The Poetry of Nature Edo Paintings From The Fishbein Bender Collection

The Poetry of Nature
E D O PA I N T I N G S F R O M T H E F I S H B E I N - B E N D E R C O L L E C T I O N
John T. Carpenter
W I T H C O N T R I BU T I O N S BY M I DORI OK A
With a shared reverence for the arts of Japan, T. Richard Fishbein and his wife, Estelle P. Bender,
assembled an outstanding and diverse collection of paintings of the Edo period (1615 – 1868).
The Poetry of Nature offers an in-depth look at more than forty works from their collection that
together trace the development of the major schools and movements of the era — Rinpa, Nanga,
Zen, Maruyama-Shijō, and Ukiyo-e — from their roots in Heian court culture and the Kano and
Tosa artistic lineages that preceded them.
Insightful essays by John T. Carpenter and Midori Oka reveal a unifying theme — the
celebration of the natural world — expressed in varied forms, from the bold, graphic manner of
Rinpa to the muted sensitivity of Nanga. Lavishly illustrated, these works draw particular focus
to the unique intertwinement of poetry and the pictorial arts that is fundamental to the Japanese

tradition. In addition to providing new readings and translations of Japanese and Chinese poems,
The Poetry of Nature sheds new light on the ways in which Edo artists used verse to transform
their paintings into a hybrid literary and visual art.
224 pages; 125 color illustrations; index; bibliography E D O PA I N T I N G S F R O M T H E F I S H B E I N - B E N D E R C O L L E C T I O N
John T. Carpenter is Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art in the Department
of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Midori Oka is associate director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Japanese Art
at Columbia University.
Cover illustrations: (front) Shibata Zeshin, Egrets and Crows, late 19th century (cat. 36, detail);
(back) Soga Shōhaku, Mount Fuji and Seikenji Temple, 1770s (cat. 28, detail)
Cover design by Jean Wilcox
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Distributed by

1000 Fifth Avenue Yale University Press, New Haven and London printed in spain
New York, New York 10028 yalebooks.com/art
metmuseum.org yalebooks.co.uk
John T. Carpenter


EDO PAINTINGS FROM
THE FISHBEIN-BENDER COLLECTION
John T. Carpenter
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY MIDORI OK A
The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York

Distributed by Yale University Press New Haven and London
This volume is published in conjunction with the exhibition “The Poetry Note to the Reader
of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection,” on view Dimensions of works exclude mountings; height precedes width precedes depth.
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from February 27, 2018,
to January 21, 2019. Japanese names are given surname first, with the exception of scholars who are
better known for publishing in English. Transliteration of premodern Japanese
The exhibition and catalogue are made possible by the words and poetry follows the Hepburn system of romanization. In catalogue
Bender-Fishbein-Goodman Family. entries, the characters for names of artists and titles of works are given in the
modern forms of kanji (Chinese characters) and kana ( Japanese phonetic sylla-
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York bary). However, in transcriptions of poems, signatures, and seals, we have tried to
Mark Polizzotti, Publisher and Editor in Chief adhere as closely as possible to the original, sometimes archaic character forms.
Gwen Roginsky, Associate Publisher and General Manager of Publications
Peter Antony, Chief Production Manager Unless otherwise noted, translations of all poems included in this volume are by
Michael Sittenfeld, Senior Managing Editor John T. Carpenter.
Edited by Marcie M. Muscat All paintings discussed in the catalogue entries are part of the Fishbein-Bender
Designed by Jean Wilcox Collection. At the time of publication, the following had been gifted from the
Production by Sally Van Devanter collection to the Metropolitan Museum: cat. 1. Kano Shōei, Brown-Eared Bulbul
Bibliography by Jean Wagner (Hiyodori) on a Branch of Plum (2013.1133.2); cat. 3. Kiyohara Yukinobu, Waxwings,
Image acquisitions and permissions by Jessica Palinski Cherry Blossoms, and Bamboo (2012.522.2); cat. 4. Tosa Mitsuoki, Egrets and Cotton
Roses (2014.768.1); cat. 23. Yamamoto Baiitsu, Egrets in a Lotus Pond (2015.760); cat.
Typeset in Adobe Caslon and Scala Sans 24. Fūgai Ekun, Hotei Pointing at the Moon (2013.1133.1); cat. 25. Hakuin Ekaku, Vir-
Printed on 130 gsm Gardapat Kiara tue (2014.768.2); cat. 29. Soga Shōhaku, The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin (2011.572.1);
Separations by Professional Graphics, Inc., Rockford, Illinois cat. 34. Nagasawa Rosetsu, Cranes (2011.572.2a, b); cat. 36. Shibata Zeshin, Egrets
Printed and bound by Ediciones El Viso, S.A., Madrid, Spain and Crows (2011.572.3). The following have been designated as promised gifts: cats.
2, 5 – 8, 10 – 12, 14 – 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 30 – 33, 35, 38 – 42.
Photographs of works in The Met’s collection are © The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, unless otherwise noted. Additional photography credits: John
Goodbody: figs. 8a – k; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo by Copyright 2018 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Heather Johnson: fig. 22; Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo
by Oi-Cheong Lee: cat. 23; figs. 36, 38, 47; Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. First printing
Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: fig. 37; Takemi Art
Photos: fig. 10; John Bigelow Taylor: cats. 5 – 22, 24 – 27, 29, 33 – 35, 37 – 42; figs. 8l, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
30 – 32, 51, 53. The Metropolitan Museum of Art endeavors to respect copyright in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
in a manner consistent with its nonprofit educational mission. If you believe any recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
material has been included in this publication improperly, please contact the writing from the publishers.
Publications and Editorial Department.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Front cover: Shibata Zeshin, Egrets and Crows (cat. 36, detail); back cover: Soga 1000 Fifth Avenue
Shōhaku, Mount Fuji and Seikenji Temple (cat. 28, detail). Additional illustra- New York, New York 10028
tions: pp. 2 – 3: Mori Sosen, Silkies (cat. 33, detail); p. 5: Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran, metmuseum.org
Warbler in a Plum Tree (cat. 16, detail); p. 12: Suzuki Kiitsu, Frog on a Lotus Leaf
(cat. 12, detail); p. 18: Tosa Mitsuoki, Egrets and Cotton Roses (cat. 4, detail); p. 34: Distributed by Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Sakai Hōitsu, Moon and Kudzu Vine (cat. 9, detail); p. 80: Ike Taiga, The River in yalebooks.com/art | yalebooks.co.uk
Spring Overflows Four Marshes (cat. 14, detail); p. 116: Soga Shōhaku, The God of
Good Fortune Jurōjin (cat. 29, detail); p. 142: Maruyama Ōkyo, Two Deer beneath Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
Maple Trees (cat. 30, detail); p. 172: Hishikawa Moronobu, Standing Courtesan ISBN 978-1-58839-654-9
(cat. 37, detail); p. 202: Nagasawa Rosetsu, Cranes (cat. 34, detail).
Foreword 6
Collectors’ Prefaces 7
Acknowledgments 10

An Introduction
JOHN T. CARPENTER
13
1. Kano and Tosa

China-Inspired Themes in Edo Art
JOHN T. CARPENTER
19
2. Rinpa
Transmitting Ancient Japanese Painting Styles
JOHN T. CARPENTER
35
3. Nanga
Chinese-Style Landscapes and Literati Poetics
MIDORI OKA
81
4. Zen Monks and Eccentrics

Sacred Art to Confound and Amuse
JOHN T. CARPENTER
117
5. Maruyama-Shijō
Poetic Symbolism in Naturalistic Painting
MIDORI OKA
143
6. Ukiyo-e
The Poetry Culture of the Floating World
JOHN T. CARPENTER
173
Signatures and Seals 203

