × 105 cm)
富田純
Image: 58 ¾ × 32 7⁄8 in.
(active 1919)
(149.5 × 83.6 cm)
Yasuda Hanpo
Yahan Kaito 夜半開戸
安田半圃
(Open Door at Dead
(1889 –1947)
of Night)
Taisho era (1912 –1926),
Overall: 71 ½ × 26 1⁄8 in.
1922
(181.5 × 66.5 cm)
Image: 30 3⁄8 × 19 5⁄8 in.
(77.3 × 50 cm)
about 1960
19
74
Kawamura Manshū
Unzan Gyōshoku
Hanging scroll; ink, mineral color, and gold wash
Showa era
Overall: 93 × 25 5⁄8 in.
川村曼舟
雲山曉色
on silk
(1926 –1989),
(236 × 65 cm)
(1880 –1942)
(Mountains in Clouds,
1930s
Image: 56 ½ × 19 7⁄8 in.
(143.5 × 50.5 cm)
Colors of Dawn)
20
76
Nakamura Shūho
中村秀甫
(born 1897)
The Four Seasons
Each overall: 70 5⁄8 × 36 ¼ in.
Set of four panels; mineral colors, gofun (white
Showa era
powdered shell), gold, and gold wash on silk
(1926 –1989),
(179.5 × 92 cm)
1930s
Images: 62 ¼ × 27 ½ in.
(158 × 70 cm)
124
125
Lacquers
Bamboo Baskets
No.
Page
21
82
Artist
Title
Description
Date
Size
No.
Page
Iizuka Hōsai II
Flower Basket
Taisho era (1912 –1926)
26 × 8 5⁄8 in.
26
94
飯塚鳳斎
finished with charcoal dust and lacquer; otoshi
or early Showa era
(66 × 22 cm)
(1872 –1934)
(flower and water holder) cut from a stem of
(1926–1989),
madake bamboo and finished in tamenuri (clear
1920s
Artist
Title
Description
Date
Size
Writing Box with
Wood, with decoration in gold and silver
Meiji era (1868 –1912),
1 3⁄8 × 6 ¾ × 8 ¾ in.
Poem, Pines, and
hiramaki-e and takamaki-e (high- and low-relief
about 1900
(3.5 × 17.1 × 22.1 cm)
Waves
lacquering), togidashi-e (polished-out lacquering), nashiji (gold flakes suspended in lacquer),
lacquer)
22
84
and other lacquer techniques; ink stone with
Tanabe Chikuunsai II
Flower Basket in the
Split arrow shafts, madake (Japanese timber
Showa era
15 5⁄8 × 9 × 8 ¾ in.
田辺竹雲斎
Shape of an Armor
bamboo), rattan, gold leaf, and red and black
(1926 –1989),
(39.7 × 22.9 × 22.4 cm)
Box
lacquer; otoshi (flower and water holder) cut
early 1940s
(1910 – 2000)
gold-lacquered rim and sides; silver suiteki
(water dropper) in a gilt-copper recess
27
96
Zōhiko Studio
Writing Box with
Taisho era (1912–1926)
3 ¾ × 5 × 8 ½ in.
象彦
Ferns
characters inlaid in shell on a black-lacquer
or early Showa era
(9.7 × 13 × 21.6 cm)
ground; the interior with gold nashiji flakes; the
(1926 –1989)
tamenuri (clear lacquer)
23
86
Showa era
10 ¼ × 9 ¼ in.
石川照雲
finished with dust and lacquer; otoshi (flower
(1926 –1989),
(24.1 × 23.5 cm)
(1895 –1973)
and water holder) cut from a stem of madake
1960s
Ishikawa Shōun
Flower Basket
25
88
90
Iizuka Shōkansai
Flower Basket Named
Hōbichiku (smoked dwarf bamboo), madake
Showa era
11 ¾ × 13 3⁄8 in.
飯塚小玕斎
Kyokkō
(Japanese timber bamboo), and rattan, finished
(1926 –1989),
(30 × 34 cm)
(1919 – 2004)
(Light of the Morning
with lacquer; otoshi (flower and water holder) cut
about 1970 –1975
Sun)
Noguchi Ranpōsai
野口籃鳳斎
(born 1923)
Flower Basket Named
Mizuho 瑞穂
gold hiramaki-e and nashiji; the ink stone with a
gold-lacquered rim; silver rims
28
bamboo and finished in tamenuri (clear lacquer)
24
suiteki (water dropper) silver with decoration in
98
Minoya Studio
Tray with Ferns
美濃屋
Taisho era (1912 –1926)
2 ¼ × 15 × 19 1⁄8 in.
takamaki-e on a black-lacquer ground
or early Showa era
(5.6 × 38.3 × 48.5 cm)
(1926–1989)
Miyazaki Heiandō
Writing Box and
Taisho era (1912 –1926)
The writing box
Studio
Document Box with
characters inlaid in silver on a black-lacquer
or early Showa era
1 ¾ × 9 ¾ × 7 ½ in.
black lacquer
宮崎平安堂
Poem, Grasses and
ground; the interior with gold hirame flakes and
(1926 –1989),
(4.6 × 24.8 × 19 cm)
Flowers
decoration in two tones of gold hiramaki-e; the
about 1920 –1940
The document box
Susutake (smoked bamboo) and rattan
Showa era
(1926 –1989),
29
100
9 × 8 5⁄8 × 8 5⁄8 in.
(22.8 × 22 × 22 cm)
1970s
30
102
suiteki (water dropper) and rims silver; the ink
4 ¾ × 15 ¾ × 12 ½ in.
stone with a gold-lacquered rim
(12.3 × 40.3 × 31.5 cm)
Yoshida Ikkei
Carved Lacquer
Wood, with decoration in colored and carved
Showa era
4 × 9 ½ × 11 3⁄8 in.
吉田一畦
Writing Box
lacquer with marbled effect; the interior black
(1926 –1989),
(10.2 × 24.1 × 28.9 cm)
lacquer; ink stone; silver suiteki (water dropper)
1930s
(active about
1930 –1989)
126
127
Erik Thomsen Gallery
Cover:
Ishizaki Kōyō Vying Peacocks
Detail, pair of six-panel folding screens (no. 8)
Showa era (1925 –1989), about 1929
Erik Thomsen 2013
© 2013 Erik Thomsen
Text based on research by Professor Hans Bjarne Thomsen and Joe Earle
Editorial: Joe Earle
Photography: Cem Yücetas and Erik Thomsen
Design and Production: Valentin Beinroth
Printing: Henrich Druck + Medien GmbH, Frankfurt am Main
Printed in Germany

View publication - Erik Thomsen Asian Art

Transcription

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