Notes 210
Bibliography 213
Index 218
Foreword
From the time of its founding, The Metropolitan Museum of that paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection should be
Art has relied on the generosity of private collectors to enhance displayed together with related works from The Met’s holdings,
the richness of its comprehensive and global collections. Dedi- to show how they interact and enhance each other. The collectors
cated collectors have affectionately turned to this institution as also asked whether a selection of their contemporary Japanese
their classroom and refuge, and have trusted it as a repository ceramics, though not part of the promised gift, could be included,
where the works that they acquired over a lifetime could be in recognition of the fact that ceramics have long complemented
enjoyed, studied, and preserved for posterity. Following in the the display of paintings in Japan, and knowing that the continuity
footsteps of many great collectors before them, Estelle P. Bender of the Japanese ceramic tradition would create some startling
and her late husband, T. Richard Fishbein, have decided to juxtapositions in an exhibition focused mostly on the pictorial arts
donate to the Museum more than forty major works of Japanese of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This approach
painting, mostly of the Edo period (1615 – 1868). Mr. Fishbein not only demonstrates Mr. Fishbein and Dr. Bender’s profound
acknowledges in his Collector’s Preface (see p. 8) that he was understanding of the artistic tradition they so admired, but also
inspired by the example of Mary Griggs Burke (1916 – 2012) and mirrors all of our displays in the Japanese galleries, where deco-
others who have so graciously donated to The Met rich assem- rative arts — textiles, lacquerware, ceramics, and bamboo — are
blages of works acquired and cherished during their lifetimes, regularly included to provide a fully representative overview of
allowing them to be enjoyed by specialists and the public alike. the history of Japanese art.
Our conversations leading to this major gift and exhibi- “The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-
tion began in 2012, when Mr. Fishbein and Dr. Bender, long- Bender Collection” was curated by Dr. Carpenter with the
time patrons of the Museum, made their initial gift of several assistance of Monika Bincsik, Assistant Curator in the Depart-
paintings, including Egrets and Crows by Shibata Zeshin, the ment of Asian Art. Midori Oka, formerly a Research Associate
striking image that graces the cover of this publication. In the in the Department of Asian Art and now Associate Director of
years that followed, they continued to acquire paintings by artists the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Japanese Art at Columbia
not strongly represented in their or The Met’s holdings, demon- University, helped Dr. Carpenter with the production of this
strating their commitment to building their own collection in scholarly and lavishly illustrated catalogue.
anticipation of giving many pieces to the Museum. The exhibi- In a moving tribute to her late husband, Dr. Bender —
tion was originally envisioned to coincide with Mr. Fishbein’s along with her daughter, Melissa Bender, and son-in-law, Ryan
eightieth birthday. Sadly, he died in October 2014, but the show Goodman — have generously sponsored the exhibition and this
and this accompanying catalogue are a tribute to his wisdom and catalogue. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is honored and
celebrate his and Dr. Bender’s shared vision. pleased to present both in commemoration of this magnificent gift.
When planning the exhibition, Mr. Fishbein and Dr. Bender
agreed from the outset with John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs DA N I E L H . W E I S S
Burke Curator of Japanese Art in the Department of Asian Art, President and CEO, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
6
Collectors’ Prefaces
Estelle and I met in the late 1970s, and we were both looking for What has particularly fascinated me about Edo painting
an art style that we could enjoy together. Estelle had familiarity is its multiplicity of schools, each with its own distinctive aes-
with Japanese art, and I had been to Japan in 1964 for the first thetic. I could never have collected in only one area, for it was
time on a business trip. I visited again in the 1970s as an invest- the diversity of Edo art that appealed to me, and I tried to
ment banker and became more interested in the culture. Asian acquire at least a few representative works from each school.
art therefore seemed a natural choice for us. Early on, we bought Moreover, because Edo was an urban society with a high level of
an Utamaro print, which can be said to be the beginning of our literacy, it was possible to conduct research — even for someone
collecting Japanese art. We did not collect many prints after that, like me, who did not read Japanese — and to really learn some-
but Ukiyo-e paintings became a favorite subject. thing about these artists, their influences, and what they were
In the 1980s and 1990s, as Estelle and I began to look at trying to do. In contrast to much contemporary art, which can
Japanese art more intensively, we met Leighton Longhi, Sebastian knock your socks off, but which often leaves me puzzling over its
Izzard, Joan B. Mirviss, Koichi Yanagi, and other New York City meaning, Edo art was something I could relate to and learn more
dealers. Until about 2000 we were not acquainted with specialist about. The range of schools and the fact that the artists, besides
curators or scholars in the field, but we worked with well- being craftsmen and having to sell their works, espoused a variety
established dealers, so we were not relying solely on our own of philosophical viewpoints were hugely appealing.
judgment. At the same time, we did not have anyone “advising” With that general background in mind, during the next fif-
us, because at the time we did not think of what we were buying teen or so years, there were three things that really excited me.
as a “collection.” Only later did I turn to specialists such as Professor The first was eighteenth-century paintings in ink and light
Miyeko Murase of Columbia University for opinions and guidance color. These included works by individualist painters such as
on acquisitions. It was Estelle who first had the idea that, if we Nagasawa Rosetsu and Soga Shōhaku and by such Nanga
were going to do this, why not collect something in particular — painters as Ike Taiga, Yosa Buson, and Tanomura Chikuden.
it was really her notion. So, then, the real questions became, I always liked black, gray, and white in Western painting, so I
Why Edo-period art, and what about it interested and excited us? was drawn to the subtle color combinations in these Japanese
People ask how Estelle and I selected works. For me, it was a works. The gestural and expressionistic qualities of the brush-
hobby — or, really, a fascination — but she had a major say in how work, the subtle gradations of ink, and the interplay of empty
works were selected. We talked about “veto rights,” though she spaces and inked areas impressed me. I would say that by 2000,
would usually “approve” everything that I wanted to acquire. There maybe eighty percent of what I had acquired comprised paint-
were some exceptions along the way: works that I really wanted ings of this type. I just took to them and got excited by them.
but agreed not to display in the apartment! In general, the collec- After that, my appreciation of ink paintings did not end,
tion reflects Estelle’s wish not to acquire anything aggressive, so but a new period began in which I was drawn to the Rinpa aes-
there are no paintings of predatory animals — no tigers, hawks, or thetic, with its bright, flat colors and graphic stylization of natu-
other birds of prey. And there is nothing brashly discordant. The ral forms. This new taste derived partly from what I had seen in
works we enjoyed most were understated and elegant, peaceful and museum displays and special exhibitions and partly from what I
soothing, reflecting Estelle’s taste and predilections. had seen and read about in books. I enjoyed the non-aggressive
7
subject matter — landscapes and bird-and-flower compositions — different schools. And by 2011, when Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas
the juxtaposition of colors, and the abstract compositions that Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art at The Met-
did not depend on one-point perspective. I liked the importance ropolitan Museum of Art, introduced us to John T. Carpenter,
of representing the four seasons and the notion that one would who had just arrived as the Museum’s new curator of Japanese
have paintings appropriate to each. I found them very beautiful art, Estelle and I had already begun to think about what to do
to live with in a city apartment, where the ability to change with our small but — to us — special collection of Edo-period
them according to the time of year was particularly appealing. paintings. Throughout the process of building the collection and
This early interest was encouraged by the Tokyo dealer Klaus considering how it could be left to posterity, I was guided by the
Naumann, who was the first to offer us Rinpa paintings, espe- example of Mary Griggs Burke. Mary and her husband, Jack-
cially by the Edo artists Sakai Hōitsu and Suzuki Kiitsu. son, had begun collecting Japanese art in the 1960s and, after
The third area that became especially appealing to me was Jackson’s death in 1975, Mary continued to acquire works over
Ukiyo-e painting. For years I had resisted collecting in this area the course of several decades. When I saw the exhibition of her
because, while it had been enormously popular in the West — collection at The Met in 2000, I was immediately impressed
it was the foundation of the Japonisme movement — it had not with what she had accomplished and felt that she could serve as
been the initial reason for our interest in Japanese art. Never- a model for what Estelle and I wanted to do as collectors, even
theless, our first exposure to Japanese painting was probably though, of course, we could not aspire to build such a large and
when we went to Monet’s garden at Giverny in the 1980s, and comprehensive collection that spanned over a millennium.
I read about the influence of ukiyo-e prints on late nineteenth- In the past couple of years, after we reached an agreement
century French painters. Moreover, as I began to think about with The Met to help build its collection by designating most of
our growing holdings as a “collection,” I thought more critically our paintings as promised gifts, The Met became our partner in
about its representing the full gamut of Edo-period art. In the building the collection, since we didn’t want to buy anything
case of Ukiyo-e school artists, what attracted me most was the that wouldn’t be worthy of display in “our” museum. Also, we
animated drawing — how the movement of the line jumps out at were inspired to acquire works in areas that we had not previously
you. Here, too, were the flat colors, graphic two-dimensional focused on, such as Zen calligraphy by the monk Hakuin Ekaku.
effects, and literary references that I admired in Rinpa works. I had never bought calligraphy before, and had never really looked
Over the years, we acquired only five or six Ukiyo-e paint- at it carefully. A lot of the calligraphy I saw was very sketchy, and I
ings, but we certainly have enjoyed them. In particular, we found it hard to relate to such pieces because I did not know
admire a painting of a beautiful woman on a snowy day by much about them. But Hakuin’s large-character Virtue (cat. 25)
Sakai Hōitsu, who is better known as a Rinpa artist, as well as struck me as very bold and different and so we bought it — and it
Hishikawa Moronobu’s painting of a courtesan from the Azabu became one of our early gifts to the Museum, since John Carpenter
Museum auction at Christie’s New York in 1998 (cats. 6, 37). also enjoyed it so much. In fact, he told us that it was the first
The Moronobu was the first really important Ukiyo-e painting work by Hakuin to enter The Met’s collection.
I bought. I did so without curatorial advice — it looked “modern,” Similarly, Sakai Hōitsu’s Willow Kannon (cat. 7), with its
with very strong line work and a bold two-dimensional design bright colors and religious theme, was something completely
that was, nevertheless, not completely abstract. different from what we had previously acquired. But because it
After 2000, we began to think of what we owned as a true was by an artist we were interested in — we already had five or
collection and to buy better-quality works that also fit into six paintings by Hōitsu and his pupil Suzuki Kiitsu — and
8 T H E P O E T R Y O F N AT U R E
because it dates to the early nineteenth century, it fit into the of the painting, we still knew that this work would fill an impor-
collection both chronologically and stylistically. tant gap both in our holdings and in The Met’s collection —
The more we thought about creating a broader collection of paintings by followers of Maruyama Ōkyo.
Edo painting, the more we were willing to experiment with My own recollection of how the collection came about might be
acquiring works in new areas that would make our collection selective, and Estelle may remember things differently, but I believe
more diverse and more interesting. Works such as the oversize this account offers a broad outline of how we came to be so deeply
painting Silkies by Mori Sosen (cat. 33), which shows a cluster of involved in the art of a faraway country and of a long-ago time.
exotic birds, is perhaps the clearest demonstration of how we
expanded the parameters of the collection. While Estelle might T. R I C H A R D F I S H B EI N
not have been fond of sharply clawed birds and the intense energy New York, June 5, 2014
When we first met, in late 1978, Richard was an investment absorbing all the information into his encyclopedic mind, which he
banker and I was, and still am, a psychiatrist. Not knowing any- loved to share with other people. The Bender-Fishbein-Goodman
thing about his area of work, I asked him, What is a deal? By the family dedicates this exhibition and catalogue to Richard’s memory.
same token, he thought Last Tango in Paris was a film about a Although he is not with us now, Richard told me that he
man living in Paris! It was hard to imagine what in the world we could imagine our collection hanging in the galleries of The Met,
would have in common, until we realized it was the world of Jap- and that made him very happy — especially to know that his
anese art, which we both already loved. grandchildren would also be viewing it. I know he would approve
Our joint collecting began when I suggested we buy a beau- and be proud of this exhibition. It is a great joy to share our col-
tiful print by Utamaro in honor of our marriage in 1981, and there- lection with The Met and other lovers of Japanese art, now and
after, over thirty years, we read, studied, attended lectures, and in future generations.
started to collect. Our lives were enriched by this world and all the
people in it. One of my favorite memories of Richard is his sitting in ES T ELLE P. B EN D ER
our den peacefully reading a book or catalogue on Japanese art, New York, February 28, 2017
COLLECTORS' PREFACES 9
Acknowledgments
For curators, there is perhaps no greater validation of our core Designer, oversaw the beautiful gallery layout, and Frank Mon-
mission — to teach the history of art through a specific set of dragon, Junior Graphic Designer, created the splendid graphics,
objects — than to see generous collectors expand that set of objects all under the creative direction of Emile Molin, Head of Design.
through the donation of works of high caliber, making them Within the Department of Asian Art, Maxwell K. Hearn,
available to a wider public. When T. Richard Fishbein and his Douglas Dillon Chairman, and Jill Wickenheisser, Senior Admin-
wife, Estelle P. Bender, began discussions in 2012 about pledging istrator, aided by Tegan Miller and Mary Hurt, channeled
more than forty paintings of the Edo period (1615 – 1868), it resources and staff to make behind-the-scenes operations go like
was the beginning of a long-term relationship with The Met to clockwork. As always, Monika Bincsik, Assistant Curator, played
enhance our holdings of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century a crucial role. At the early stages of the project, Sinéad Vilbar,
Japanese painting. Though we are deeply saddened that Richard, formerly an Assistant Curator in the department and now Curator
who died in October 2014, could not join in the final stages of of Japanese Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Masako
planning, many of the ideas he shared with me were incorporated Watanabe, former Senior Research Associate, consulted with
into the final exhibition and catalogue, and everyone at The Met Richard and Estelle on acquisitions and donations. Midori Oka,
has worked closely with Estelle to bring the project to fruition formerly a Research Associate in the department and now Asso-
in her husband’s memory. We express our profound appreciation ciate Director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Japanese Art
to the Bender-Fishbein-Goodman Family for their support of the at Columbia University, worked with Richard in the initial cata-
exhibition and catalogue. loguing of the Fishbein-Bender Collection and was instrumental
To realize any exhibition at The Met, curators rely on an in helping me finalize the selection of works in the exhibition.
extensive team of professionals at every turn. The project was Moreover, she contributed two erudite essays to this volume. As the
embraced enthusiastically by Thomas P. Campbell, former catalogue manuscript took form, it benefitted from specialist
Director; Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO; Carrie Rebora readers including Jens Bartel, Amy Huang, and Elizabeth
Barratt, Deputy Director for Collections and Administration; Tinsley, all Research Fellows in the department. Shi-yee Liu,
Quincy Houghton, Deputy Director for Exhibitions; Jennifer Assistant Research Curator; Pengliang Liu, Research Associate;
Russell, former Associate Director for Exhibitions; and Martha and Zheng Wei, Research Associate, assisted with deciphering
Deese, Senior Administrator for Exhibitions and International and interpreting Chinese inscriptions. When she came on board
Affairs. Rachel Ferrante, Exhibition Project Manager, helped as Research Associate, Stephanie Wada, formerly a curator for
oversee logistical details, and Mary F. Allen, Associate Registrar, the Mary Griggs Burke Collection, reviewed catalogue texts
made sure that loans were safely transported to The Met. Egle and assisted in tracking down missing material.
Zygas, Senior Press Officer, arranged publicity both locally and Led by Hwai-ling Yeh-Lewis, our Collections Management
in Japan. Taylor Miller, Senior Associate Buildings Manager for team — Jacqueline Taeschler, Jessica Kuhn, and Alison Clark —
Exhibitions, together with Matthew Lytle and Maria Nicolino, oversaw the movement and online cataloguing of Fishbein-
handled fabrication of new cases. The galleries were expertly lit Bender paintings. Oi-Cheong Lee, Associate Chief Photographer,
by Clint Ross Coller, Richard Lichte, and Amy Nelson in ensured that photography of Met works was of the highest quality.
Exhibition Design. Zoe Alexandra Florence, Senior Exhibition Photography of works not yet in The Met’s collection was made
10
by John Bigelow Taylor. Jennifer Perry, Mary and James Wallach Asano Shūgo, Paul Berry, Frank Feltens, Patricia Graham,
Family Conservator of Japanese Art, and Masanobu Yamazaki, Furuta Ryō, Higuchi Kazutaka, Ishida Yoshiya, Kyoko
Conservator, ensured that paintings were in excellent condition Kinoshita, Kobayashi Fumiko, and Yamamoto Yoshitaka.
for display, while Vicki Parry, Conservator, did the same for Many of the dealers with whom Richard and Estelle
ceramics. Kristine Kamiya and Min Sun Hwang, both Associate worked over the years have been remarkably generous in shar-
Conservators, facilitated the preparation and display of kimonos. ing with me their knowledge of Edo paintings. The late David
Our indefatigable art handlers and technicians, Beatrice Pinto, Newman, a dealer based in London, was among the first to
Lori Carrier, and Imtikar Ally, as always, brilliantly installed foster Richard and Estelle’s interest in Japanese art. Similarly,
the galleries. Tokyo-based dealer Klaus Naumann was crucial in getting
In the Publications and Editorial Department, Mark Poliz- Richard and Estelle excited about Rinpa painting. New York–
zotti, Gwen Roginsky, Peter Antony, and Michael Sittenfeld lent based dealers, especially Sebastian Izzard, Leighton Longhi,
their full support to the catalogue. Most crucially, Marcie M. Joan B. Mirviss, and Koichi Yanagi, were primary sources of
Muscat — with patience and perceptive queries — shepherded paintings in the Fishbein-Bender Collection.
this manuscript through all its incarnations and helped find a Included in the exhibition is a group of eleven early Sakai
balance between specialist knowledge and information for the lay Hōitsu paintings — generously donated in 2017 by the Oni Zazen
reader. The book’s thoughtful layout was created by Jean Wilcox, Collection — that together with a work in the Fishbein-Bender
and Sally Van Devanter worked tirelessly on production and Collection (cat. 6) completes a set of twelve. We are also delighted
color corrections. As bibliographer, Jean Wagner went above and that an anonymous collector would make available for display
beyond the call of duty to track down incomplete citations and the rare screen painting Verdant Willows and Cold Mountains by
double-check sources, and Jessica Palinski, Image Acquisition Yosa Buson, to complement the hanging scrolls by the artist in
Specialist, sorted out high-resolution images and permissions. the Fishbein-Bender Collection. John C. Weber and Lori Van
Briana Parker edited the exhibition labels. Houten, Collections Manager for the Weber Collection, kindly
It would be impossible to name every colleague outside arranged for the publication in this volume of a detail from the
The Met who lent advice to me or to Richard and Estelle, marvelous Hishikawa Moronobu scroll (fig. 51).
yet it should be mentioned that over the years, Richard attended As with all my publications over the past two decades, my
lectures on Japanese art at Columbia University and got to partner, Peter Yeoh, has stood by with good humor and good
know the lineage of Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Professors of sense to make sure that I stayed on track to make things acces-
Japanese Art History there, including Miyeko Murase, Melissa sible to non-specialists. In the course of working on this project,
McCormick, and Matthew P. McKelway. Professor Murase Peter and I got to know Richard and Estelle not only as collectors
also served as Special Consultant for Japanese Art at The Met but also as friends and confidantes with whom we could discuss
and continued to meet periodically with Richard to discuss their art, books, and fashion. Though Richard is not with us to share
shared interest in Japanese paintings. Julia Meech, Editor of in the excitement of the exhibition, we feel confident that he
Impressions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America, would be pleased with the outcome.
encouraged Richard to publish articles on two works from his
and Estelle’s collection. J O H N T. C A R P E N T E R
Specialist readers offered invaluable assistance at every stage Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, Department of Asian
of research and writing the catalogue. I acknowledge especially Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11
An Introduction
J O HN T. C A R P E NTE R
Japanese painting through the ages has always been shaped by traditional poetry and prose literature.
Most conspicuously, traditional tales, Buddhist scriptures, or accounts of famous monks are frequently
illustrated without the relevant text: if the story is well known, one does not have to read the book. At
the same time, to a remarkable extent in East Asian art, calligraphic inscriptions do often accompany
pictures, recalling the concept of the Three Perfections: painting, poetry, and calligraphy united in a
single composition. These three supreme arts of the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese tradition often
complement one another in the same artwork. More subtle is the use of nature imagery as poetically
suggestive symbolism in art, which requires a shared understanding of literary conventions, such as
knowing the particular flower or bird associated with each month of the year. The most complex mani-
festation of all is when a painting is considered lyrically evocative because its brushwork or handling
of ink references a meaningful earlier style.
In The Lyric Journey: Poetic Painting in China and Japan (1996), the late James Cahill, one of the
foremost scholars of Chinese painting of the postwar generation, identified in the East Asian artistic
tradition a phenomenon that he called “poetic painting.” It is a subject that resonates with the themes
of this volume. The book defines poetic painting as “that in which the viewer reads fresh, unhackneyed
responses in mood and feeling to the physical world, like those one finds in poetry” (Cahill 1996,
13
p. 135). This somewhat restrictive definition, however, excludes come to The Met, making it a fitting complement to the Museum’s
many of the categories of paintings discussed in the chapters holdings in each area. Accordingly, the introductory essays to
that follow, such as works that rely on calligraphic inscriptions each chapter of this volume include discussions of works in The
or direct allusions to East Asian literary classics to achieve Met’s collection, to contextualize the Fishbein-Bender Collection
poetic signification. and to demonstrate how together, they help relate the history of
In conceiving the sections of this catalogue, I was steered Edo-period painting.
first of all by the broad parameters of the Fishbein-Bender Collec-
tion, which reflects the aesthetic preferences of Estelle P. Bender K A N O A ND TOS A
and her late husband, T. Richard Fishbein, as they evolved over Kano- and Tosa-school paintings were never a major focus of
thirty years. Though they built their collection together, and it Richard and Estelle’s collecting, but the paintings of those schools
was Estelle who decided that, if they were going to collect, then discussed in Chapter 1 (cats. 1 – 4) do represent one of their
they should get the best possible examples, Richard was primar- primary aesthetic interests: bird and animal paintings of the
ily the one visiting dealers and attending auctions to find works Late Edo period. Well over half the works in the Fishbein-Bender
that would appeal to them both. The collection originally included Collection are images of animals in landscapes, or bird-and-
ancient Chinese objects, Japanese prints, and contemporary flower paintings, or simply birds by themselves, and they reflect a
ceramics but eventually honed in on paintings of the eighteenth crucial genre in Edo painting. Favored by the Ashikaga shoguns
and early nineteenth centuries, primarily in the hanging-scroll of medieval times, bird-and-flower paintings — often depicting
format — which are, of course, more easily displayed and rotated a single bird or two on a branch of a flowering plant or tree —
on the walls of a city apartment (the collection includes only a could be hung in a tokonoma (display alcove) and convey a sophis-
few works in the folding-screen format). A thread connecting ticated taming of nature by the owner/viewer. A vogue for such
many of the paintings is an enjoyment of calming landscape paintings, rendered in a highly refined but somewhat static
scenes, especially ones integrating birds, deer, or other animals. manner by artists of the Kano school, developed in sixteenth-
Both Richard and Estelle were cognizant of the main schools century Japan, and by the seventeenth century, bird-and-flower
and painting styles of the Edo period (1615 –1868). As he became themes had been transformed into a distinctive Japanese form —
more serious as a collector, Richard specifically sought out certain larger, more complex, and more animated. A virtuoso painting of
artists or schools to fill out their holdings. They generally favored waxwings and cherry blossoms by Kiyohara Yukinobu (cat. 3), a
Rinpa, Nanga, Maruyama-Shijō, and Ukiyo-e works over Kano, highly skilled woman painter of her day, reflects Richard and
Tosa, and Zen art, though the collection includes strong examples Estelle’s wish to acquire at least some examples of works by women.
from all these schools. Richard mentioned to me on various
occasions that he learned so much about Edo art from viewing RINPA
and studying the Mary Griggs Burke Collection, especially dur- Rinpa (also spelled Rimpa), a name that only came into common
ing “Bridge of Dreams,” the wide-ranging exhibition of the Burke parlance in the postwar era, literally means the “school of [Kō]rin,”
collection mounted at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2000. in reference to the early eighteenth-century Kyoto artist Ogata
The catalogue of the show became a textbook of a sort for Richard, Kōrin, who is considered the founding figure of the school. Yet
and the Burke holdings seem to have been a factor in what he Rinpa’s true origins are in the early seventeenth-century paint-
and Estelle would go on to acquire. Whether fortuitously or by ing innovations of Tawaraya Sōtatsu (fig. 5), which were them-
design, the Fishbein-Bender Collection overlaps very little in selves rooted in yamato-e, or traditional “Japanese-style painting.”
subject matter or artists with the Burke works that have since Rinpa tapped into the golden age of Japanese courtly literature —
especially the Tales of Ise and The Tale of Genji of the Heian period painters might achieve lyrical evocativeness by titling their works
(794 –1185) — and a vast corpus of waka, the predominant form with lines borrowed from the canon of Chinese poetry.
of court poetry. Rinpa’s use of sophisticated literary allusions, The scholar James Cahill, in his volume cited above, observed
through either pictures or elegantly transcribed texts, allowed that “the third emergence of poetic painting, after its strongest
its patrons to convey their own connection to the elite literature Chinese manifestations in late [Song Hangzhou] and late Ming
of Japan’s past. The creative arrangement of columns of Japanese [Suzhou], is in late Edo-period Japan, especially in Kyoto and
texts, usually poems, is called chirashigaki, or “scattered writing,” especially in the works of Yosa Buson” (Cahill 1996, p. 135).
and was used not only to add another dimension to the reading of The Fishbein-Bender Collection includes two works by this
famous verse but also to integrate calligraphy into pictorial com- Nanga master. His Deer in Moonlight (cat. 17) was a relatively early
positions. As demonstrated here through works by such Rinpa acquisition for Richard and Estelle, bought in honor of Richard’s
luminaries as Ogata Kenzan (cat. 5), Sakai Hōitsu (cats. 6 – 9), sixtieth birthday, while the more vivacious Herb Gatherers in the
and Suzuki Kiitsu (cats. 12, 13), when pictures are “read” in con- Mountains (cat. 18) was one of their final acquisitions before
junction with the poems, one’s understanding and enjoyment Richard’s untimely death in October 2014. The traditions estab-
of the painting is enriched. lished by Buson, Taiga, and their generation of Literati endured
into the early nineteenth century with the exuberant paintings
N A N G A ( L I T ER AT I) of Uragami Gyokudō (cat. 19) and the evocative landscapes of
Richard and Estelle were particularly drawn to eighteenth-century Tanomura Chikuden (cat. 20). Chikuden was an immensely
paintings in ink and light color, admiring their gestural brush- erudite artist capable of composing elegant Chinese verse,
work, subtle gradations of tone, and interplay of empty and inked which he often inscribed using archaic character forms learned
areas (see Richard’s statement on pp. 7 – 9). These same kinds of from rubbings or printed models of ancient Chinese calligraphy.
qualities were what first attracted Japanese painters to a style of As demonstrated by his rendering of the legendary Elegant Gath-
amateur painting developed in China by literati who shared a ering in the Western Garden (cat. 21), his work allowed the viewer
dedication to the Three Perfections. Both amateur and professional or patron to feel as if they, too, were part of the golden age of
painters working in this mode in Japan came to be called Literati Song-dynasty literati culture.
or Bunjin, and the works they produced were called Bunjinga or
the synonymous term Nanshūga — which in its abbreviated form, ZEN M O NK S A ND ECCEN T RI C S
Nanga, is another way to refer to the school. Richard and Estelle’s As was true of the Kano and Tosa schools, paintings and callig-
holdings of works by artists of this school clearly counted among raphy by Edo Zen masters were never of particularly special
their favorites. interest to Estelle and Richard. However, they did acquire a hand-
Literati painting shares with the Kano school a deep indebt- ful of works brushed by prominent Zen monks, among them Fūgai
edness to and respect for Chinese literary and legendary themes, Ekun of the Sōtō sect (cat. 24) and the Rinzai master Hakuin
ink brushwork, and evocative use of outline and washes. Never- Ekaku (cat. 25), that draw on Zen pictorial and philological con-
theless, Literati output of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ventions hearkening back to the medieval period. Zen prides
has a conspicuously different flavor than that of its Kano predeces- itself on being a “transmission outside the scriptures,” yet it relies
sors. Precision is sacrificed to expression and to a new vocabulary on words, including the lexical conundrums called kōan, to encour-
of brushstrokes, especially the stippling techniques assimilated age a release from an overly ratiocentric outlook on life and to
from Ming- and Qing-era Chinese painting manuals. As dem- trigger satori, or enlightenment. Two ink paintings by the eccen-
onstrated here in two paintings by Ike Taiga (cats. 14, 15), Nanga tric painter Itō Jakuchū (cat. 26 and fig. 41) bear perplexing
INTRODUCTION 15
kōan-like inscriptions that alter our understanding of the works; one of these works “capturing the essence of the subject,” sug-
it is not necessary to be a Zen practitioner or an expert in reading gesting that he had transcended the tenets of naturalism to con-
cursive scripts to experience that spiritual and creative energy. vey the essential qualities of his subject more effectively than
As further demonstrated in works by Jakuchū’s fellow eccentric realistic depiction.
Soga Shōhaku (cat. 28 and fig. 42), expressive brushwork imbued The most modern painting in the catalogue, Egrets and Crows
with a Zen spirit can capture this Buddhist sect’s fundamental by Shibata Zeshin, created in the late nineteenth century, appro-
principles while bypassing the established catechism of sutras and priately represents an artist whose career bridged schools in Kyoto
didactic commentaries. and Edo and spanned the Edo and Meiji periods (cat. 36). The
artist, eventually much more famous for his skills as a lacquerer,
M A RU YA M A -SHIJ Ō originally trained in the Maruyama-Shijō school and assimilated
Maruyama Ōkyo emerged as one of the most important figures in its techniques. However, as attested here, Zeshin was a master of
the history of Edo painting, partly because he was one of those abstraction: white egrets and black crows represent the yin and
creative souls who could respond quickly and constructively to the yang of natural forms, yet the simplicity of the composition aspires
rapidly changing artistic paradigm of the era. He assimilated the to the clarity of haiku.
prevailing styles of the Kyoto Kano school while also absorbing
Chinese-style naturalistic painting, Western-style perspective UK I YO - E
and botanical drawing, and the techniques of Rinpa and other The final chapter of the volume introduces paintings by artists of
contemporary schools. From his polymathic approach emerged a the Ukiyo-e school. Usually we associate the term ukiyo-e, or
distinctively Japanese style of naturalism that had tremendous “pictures of the floating world,” with commercially produced
appeal for the public. This synthetic style was adopted by a num- woodcuts, but the same artists who created these comparatively
ber of artists based primarily on Shijō Street (“Fourth Avenue”) inexpensive illustrated books and prints often carried out more
in Kyoto — hence its common appellation, “Shijō school.” deluxe painting commissions for well-heeled clients. It was these
Ōkyo’s painting of deer amid early-winter maples (cat. 30) meticulously detailed paintings of courtesans or female performers
encapsulates his technical acumen while demonstrating how he garbed in gorgeous robes that truly appealed to Richard and
and his studio could take one of the most common tropes of Estelle, who acquired a half-dozen examples for their collection.
Japanese literature and art and transform it into a representation One might assume that imaginary portraits of denizens of the
of an actual scene from nature. Contrasting Ōkyo’s deer with Edo demimonde — the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter — would cater
that of Buson mentioned above (cat. 17) clearly differentiates how exclusively to the prurient tastes of its clientele. Yet a survey of
Literati and Maruyama-Shijō artists could approach the same the works included in the Fishbein-Bender Collection, represen-
theme. Matsumura Goshun, who later in his career came under tative of the genre as a whole, demonstrates that the original
the sway of Ōkyo (cat. 31), had begun as an artist working in owners of these paintings also were drawn to the literary con-
the Literati style of Buson, once again reminding us of the fluid texts they evoked, through either visual references to traditional
boundaries of schools during the Edo period. Japanese literature or added poetic inscriptions.
Among other striking works by Ōkyo’s pupils in the Fishbein- The earliest Ukiyo-e painting in the collection, by Hishikawa
Bender Collection are tour-de-force ornithological paintings Moronobu, represents the beginnings of a pictorial tradition pre-
by Mori Sosen (cat. 33) and Nagasawa Rosetsu (cats. 34, 35). senting a solitary courtesan against a blank background (cat. 37).
Rosetsu, embracing a theme standard to his repertory, signed Garments with colorful floral and decorative motifs are a distinc-
tive feature of such paintings, as though the natural or architec- cases, they add another dimension to understanding the work
tural settings that normally would serve as backgrounds have and hint at earlier possibilities of interpretation.
been inverted to occupy the pictorial space within the outlines of
the woman’s robes. Other such paintings attain an aura of cul- In the course of the discussion that follows of some forty paint-
tural refinement by depicting courtesans or female performers ings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection, and as many from
holding musical instruments or poetry cards, or accompanied by The Met’s and other collections, we explore how poetry informs
poetic inscriptions (cats. 38 – 41). The poems inscribed on Ukiyo-e painting of the Edo period in varied and sometimes complex
paintings tend to be either waka (thirty-one-syllable court verse) ways. Of course, all of the paintings included here, with
or the more playful genre called kyōka, which has the same pro- delightful imagery and exhibiting masterful brushwork, can be
sodic form as waka but takes up subjects, often in a humorous thoroughly enjoyed without a deep knowledge of the cultural
or parodic manner, that ancient poets of the palace would have contexts in which they originally were produced. An overly analyt-
eschewed. The most complex poetic and calligraphic inscription ical approach to the often unfamiliar subject matter might indeed
of any work in this volume is found on a lavish painting of a come across as “breaking a butterfly upon a wheel,” and may
courtesan by the mysterious artist Momokawa Shikō (cat. 38). seem an obstacle to a purely emotional or aesthetic enjoyment of
By adding a famous quotation by a Zen monk, the artist sug- a work. Nothing could be truer, but still, much as one may appre-
gests that a courtesan, through the expedient means of sexual ciate these masterworks of Japanese painting on a purely intui-
gratification, can assist men overcome their corporeal desires — a tive level, there comes a time when one grows curious about who
goal shared by Buddhist teachers, though not by such salacious or what is being depicted or what a puzzling inscription might
methods. Such inscriptions on Ukiyo-e paintings — whether mean. An understanding of literary allusions or texts on paint-
playful, parodic, or suggestive — can be commentaries from a ings may alter or deepen one’s perception of the artist’s design.
male client’s perspective or give imaginary voice to the female As an aid to such enriched appreciation, this volume proposes to
subjects. Some poems evoke universal emotions of male-female examine the artistic and literary environments out of which the
companionship; others remind us of the inequitable client-escort paintings emerged, and to introduce the types of poetic inscrip-
interaction that was the raison d’être of the pleasure quarters. In all tions commonly encountered on paintings of the Edo period.
INTRODUCTION 17
Kano and Tosa
China-Inspired Themes in Edo Art
To understand and appreciate the flourishing of various new schools of Japanese painting in the Edo
period, whether Rinpa, Nanga, Maruyama-Shijō, or even Ukiyo-e, one must first be aware of the
artists of the Kano hereditary ateliers — the dominant school of painting of the era in which all promi-
nent artists trained, or which they absorbed through inevitable exposure to its models.1 Even when
using the term Eccentric painters — as in the case of the eighteenth-century artists Itō Jakuchū, Soga
Shōhaku, and Nagasawa Rosetsu, introduced in later chapters — it is crucial to remember that it was
from the orthodoxy of the Kano ateliers that these breakaway artists were asserting their independence.
The Kano school was predicated on the hereditary transmission of painting techniques from
father to son.2 If the head of a branch of one of the Kano lineages did not have a talented heir, he
would adopt a son or appoint a successor. The Kano school established its prominence through the
unstinting patronage of the warrior elite during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries,
and carried out major painting projects for castles, for the palatial residences where warlords lived,
and for the Buddhist temple complexes where they worshipped or prayed for departed family mem-
bers. Artists of the Kano school were not, as a rule, monks, but like the Zen monk-painters and
artists who worked in monasteries during the previous generations, they were inspired by Chinese prec-
edents in both technique and subject matter.
19
By the Momoyama period (1573 – 1615), Kano artists had
begun to usurp the dominance of the Tosa school in their spe-
cialized fields, especially of paintings illustrating scenes from lit-
erary classics, which traditionally had catered to the tastes of the
courtier class. Ultimately, by the seventeenth century it was no
longer possible to easily differentiate the artistic output of Kano
and Tosa artists, since intermarriage between the lineages had
become common, and Kano painters willingly took commissions
for an increasingly wide range of subjects, from illustrations of
classical tales to genre scenes. It is from the breakdown of these
previously well-defined specializations that most of the artists
introduced in this catalogue arose.
Richard Fishbein and Estelle Bender were more attracted to
artists from the newly emerging Edo schools of the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries, and they acquired only a handful
of works by Kano artists, as well as one work by a Tosa-affiliated
artist who worked in a Kano style. An abiding interest in meticu-
lously rendered bird-and-flower paintings steered their selecting
process, as well. Here, however, it is instructive to introduce a
few works from their collection and related works in The Met’s
collection to establish the foundation for subsequent develop-
ments in Japanese art, to the extent that artists were responding
to and adapting Chinese themes.
Kano Masanobu (1434 – 1530) is recognized as the founder of
the Kano painting atelier in Kyoto, and all Kano lineages for the
next 250 years can be traced back to this China-infatuated ink
painter. Since the top patrons of the Muromachi period (1392 –
1573) were military rulers of the Ashikaga shogunate, closely
aligned with Kyoto Zen monasteries, the style and subject mat-
ter of the artists they supported were largely shaped by the the-
matic and aesthetic priorities of previous generations of Chinese
Fig. 1. Studio of Kano Motonobu (1476–1559), Boya Plays the Qin as Zhong Ziqi
Listens, Muromachi period (1392–1573), 1530s. Hanging scroll; ink and color
on paper, 65 1/16 ∞ 34 1/4 in. (165.2 ∞ 87 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.67)
and Japanese monk-painters. Such paintings, often executed in While they waited for the weather to clear, Boya played the
monochrome ink, emphasized control of the brush and featured qin, a type of zither, as Zhong Ziqi — shown here seated on
almost calligraphic outlines for trees, cliffs, or figures. Following a tiger-skin mat, accompanied by his boy attendant — listened
the precedent of Zen-inspired works (see Chapter 4), they also intently. Boya frequently played the qin for his friend, and through
effectively mastered the control of negative space in composi- the music they would communicate almost telepathically. When
tions, which became a trademark of Kano-school ink painting. Zhong passed away, the bereaved Boya deliberately smashed
Subject matter could extend to Zen themes, such as patriarchs of his instrument, never to play again out of respect for his
the sect, but was dominated by landscapes evoking a faraway Chi- departed soul mate.
nese setting, identifiable or imaginary. This depiction of an episode from Daoist literature is a
Masanobu’s son Motonobu (1476 – 1559) and his great- reminder that playing the qin ( Japanese kin, or koto) was recog-
grandson Eitoku (1543 – 1590) continued the hereditary tradi- nized as one of the Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments, or
tion of boldly executed brushwork but allowed for a more kin-ki-sho-ga in Japanese: the four artistic pursuits that any cul-
varied and vibrant palette. They also catered to the demand for tivated individual, especially one from elite male society, should
extravagant, large-format works designed to fit the grand archi- master. The other three accomplishments involved excellence at
tectural settings of the Momoyama period. The most ostenta- board games (ki), especially the highly strategic go; calligraphy
tious commissions were for sliding-door paintings (fusuma-e) (sho); and painting (ga). As the various essays in this volume
and pairs of folding screens (byōbu), sometimes painted entirely demonstrate, the theme was adopted by painters of myriad schools,
in ink, or — if intended for a reception room meant to impress — especially those of the Chinese-inspired Nanga, or Literati, school
layered with gold-leaf backgrounds and brightly colored. The two (see Chapter 3). Uragami Gyokudō, a principal artist of the Lite-
aesthetic extremes of monochrome and brilliant polychrome rati school, was himself a renowned master of the seven-stringed
were fully within the Kano repertory. qin (see cat. 19). The related Japanese instrument known as a koto
was taken up by female musicians in the pleasure quarters of
QIN-PLAYING AS A METAPHOR urban centers in Edo-period Japan, and Ukiyo-e artists often
Keeping in mind the vastness of the topic, this discussion hones in depicted courtesans playing or sitting beside this thirteen-string
on a few crucial points regarding the Chinese pictorial literary variety of a zither (see cat. 41).
themes that informed the Kano atelier, as well as other artists who
drew inspiration from them. For instance, a striking large-format MING - INSPIRED B IRD - A ND - FLOW ER PA IN T INGS
hanging-scroll painting (certainly once part of a set of fusuma-e) Kano Shōei (1519 – 1592), assumed to be the third son of Moto-
shows how the Kano atelier, about the time of Motonobu in the nobu, helped position the Kano studio as the dominant artistic
early sixteenth century, would have transmitted a quintessen- force in late sixteenth-century Kyoto. His gentle, individual inter-
tially Chinese literati theme on the rarefied companionship of pretation of Motonobu’s style provided an alternative model for
sages (fig. 1). The story of the wise men Boya and Zhong Ziqi is
3 younger artists less inclined to adopt the powerful, grandiose vision
recorded in the fourth-century Daoist classic Teachings of Master of Shōei’s own son, Kano Eitoku.
Lie (Liezi) and relates the heartfelt devotion the friends had for Shōei specialized in kachōga (bird-and-flower) paintings
each other, as well as their shared aesthetic sensibilities. Accord- drawn from a repertory of Chinese-inspired themes and reflective
ing to legend, one day while they were on an excursion together of the idealized naturalism advocated by the imperial painting
to Mount Taishan in Shandong province, a sudden downpour academy of China’s Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 1279). Bird-
forced them to take refuge under the overhang of a cliff, as shown. and-flower painting, which flourished in China during not only
KANO AND TOSA 21

22
the Southern Song but also the preceding Northern Song (960 – (hiyodori ) perched on a branch of blossoming plum (cat. 1). The
1127), was perpetuated by both court and professional artists hiyodori is a migratory bird commonly found in East Asia, though
during the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644), and examples had been whether it once had particular symbolic associations in China
treasured in Japan by Ashikaga shoguns of the fifteenth century. remains to be researched, and its depiction here on a blooming
At a time when Chinese literature, philosophy, and art served as a plum branch suggests the advent of spring. Yet, any warrior
foundation for the cultural education of Japanese Zen monks and patron examining this painting (or modern reader versed in Jap-
the literate elite, Chinese bird-and-flower compositions became anese classics) could not help but be reminded of Hiyodori-goe,
models for many artists, and an important component of the or the Hiyodori Cliff, made famous at the momentous Battle of
Kano repertory. During the turbulent years of the sixteenth cen- Ichinotani (1184) as recorded in a chapter of the martial chronical
tury, birds symbolizing power and martial prowess (the hawk), The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari). The story tells of the
longevity (the crane), and royal elegance (the pheasant) were fea- twelfth-century military commander Minamoto no Yoshitsune,
tured prominently in paintings, together with similarly auspicious who made a surprise attack on the enemy Taira armies by dar-
flowers and trees. ing to descend on horseback from the precipitous Hiyodori Cliff.
Shōei, for instance, created a pair of hanging-scroll paintings Taking the enemy troops by surprise and subsequently trouncing
(fig. 2) depicting two pairs of pheasants, of which the golden them, Yoshitsune and his men turned the battle around. Super-
pheasants (on the left scroll) in particular were associated with imposing the memory of such violence onto a subdued painting
elegance, good fortune, and refinement in Chinese court culture. might seem forced — indeed, it might have been — but since
During the Ming dynasty the golden pheasant, with its spectac- hawk and lion paintings by Kano artists were imbued with simi-
ular and colorful plumage, was even featured on embroidered larly martial connotations, perhaps it is not so far-fetched.
rank badges. While this custom was not transferred to Japan, the Although Shōei’s reputation has long been overshadowed by
regal associations of the pheasant would still have been recog- the achievements of his father and teacher, Motonobu, and by
nized by viewers of Shōei’s diptych. The flowers of the four sea- the innovative genius of his son Eitoku, he has in recent decades
sons integrated into the artist’s composition were a distinctive been getting more scholarly attention.4 Highly esteemed in his
feature of Japanese renditions of Chinese bird-and-flower themes. own day, he garnered many prestigious commissions from wealthy
On the right scroll, a cluster of dandelions and violets suggests temples and Shinto shrines, as well as from the imperial court.
spring, while azaleas in bloom on the stream bank signal summer. On occasion he collaborated with his more famous son, most
On the left scroll, drying reeds and loquat imply the arrival of notably on the large-format ink-monochrome paintings created
autumn, and winter is suggested by red-berried spearflowers in 1566 for Jukōin, a subtemple of Daitokuji, in Kyoto.5
(yabukōji) poking out from behind rocks in the stream.
Another, more subdued ink painting with light colors, from CHINE SE P O E T I C L A NDSC A PE S
the Fishbein-Bender Collection, shows a brown-eared bulbul T R A NSP OSED TO J A PA N
By the early seventeenth century, the main branch of the Kano
school had transplanted itself to the new military capital of Edo,
where the Tokugawa shoguns had established their seat of power.
The precocious Kano Tan’yū (1602 – 1672) was not yet sixteen
Fig. 2. Kano Shōei (1519–1592), Pheasants among Trees and Flowers of the Four
Seasons, Muromachi period (1392–1573), probably 1560s. Pair of hanging years old when he was designated the shogun’s painter-in-residence
scrolls; ink and color on paper, each 37 3/8 ∞ 18 3/8 in. (95 ∞ 46.6 cm). The Met- (goyō-eshi). The Kajibashi lineage, as the Kano school in Edo was
ropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of
the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.68a, b) referred to, was commissioned to design and execute monumental
KANO AND TOSA 23

24
painting programs to decorate sliding doors in castles controlled
by the Tokugawa, such as Edo Castle and Nijō Castle.
No doubt responding to the tenor of the times, as well as to
the Tokugawa emphasis on Confucian morality and social con-
trol, Tan’yū advocated a painting style that eschewed the gran-
diose approach of the Momoyama era. This renewed interest in
ink monochrome and the effective use of blank space informed
his smaller handscroll, hanging-scroll, and album compositions.
Also, owing to the privilege of access his position allowed and
to an insatiable, curator-like curiosity, Tan’yū found opportunities
to study and record in small, quickly rendered sketches (shukuzu)
the vast number of masterpieces of Chinese and Chinese-
inspired paintings and objects in the collections of temples and
wealthy samurai.6
Two paintings by Tan’yū, one in the Metropolitan Museum
and the other in the Fishbein-Bender Collection, recast Chinese
landscape motifs taken from traditional subject matter. In both
cases the images refer to the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang
Rivers, a literary theme based on an area in present-day Hunan
province where two rivers converge with Lake Dongting.7 Evoc-
ative ink renditions of the Eight Views were widespread in China,
Korea, and Japan, although the original literary and political
implications were lost in Japan, and artists started to adapt the
scenes to famous sites in and around the Japanese capital.8 The
earlier of the two paintings (cat. 2), which might originally have
been part of a longer handscroll, takes on just one of the poetic
themes from the Eight Views, “The Fishing Village in the Eve-
ning Glow” (Gyoson sekishū). In the later rendition (fig. 3),
Tan’yū balances the unpainted void with painted forms and
Fig. 3. Kano Tan’yū (1602–1672), Landscape in Moonlight, after 1662. Triptych

of hanging scrolls; ink on silk, each 39 5/8 ∞ 16 3/4 in. (100.6 ∞ 42.5 cm). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection
of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers,
Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and
The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.50)
KANO AND TOSA 25

exploits the separate-but-linked quality of the triptych format to
create an ethereal panoramic view.
The Fishbein-Bender painting is signed “Tan’yū Hōgen
hitsu,” or “Painted by Tan’yū, of the court rank Hōgen, ‘Eye of
the Buddhist Law,’” and thus must have been created sometime
between 1638 and 1662, when the artist held this honorific title.
The Met composition, in contrast, is signed “Hōin Tan’yū hitsu,”
which indicates that the triptych was made after the painter was
granted the title of Hōin (Seal of the Buddhist Law) in 1662, at
the ripe old age of sixty-one. When comparing these ink paintings
by Tan’yū to works of the previous generation, namely those by
Eitoku and Takanobu,9 one can observe a striking shift in taste
from the lush, heroic style of the Momoyama period to the more
subdued and erudite manner of the late Kano school. It was the
latter approach that dominated Japanese art through the rest of
the Edo period.
K A N O A ND TOS A B IRD - A ND - FLOW ER PA IN T ING

Bird-and-flower paintings, with their auspicious symbolism, would
remain stock-in-trade for the Kano atelier for subsequent genera-
tions, and numerous examples on folding-screen, hanging-scroll,
and album-leaf formats survive — The Met’s collection has doz-
ens. In the Fishbein-Bender Collection is a relatively rare and
rather special example of a work by the female painter Kiyohara
Yukinobu (1643 – 1682), who enjoyed singular popularity in the
early Edo period as a keishū, or “woman highly accomplished in
the arts.” Her father, Kusumi Morikage (ca. 1620 – 1690), was
one of the principal students of Kano Tan’yū, and her mother was
Tan’yū’s niece. Like her father, Kiyohara reworked conventional
themes from Muromachi-derived, Kano-style ink painting in a
personal manner. She is said to have studied Tan’yū’s work and
copybooks, and perhaps at one point received the senior Kano
Fig. 4. Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691), Quail and Autumn Flowers, late 17th
century. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 38 1/2 ∞ 16 3/8 in. (97.8 ∞ 41.6 cm).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Howard Mansfield Collection,
Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936 (36.100.52)
painter’s direct instruction.10 Her corpus of paintings includes a a combination especially favored by Southern Song artists, as it
number of hanging scrolls with vignettes of the Chinese historical signified peace and longevity (fig. 4). In China an even more
or literary figures that were a staple of the Kano repertory, yet she familiar pairing was of quail (an) and millet (sui), which reminded
followed Tan’yū’s lead in experimenting with subjects executed in viewers of the saying “May you have peace year after year!” (suisui
the yamato-e mode, or traditional Japanese-style painting. ping’an).12 But such verbal allusions would not have been trans-
In the example from the Fishbein-Bender Collection, three mitted easily to Japan, and the accompanying flora could be sub-
waxwings are presented in various poses: at rest, in flight, and stituted with others to align more closely with Japanese sensitivity
perching on a rock (cat. 3). The birds are rendered with a degree to the changing of the seasons. Here, for instance, along with
of detail not seen in the gentle and more abstract articulation of chrysanthemums, other Japanese autumnal flowers such as bush
the rocks in the stream and the trunk of the cherry tree, at the clover (hagi ) and bellflowers (kikyō) provide a seasonal connection.
base of which are sprigs of bamboo. The composition, a clear For a painting formerly in the Fishbein-Bender Collection
reference to spring, is delightful in its own right, and need not be and now part of The Met’s holdings, Mitsuoki departed from
read with an eye to deeper symbolic significance. However, art- his standard repertory of quails to paint egrets and cotton roses,
ists and their patrons surely would have understood the suitabil- using a somewhat looser, more expressive style for the flowers,
ity of this painting for certain occasions, such as a marriage or leaves, and rocks (cat. 4). The egrets are painted in the “bone-
the birth of a child. The associations are derived from the observa- less” (mokkotsu) method, with minimal outlines, showing the
tion that male and female waxwings help feed each other during influence of contemporaneous Rinpa artists. The painting also
their mating season and then, after mating, can be seen to rub demonstrates Mitsuoki’s subtle but definite interest in incorpo-
their heads together as if trying to embrace or kiss; thus, they rating Kano-style elements, especially in the way he executed
came to symbolize marital harmony and familial prosperity. 11 the rocks with bolder brushstrokes in ink. Such bird-and-flower
The third bird can, of course, represent a child. paintings by Mitsuoki are a reminder that, beginning in the
It is instructive to compare Yukinobu’s image of waxwings fifteenth century, hereditary artists of the Tosa school served
and cherry blossoms to contemporaneous bird-and-flower com- both the shogunate and the imperial family but were overshad-
positions by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617 – 1691), a prominent and long- owed in time by the success of the Kano school. It was Mitsuoki’s
lived artist of the “rival” Tosa painting studio in Kyoto. He is appointment as the head of the imperial bureau of painting
known together with Mitsunaga (flourished 12th century) and (edokoro azukari ) in 1654 that led to the school’s revival in spite
Mitsunobu (1434 – 1525) as one of the sanpitsu, or “three great of the dominance of the Kano school.
painters,” of that school. We usually associate Tosa artists with While the Kano school’s patronage by the Tokugawa sho-
meticulously detailed and brilliantly colored yamato-e images gunate and daimyo in the provinces guaranteed their economic
depicting quintessentially Japanese themes, such as narrative solvency and continued prosperity throughout the Edo period,
scenes from Heian-period romances. Yet Mitsuoki is known for their prominence waned as the fortunes of elite military families
painstakingly detailed paintings of quail — always with plumage dissipated. Furthermore, as the Kano school came to be seen as a
carefully delineated — with flowers or grasses, reflecting an bastion of conservative painting styles, prominent painters of
indebtedness to Chinese works of the Southern Song dynasty. other schools, including all of those discussed in the pages of this
A highly refined Mitsuoki composition in the Metropolitan volume, rose in importance to end the Kano hegemony over the
Museum shows a pair of quail juxtaposed with chrysanthemums, pictorial arts of Japan.
KANO AND TOSA 27

Cat. 1
狩野松栄筆梅にヒヨドリ図
Kano Shōei (1519 – 1592)
Brown-Eared Bulbul (Hiyodori) on a Branch of Plum,
mid- to late 16th century
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
25 1 /2 × 12 15/16 in. (64.7 × 32.9 cm)
A bird with a crest of feathers and variegated plumage perches on

a gnarled branch of plum, which has just burst into bloom with
the onset of spring. Bright green leaves of bamboo add a level of
auspicious suggestiveness. The bird can be identified as a brown-
eared bulbul (Japanese: hiyodori). The composition is subdued
and calm, though we may imagine that the bird, with its beak
wide open, is singing to announce the arrival of spring. Its pose
and general appearance are almost identical to those found on
a fan painting in ink — of the same subject and by the same
artist — mounted on a folding screen in the collection of Nanzenji
Temple in Kyoto (Takeda 1977, p. 98, fig. 46; Wheelwright 1981a,
pp. 412 – 13).
Kano Shōei, who specialized in such Chinese-inspired kachōga
(bird-and-flower) paintings, was believed to be the third son of
Kano Motonobu, who helped position the Kano studio as the
dominant force in the capital of Kyoto in the late sixteenth cen-
tury. Admired by his contemporaries, Shōei put forth an indi-
vidual interpretation of Motonobu’s style that provided an
alternative model for younger artists whose sensibilities were less
attuned to the grandiose vision of his own more-famous son,
Kano Eitoku. The seal impressed on the painting, appearing on
many of the artist’s extant works, reads “Naonobu.” The artist
adopted the Buddhist name “Shōei,” by which he is most com-
monly known, when he took the tonsure in his later years.
KANO AND TOSA 29
Cat. 2
狩野探幽筆漁村夕照図
Kano Tan’yū (1602 – 1672)
Landscape with Fisherman, 1638 – 62
Hanging scroll; ink on silk
16 × 37 3/4 in. (40.8 × 96.1 cm)
A versatile and prolific painter, Kano Tan’yū was skilled in a

variety of styles that ranged from meticulous, brightly colored
figural compositions to subtle ink landscapes, such as the cur-
rent work. He was especially known for balancing unpainted
negative space with painted forms. Here, the artist takes on
“The Fishing Village in the Evening Glow” (Gyoson sekishū),
one of the poetic themes from the Eight Views of the Xiao and
Xiang Rivers. The Eight Views had been popularized in eleventh-
century China through verses that describe an area in present-
day Hunan province where two rivers converge with Lake
Dongting. Evocative ink renditions of the theme became popular
in China, Korea, and Japan. The use of graded washes and soft-
focus pictorial elements fading into empty space give a sense of
the misty, moisture-laden atmosphere of this region of lakes
and rivers in southern China.
Tan’yū headed the Kajibashi school of Kano painters in the
newly burgeoning city of Edo, headquarters of the Tokugawa
military rulers. Hidetada, the second Tokugawa shogun, invited
him to relocate from Kyoto to Edo in 1617, where by age sixteen
he became the newly established shogunate’s first official painter
(goyō-eshi). His career was diverse and included the supervision
of multiple large-scale projects, such as the paintings adorning
the walls of Edo Castle, Nijō Castle, and the Imperial Palace in
Kyoto; the Tokugawa family mausoleums in the Kantō region
(Nikkō, Shiba, and Ueno); and important Kyoto temples, such as
Daitokuji and Nanzenji. This work bears the signature “Painted
by Tan’yū, of the court rank Hōgen, ‘Eye of the Buddhist
Law,’” which includes the honorary Buddhist title bestowed
upon him in 1638. The seal reads “Morinobu.”
30
31
Cat. 3
清原雪信筆緋連雀桜竹図
Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643 – 1682)
Waxwings, Cherry Blossoms, and Bamboo,
late 17th century
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk paper
39 1 /8 × 16 3/8 in. (99.4 × 41.6 cm)
Literature: Fischer and Kinoshita 2015, no. 97
Kiyohara Yukinobu was known in the early Edo period as a

“woman highly accomplished in the arts,” or keishū. Her husband
was a pupil of Kano Tan’yū, and she herself, as Tan’yū’s grand-
niece, may have studied with him. Her paintings are character-
ized by fluid brushwork and the delicate application of light
color. Here, she offers three waxwings (Japanese: hirenjaku) in
various poses: one rests serenely on the branch of an aged cherry
tree in full bloom, indicating a late spring setting; one is captured
in flight; and the third perches on a rock, espying insect prey in
a stream. Carefully observed details of flora and fauna are com-
plemented by the gentle articulation of the rocks in the stream and
the boldly inked trunk of the cherry tree. At the base of the tree
are sprigs of bamboo. The gently meandering stream, rendered
in reserve, is set off by pale gray ink washes. Since waxwings,
after mating, rub their heads together in a way that suggests a
display of mutual affection, they came to be a symbol of marital
harmony and familial prosperity, which is one possible interpre-
tation of the painting (Fischer and Kinoshita 2015, no. 97).
Yukinobu’s signature along the lower right border, “Painted
by Yukinobu, a daughter of the Kiyohara family,” appears on
other examples of her work. Like the seal, which reads “Kiyohara
jo” (Daughter [or woman] of the Kiyohara family), it emphasizes
her gender in a way that a male artist would never have felt
obliged to do.
Cat. 4
土佐光起筆芙蓉白鷺図
Tosa Mitsuoki (1617 – 1691)
Egrets and Cotton Roses, mid- to late 17th century
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
46 5/8 × 22 3/16 in. (118.5 × 56.3 cm)
Literature: Mizuo 1995, pp. 22 – 26
Artists of the Tosa school are known primarily for refined and
colorful yamato-e paintings, depicting quintessentially Japanese
themes such as scenes from The Tale of Genji and other literary
classics. Mitsuoki is, however, also renowned for his works show-
ing quails with flowers or grasses, reflecting an indebtedness to
Chinese painting of the Southern Song dynasty. A bird-and-
flower painting by Mitsuoki that does not depict quails, such as
this rendering of two egrets with cotton roses, is therefore quite
rare. Though the present work stands out as somewhat unusual
within Mitsuoki’s corpus, in both subject and style it is confi-
dently of the period.
The signature, inscribed beneath the rock, reads “Painted
by Mitsuoki, of the Tosa painting studio, with the honorary
court rank Lieutenant of the Left Division of the Inner Palace
Guards.” It is followed by the seal “Fujiwara.” Both signature
and seal, which match up perfectly with other accepted works by
the artist, proclaim his close connections to the palace and
courtly ancestry.
Mitsuoki painted quails with extreme attention to detail,
carefully executing each feather and other features. Egrets and
Cotton Roses shows him painting in a different, somewhat looser
style, observable in the flowers, leaves, rocks, and egrets (see
detail on p. 18). The birds are, furthermore, painted in the
“boneless” method, with minimal outlines, showing the influ-
ence of contemporaneous Rinpa artists. The painting demon-
strates Mitsuoki’s subtle but definite interest in incorporating a
Kano approach, especially in the way he executed the rocks
with bolder brushstrokes in ink.
KANO AND TOSA 33

Rinpa
Transmitting Ancient Japanese Painting Styles
One of the remarkable characteristics of Japanese cultural history is the way in which courtly literature
of the ancient past, especially that of the Heian period, has been kept alive over countless genera-
tions by artists in every medium. Japanese painters and calligraphers in particular have transmitted
through the centuries images and texts in deluxe formats, even after publication of the classics in
woodblock-printed editions began in the seventeenth century. A parallel phenomenon occurred where
traditional Chinese poetry intersected with Japanese visual culture, and which manifested itself in
the Edo period in Nanga (Literati) and Zen-inspired paintings and in the brush writing of Sino-
philic monks and scholars — as discussed in subsequent essays in this volume. In both the cases of
traditional Japanese and Chinese literature inspiring pictorial art of the Edo period, it is crucial to keep
in mind that the political, social, and cultural contexts in which these writings originated were for
the most part vastly different. By the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, wealthy samurai and
merchants were often the primary patrons for art inspired by poems composed by courtiers or court
ladies of ancient Japan, or by celebrated poets, recluse-scholars, or monks of medieval China.
Certainly, the most noteworthy art-historical manifestation of the renaissance of classical Japanese
literature in early modern times was the emergence of a succession of artists — though not through
familial lines — who dedicated themselves to a style that was informed by and glorified the courtly
35
past. This school, in modern times, has been labeled Rinpa, or “the
school of Ogata Kōrin” — referring to the great Kyoto proponent of
the style, who lived from 1658 to 1716. Rinpa (also spelled Rimpa),
almost by definition, prioritized poetry, poetic subjects (certain
flora and fauna), and literary topics as its thematic foundation.
The origins of the style can be traced back a century earlier to the
vital collaboration of the calligrapher, potter, and lacquer artist
Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558 – 1637) and the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu
(d. ca. 1640), coactive during the early seventeenth century.1
Sōtatsu’s engagement with the literature of the past is encap-
sulated in a series of small paintings, originally mounted on poem
cards (shikishi ) or as album leaves, each with a scene from the
tenth-century classic Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari ). An example in
the collection of the Metropolitan Museum shows the famous
“Mount Utsu” (“Utsu no yama”) episode from Chapter 9, in which
the unnamed courtier-protagonist of the tale, banished from the
capital of Kyoto, encounters an itinerant monk along a mountain
path (fig. 5). The bright colors, lavish use of gold, abstracted
landscape elements, and simplified, graphic representation of fig-
ures demonstrate how Sōtatsu adapted yamato-e, or traditional
“Japanese-style paintings,” previously favored by patrons of the
palace. In the scene, the courtier, who has dismounted his horse,
asks the monk to convey to colleagues in the capital a poem — the
one added here by a calligrapher of the day, no doubt at the request Note here how the waka (thirty-one-syllable court verse) —
of a patron: originally composed in five lines of five, seven, five, seven, and
seven syllables, respectively — does not reflect a conventional pro-
Suruga naru Amid the sad hills sodic structure but instead takes advantage of the technique of
Utsu no yamabe no of Mount Utsu “scattered writing” (chirashigaki) to render the poem in diagonally
utsutsu ni mo in Suruga province, arrayed registers. This distinctively Japanese form of calligraphy
yume ni mo hito ni I can no longer see my lover, is found especially in paintings that can broadly be said to emerge
awanu narikeri not even in my dreams. 2 from the yamato-e, Rinpa, and Ukiyo-e styles. The scene and
The poem, however, is not simply a textual insertion to situate or

confirm the scene being illustrated; rather, it demonstrates how
integrating poetry into a pictorial composition could confer another Fig. 5. Painting by Tawaraya Sōtatsu (d. ca. 1640); inscription by Takeuchi no
Toshiharu (1611–1647), “Mount Utsu” (“Utsu no yama”), from the Tales of Ise
level of literary suggestiveness and enjoyment. Calligraphic inscrip- (Ise monogatari), ca. 1634. Poem card (shikishi) mounted as a hanging scroll;
tions were not a distraction or a competing visual element but ink, color, and gold on paper, 9 11/16 ∞ 8 3/16 in. (24.6 ∞ 20.8 cm). The Metro-
politan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the
essential and complementary to a work of art. Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.88)
related poem would have been immediately recognizable to an
elite patron familiar with court literature, yet the disposition of
the columns of calligraphy and the dynamic modulation of
stroke thickness — effortlessly transitioning from thick to
threadlike — would have impressed the viewer. Moreover, the
overall arrangement of the registers echoes the diagonals of the
composition. This is not to suggest that the calligrapher over-
deliberated on the visual potential of his inscription, but only
that he responded in an innovative manner to the available
space, which was left blank intentionally.
In the eighteenth century Ogata Kōrin and his younger
brother, Kenzan (1663 –1743), were heirs to the traditions pio-
neered by Sōtatsu. Kōrin and Kenzan shared a preference for
highly abbreviated or stylized renderings of natural forms, bold
outlines, and themes drawn from poetry and classical literature.
Neither was a pupil of Sōtatsu himself — their lifetimes did not sorts.5 It was inspired by the similarly iconoclastic calligraphic style
even overlap with the master’s. Instead, they studied certain of of the poet-cum-literary-arbiter of the early thirteenth century
his works firsthand at temples and in the homes of wealthy collec- Fujiwara no Teika (1162 – 1241), famous for compiling poetry
tors. Kōrin created a good number of paintings based on scenes anthologies and editing Heian literary classics. Kenzan’s adula-
associated with the Tales of Ise, the inspiration for Sōtatsu’s image tion of Teika is reflected not only in his calligraphy but also in
just introduced. Most famously, he created screen paintings on the the poetic content of so many of his paintings, be they on glazed
“Eight Bridges” (“Yatsuhashi”) episode, also from Chapter 9 of stoneware or on the more traditional supports of paper or silk.
the tale (see fig. 11). No poetic inscription was required to identify The Metropolitan Museum has two rare inscribed hanging scrolls
this memorable scene from the narrative, when a group of courtiers by Kenzan from a set of twelve representing plants and animals
reaches a marshy area where irises (kakitsubata) are in full bloom. associated with the twelve months, each featuring two poems
Kōrin’s composition is thus a variety of poetic painting — that is, by Teika. The poems representing the sixth month (fig. 6) cele-
one without an actual inscription, though throughout the history brate tokonatsu (or nadeshiko, wild pinks) and the cormorant, a
of Rinpa, we find numerous images of the “Yatsuhashi” episode bird used for night fishing.
that do have calligraphic inscriptions, most famously the example A set of four brightly colored tiles in the Fishbein-Bender
by Kenzan that was in recent years acquired by the Agency for Collection (cat. 5) provides an excellent example of the type of
Cultural Affairs and designated an Important Cultural Property
in Japan.3
Kenzan and Kōrin were both known for their innovative use
of stoneware as a medium for painting or calligraphy.4 Indeed, Fig. 6. Painting and inscription by Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743), “Sixth Month”
Kenzan was himself most famous for transferring the pictorial and from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months,” 1743. Hang-
ing scroll; ink and color on paper, 6 1/4 ∞ 9 1/8 in. (15.9 ∞ 23.2 cm). The Metro-
calligraphic tradition to ceramics. He had a brusque, rules-breaking politan Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of
Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris
writing style that was emulated by those in his circle and his
Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The
subsequent followers, to the extent that it became a brand of Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.66)
RINPA 37
ceramic ware produced by Kenzan and his workshop in Kyoto. or prose from the past, reworking old phrases in a technique
Each tile is associated with one of the four seasons and is inscribed known as allusive variation (honkadori). But kyōka broke from the
with a classical poem on the theme of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immor- past by incorporating subjects from everyday life that would previ-
tals (for which, see pp. 62 – 63). Such a nostalgic engagement ously have been deemed inappropriate for poetic treatment.
with the golden age of Heian court literature underpins the out- This immersion in the poetry movements of his day would
put of Sōtatsu in the seventeenth century and Kōrin and Kenzan underlie all of Hōitsu’s artistic output. For instance, he contributed
in the eighteenth century. The same may be said of their followers in a kyōka verse to the famous Picture Book of Crawling Creatures
subsequent generations, including Sakai Hōitsu and his closest (Ehon mushi erami, 1788) — nicknamed the Insect Book — with
pupils, Sakai Ōho and Suzuki Kiitsu, whose paintings were a illustrations by Kitagawa Utamaro (1754 – 1806) and poems by
special collecting interest of Richard Fishbein and Estelle Bender. several other talented poets of the day. Each of the double-page
illustrations features two sorts of garden creatures accompanied
HŌI T SU: REIN V EN T IN G RINPA IN ED O by playful love poems, which are often infused with sexual double
Though he earned recognition as the most crucial advocate of the entendres.6 For one illustration Utamaro paired a hairy caterpillar
Sōtatsu-Kōrin style of painting in early nineteenth-century Edo crawling upside down on the stem of a flowering vine with paper
(present-day Tokyo), Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828) might very well wasps by their nest (fig. 7). Hōitsu provided the witty poem on
have ended up pursuing a different path as a painter, or followed the topic of hachi, which means both “paper wasp” and “honeybee”
with greater enthusiasm his literary avocations of poetry and in Japanese. He styled himself with the self-deprecatory poetry
calligraphy. As a scion of the Sakai daimyo family, lords of Harima name Shiriyake no Sarundo, which literally means “the monkey
province (and controllers of Himeji Castle), he enjoyed a privi- with a burnt ass.” His kyōka reads:
leged upbringing and was therefore free to pursue whatever form
of artistic training struck his fancy. No doubt as part of an Kowagowa ni Like reaching into
attempt to escape official duties, in 1797 he took Buddhist vows toru hachi no su no the opening of a beehive,
to become a lay monk and adopted the priestly name Tōgakuin anani eya I’m timid when meeting
Monsen Kishin, which appears in various permutations in his umashi otome o a lovely young maiden
seals and signature throughout his career. mitsu no ajiwai who tastes sweet as honey.7
Students of Hōitsu the artist might not realize that, before
he achieved fame as the primary advocate of Rinpa in Edo, he As recent retrospective exhibitions in New York and various
was extremely proficient in the composition of both haikai venues in Japan have demonstrated,8 Hōitsu was a polymath art-
(seventeen-syllable seasonal verse that was the forerunner of ist capable of working in a variety of styles. Through connections
haiku) and kyōka (thirty-one-syllable witty verse). Kyōka derived with kyōka poets and artists who commingled with courtesans of
from traditional waka — of the variety inscribed on the paintings the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter in Edo, he was drawn early on
by Sōtatsu and Kōetsu — and enjoyed a resurgence during the to Ukiyo-e images of the demimonde, and he also worked in the
Edo period, particularly in Edo from the late 1760s onward. naturalistic Maruyama-Shijō and more individually expressive
Hōitsu came of age as a poet when intellectuals of the wealthy Nanga modes (to be discussed in subsequent essays in this vol-
samurai and mercantile classes were starting to form poetry ume). Therefore, to fully grasp his accomplishments, we must
groups. Kyōka poets would gather to compose poems in competi- understand the range of styles he mastered and observe how his
tion in a revival of the court “poetry contests” (uta-awase) of the later works frequently incorporated techniques and conven-
Heian period. They made great use of allusion to famous poems tions absorbed earlier in his career, even though he ultimately
abandoned them as a primary means of artistic expression. Ukiyo-e, Nanga, and yamato-e in favor of Rinpa.11 Executed in
This innovative merging of styles distinguishes his compositions several different painting styles, the set explores subject matter
from earlier Rinpa prototypes. ranging from typical seasonal motifs to courtly or traditional
The earliest Hōitsu painting to be discussed here, dating rituals, as well as at least one classic literary reference (the “Yūgao”
to the mid-1790s, is in the Ukiyo-e style (cat. 6). It shows a slender,
9 chapter of The Tale of Genji, for the sixth month; fig. 8f ).
pensive courtesan standing on a veranda in a light snowfall, her
face partly hidden by the collar of her under-robe. It belongs to
a set of twelve paintings, each associated with a particular month,
that has only recently come to light (figs. 8a – l).10 Viewed Fig. 7. Kitagawa Utamaro (1754–1806); poems by Sakai Hōitsu (as Shiriyake
no Sarundo, 1761–1828) and Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749–1823), “Paper
together, these works reveal much about Hōitsu’s activities from Wasp (Hachi) and Hairy Caterpillar (Kemushi),” from Picture Book of Crawling
the late 1790s or early 1800s — a crucial juncture in his career as Creatures (Ehon mushi erami), 1788. Page from a woodblock-printed book; ink
and color on paper, 10 1/2 ∞ 7 1/4 in. (26.7 ∞ 18.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum
he began to abandon his earlier, experimental immersion in of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1918 (JP1043)
RINPA 39
f. 6th Month: Yūgao flower on a fan (a reference e. 5th Month: A kusudama (ornamental scent ball d. 4th Month: Deutzia flowers (unohana)
to The Tale of Genji) used in this month’s festival)
The images related to the seventh and ninth months (figs. 8g, Tanabata (Evening of the Seventh) Festival, held on the seventh
8i) demonstrate the artist’s firm grounding in East Asian literary day of the seventh month, is the poem “Ascending the North
traditions. Accompanying the spontaneously brushed leaf of the Tower One Autumn Day” by the Tang master Li Bai, on the
paper mulberry tree (kaji), once used for inscribing poems for the subject of viewing a citron or wood oil (wutong) tree in autumn,
inscribed in Hōitsu’s fluent and crisp Chinese characters (fig. 8g).12
On one level, the painter-calligrapher selected the famous Chi-
nese poem for its autumnal associations, yet we suspect that he
Figs. 8a–f. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), Activities of the Twelve Months was further triggered by visual associations, since the lobed
(Tsukinami-e), late 1790s. Six hanging scrolls from a set of twelve; ink
leaves of the Japanese kaji tree closely resemble those of various
and color on silk, each 24 1/2 ∞ 12 1/2 in. (62.2 ∞ 31.8 cm). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Gift of the Oni Zazen Collection, 2017 (2017.283.1–.6) species of the Chinese wutong tree.
c. 3rd Month: Butterfly and rapeseed blossoms b. 2nd Month: Bush warbler (uguisu) on a plum a. 1st Month: The Shihōhai, or Four Directions,
(nanohana) branch New Year’s ceremony
Hōitsu, revealingly, did not compose his own Chinese thus brought to life through poetic associations, a technique
poems as an artist of the Nanga tradition might have attempted that Hōitsu would employ throughout his career.
to do. Rather, he cited a famous poem from the Tang canon. Along with the artist’s experimentation with a wide range
Similarly, to accompany the images of chrysanthemums of the of secular painting styles early in his career, another crucial
ninth month (fig. 8i), he selected a verse in five-syllable lines by component of Hōitsu’s corpus, though one only recently being
the eleventh-century Song poet Su Xun that reveals how the studied, is Buddhist iconographic art. While the subject matter
painter aspired to fill out an image with a literary context. 13 is far removed from the courtly subjects of yamato-e or the fauna
Hōitsu contextualized the monochrome image by including a and flora so prominent in the repertory of Rinpa, Buddhist art
poem that evokes the flower’s fragrance and alludes to its brilliant shares with them an emphasis on the reinterpretation of imag-
color. In both hanging scrolls, simple ink paintings of flora are ery of the past, the careful study of painting models by famous
RINPA 41
l. 12th Month: A courtesan standing on a k. 11th Month: Accessories for the Shichi-go-san, j. 10th Month: Two birds on a sacred tree
veranda on a snowy day (cat. 6) or Festival for Seven-, Five-, and Three-Year-Olds
masters, and a willingness to rejuvenate ancient art with a and temple collections.14 One example is an image of the deity
radically new and vibrant color palette. White-Robed Kannon (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara) seated on a
Hōitsu and his atelier are known to have produced a good rocky ledge overlooking a wave-tossed sea (fig. 9). Kannon is a
number of Buddhist iconographic paintings, for both private bosatsu (Sanskrit: bodhisattva), or one who has achieved enlight-
enment but, owing to his benevolence and compassion, chooses
to postpone his own Buddhahood to remain on earth and help
Figs. 8g–k. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), Activities of the Twelve Months
save others. Bosatsu are essentially male but often take androgy-
(Tsukinami-e), late 1790s. Five hanging scrolls from a set of twelve; ink
and color on silk, each 24 1/2 ∞ 12 1/2 in. (62.2 ∞ 31.8 cm). The Metropolitan nous form, suggesting maternal and compassionate attributes.
Museum of Art, Gift of the Oni Zazen Collection, 2017 (2017.283.7–.11)
According to Buddhist teachings, Kannon appears in up to thirty-
Fig. 8l. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), Beauty on Veranda in Snow (cat. 6) three different forms. In the manifestation represented here, the
i. 9th Month: Chrysanthemums, with a h. 8th Month: Autumn grasses and moon g. 7th Month: Leaf of a paper mulberry tree
poem in Chinese (kaji) for inscribing poems for the Tanabata
Festival, with a poem in Chinese
White-Robed Kannon sits on the island of Putuo (Sanskrit: Sutra, which invokes the salvific powers of Kannon. As with the
Potalaka), believed by the Chinese to be located offshore from inscription of the Chinese poems in the set of twelve paintings
Ningbo, in Zhejiang province. The artist’s rendering adheres to mentioned above, Hōitsu’s practiced hand is marked by virtuosic
earlier Chinese conventions — as interpreted by medieval Kano- control of the brush as he connects strokes within a character
school artists — of stiff outlines, a frontal presentation of facial with elegantly curving, ultra-thin lines — the sign of an expert
features, stylized robes, and an ornate crown. The background,
15 calligrapher (fig. 10). This type of deluxe Buddhist composition,
however, in its tendency toward abstraction and the creation of a which modernized ancient works, became a sideline of Hōitsu
halolike grotto, reveals Rinpa tendencies. Also distinctive about and his atelier. Hōitsu’s artist friend Tani Bunchō (1763 – 1841)
the painting, dated 1823, is the incorporation of a passage from created a painting based on the same model as this one, as well as
the “Kannon Sutra” (“Kannon-gyō”), Chapter 25 of the Lotus a pair of Buddhist paintings to accompany this work.16
RINPA 43
Another example of a Buddhist painting from the atelier of
Hōitsu, in the Fishbein-Bender Collection, is a hyper-meticulous
image of the Willow Kannon rendered in vivid mineral pig-
ments on a painted gold silk surface (cat. 7). The signature reveals
that the work is based on a painting by the legendary Chinese
artist Wu Daozi (689 – after 755). References to Wu Daozi appear
frequently in Edo-period paintings and painting treatises, and
making such an association with a venerable Chinese painter
aimed to enhance the status of a work.17 However, no artist in Edo
Japan would have been able to see an actual painting by the Tang-
dynasty master, only those attributed to him in Kyoto temples,
as well as rubbings of his works or reproductions in woodblock-
printed books.18 Hōitsu was part of a circle around Nakamura
Butsuan, an Edo merchant, collector, and inveterate antiquar-
ian, so it is reasonable to assume that, through this association,
he would have had access to such models. Suggesting a link to
Wu Daozi demonstrates a historicist approach to art-making
within Hōitsu’s circle and reflects how they went about scouting
ancient paintings for reference. This phenomenon of copying
ancient paintings was part of a broader trend among Japanese
intellectuals during the first decades of the nineteenth century to
investigate and record the history of Japanese material and visual
culture. Hōitsu came to maturity as an artist in such a fertile intel-
lectual environment and became one of its major proponents in
the realm of painting.
Hōitsu clearly had a firm knowledge of Chinese poetry as
well as Buddhist scriptures (recall that he took vows as a monk
in 1797), but he would come to focus more on traditional Japanese
varieties of poetry in the subsequent stage of his career, as he
turned more and more to creating art in the Rinpa style. It is said
Fig. 9. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), White-Robed Kannon, 1823. Hanging scroll;

ink, color, and gold on silk, 33 5/8 ∞ 14 in. (85.4 ∞ 35.6 cm). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2017
(2017.293)
Fig. 10. Detail of inscription in Hōitsu’s White-Robed Kannon (fig. 9)
The Met’s collection (figs. 11, 12).20 This painting along with
the Irises (Kakitsubata zu byōbu) screens in the Nezu Museum,
Tokyo, are among Kōrin’s most famous works, and clearly, this
type of graphic presentation of floral themes had a huge impact
on Hōitsu’s own artistic development. Hōitsu even created his own
rendition of the theme, now in the Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo.21
Both of Kōrin’s paintings were inspired by an episode in the
Tales of Ise, or perhaps the related Noh play Irises (Kakitsubata).22
In the narrative, the protagonist and his comrades come to an
iris marsh traversed by eight bridges, and a love poem is then
recited that incorporates the syllables of the word kakitsubata at
the head of each line. Keeping in mind that “ha” and “ba” could
be written the same way in premodern times, my translation
attempts — with poetic license — to replicate the wordplay of
the original:
Karagoromo I wear robes with well-worn hems,

kitsutsu narenishi Reminding me of my dear wife
tsuma shi areba I fondly think of always,
harubaru kinuru So as my sojourn stretches on
tabi o shi zo omou Ever farther from home,
Sadness fills my thoughts.23
that Hōitsu’s drinking companion Tani Bunchō was among those Although Kōrin distilled the pictorialization to just a plank bridge
who urged him to specialize in Rinpa, and focus on one style in and irises (or, in the Nezu version, to clusters of irises), the liter-
which he could then excel. It was sound advice, since the poly-
19 ary underpinning of the dramatic arrangement in purple and
math artist went on to lead the Rinpa renaissance in Edo and green would have been instantly recognizable to any literate viewer
earned recognition as the most prominent heir to a style that at the time of its creation. This kind of literary symbolism, with
first flourished in the seventeenth century — during the age of connections to narratives, waka poetry, or Noh plays, was com-
Tawaraya Sōtatsu and Hon’ami Kōetsu — and reached its zenith mon in early Rinpa compositions. Also, the depiction of types
in the eighteenth century with the works of Ogata Kōrin and of flowers closely associated with seasonal waka was a hallmark
Kenzan. Hōitsu’s full immersion in the study of Kōrin’s Rinpa of Kōrin and his followers. Hōitsu, and later his pupils, would
corpus is demonstrated by his compilation of the woodblock- became famous for their meticulous depictions of flora and fauna,
printed One Hundred Paintings of Kōrin (Kōrin hyakuzu), in which though Hōitsu would expand the repertory of flowers to include
line drawings rendered by Hōitsu and Kiitsu capture a selection subjects that Sōtatsu and Kōrin never explored.
of Kōrin’s compositions in somewhat abbreviated form. For As time went on, Hōitsu and his pupils catered to an ever-
instance, Hōitsu must have encountered a version of Kōrin’s growing, wealthy clientele, many of whom were amateur poets,
Irises at Yatsuhashi screen painting, perhaps the one now in and they enjoyed fame and prosperity. Responding to both
RINPA 45
Fig. 11. Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716), Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges), after 1709.
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gold leaf on paper, each
64 7/16 in. ∞ 11 ft. 6 3/4 in. (163.7 ∞ 352.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Purchase, Louisa Eldridge McBurney Gift, 1953 (53.7.1, .2)
46
Fig. 12. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), One Hundred Paintings by Kōrin (Kōrin
hyakuzu), 1826 (sequel edition). Pages from a woodblock-printed book.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Howard Mansfield Collec-
tion, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936 (JIB118d)
47
aesthetic sensibilities and trends in Edo art, as well as an increased penned, “poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with
interest in the natural sciences in Japan, by the early to mid-nine- real toads.” For Rinpa painters, we might say, painting is the art
teenth century their representations of plants and flowers became of creating imaginary gardens with real flowers.
more naturalistic and botanically accurate. Rinpa artists were Brilliantly exemplifying this characteristic of floral paintings
also affected by the advent of the Maruyama-Shijō school, which against “blank” gold backgrounds is a recent addition to The
made naturalistic drawing and painting a central focus (see Chap- Met’s collection of a small pair of six-panel folding screens by
ter 5). Rinpa compositions nevertheless remained formalized, Hōitsu showing a single aged cherry tree on the right and a pair
decorative, and detached from any recognizable landscape setting. of younger trees on the left (fig. 13). The tree trunks are rendered
As the American modernist poet Marianne Moore famously through the ink-mottling technique called tarashikomi (liter-
ally, “dripping in”), in which the artist adds pigment or ink to a
still-wet surface. Since the mottling effect here occurs only at the
outlines of the trunks, the artist knew in advance that the over-
all effect would not be sloppy, but he nevertheless relinquished
Fig. 13. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), Blossoming Cherry Trees, ca. 1808–10.
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, each control of the brush to allow for random blurring and blotch-
38 ∞ 82 3/16 in. (96.5 ∞ 208.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
ing, thereby acquiescing to the physical properties of his materi-
Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Founda-
tion, 2015 (2015.300.93.1, .2) als. The contrast between the textured trunks, with mottled
areas touched up with dots of oyster-shell (gofun) pigment to the use of tarashikomi, and the gold-leaf background to set off the
create the effect of lichen, and the precisely rendered cherry composition. At the same time, the overlapping of the two young
blossoms — all against a dazzling gold background — is a quint- trees, an effective way of indicating perspective, shows that
essentially Rinpa experience. Hōitsu had also assimilated the techniques of Maruyama Ōkyo,
Paintings of cherry trees in isolation were not as common as who had earlier utilized such effects in his paintings of floral
one might expect in the canon of Rinpa art, considering how subjects.24 Consider as well the artist’s use of tarashikomi to ren-
they came to be seen as a symbol of Japan. One is more likely to der the trunk of a persimmon tree in a two-panel screen painting
see paintings of people viewing cherry blossoms or of trees in of ten years later, dated late autumn 1816, which also demon-
bloom at famous sites with poetic associations (meisho), such as strates the artist’s fascination with Western-style realism (fig. 14).
Yoshino, near Nara. As various commentators have pointed The curling leaves and grass evoke the cold sky of a clear autumn
out, and as we shall see in other examples, Hōitsu’s immersion in day and provide a setting that is haikai-esque in its mood.25
haikai and his acquaintance with clients who shared his poetic Hōitsu’s own fluency in haikai and its integral role in his cre-
proclivities led him to create screens and hanging-scroll paint- ative process are demonstrated by a painting of natural emblems
ings focusing on individual floral subjects that came up in poetry. of the four seasons accompanied by eleven poems of his own
Hōitsu’s cherry-blossom screens highlight all the character- composition (cat. 8). The imagery includes Mount Fuji in early
istics of Edo Rinpa: the stylized presentation of a floral motif, spring; the hototogisu cuckoo announcing the arrival of summer;
RINPA 49
maiden flowers (ominaeshi) and Chinese bellflowers (kikyō) of than follow the three-line, five-seven-five syllabic prosody of the
autumn; and red-berried yabukōji plants breaking through the haikai (for translations, see pp. 69 – 70).
snow in winter. We earlier witnessed Hōitsu’s proficiency in This innovative style combining naturalism with the bold,
Chinese calligraphy, with his trademark graceful ligatures con- graphic effect of Rinpa finds its fullest expression in Hōitsu’s atmo-
necting strokes. Here, we see his mastery of Japanese-style cal- spheric rendering of kudzu leaves and blossoms on a moonlit
ligraphy, made even more dynamic through the use of scattered night (cat. 9). Inscribed on the painting is a poem by the courtier-
writing, in which the heights of text columns vary in length rather poet Toyama Mitsuzane (1756 – 1821), who was adopted from the
Karasumaru clan and was a direct descendant of the distinguished
Kyoto courtier-calligrapher and poet Karasumaru Mitsuhiro
(1579 – 1638). The poem is a traditional waka, but Mitsuzane’s use
of scattered writing rearranges the lines so that the poem begins
on the lower left and ends on the right, effectively reversing the
traditional order of inscribing a poem.
Thus we can observe how Chinese and Japanese poetry —
whether waka, kyōka, or haikai — played such a formative role in
the pictorial art of Hōitsu. Clearly the master painter-calligrapher
was well grounded in traditional Chinese poetry, which would
have been a compulsory part of the curriculum for the son of a
samurai. Yet being part of the upstart poetry circles of Edo clearly
triggered a totally different outlook by the artist toward the rep-
resentation of literature of the past from that of his Rinpa
predecessors. Hōitsu’s dedicated practice of haikai composition,
furthermore, was reflected in his sensitivity to the nuances of
seasonal phenomena, another shared characteristic of the Rinpa
tradition. Finally, we should note that Hōitsu’s remarkable virtu-
osity with the writing brush is an aspect of his output that has yet
to be studied with the attention it deserves. We hope that some
of the examples introduced here and in the catalogue section will
attest to Hōitsu’s accomplishments as one of the most talented
calligraphers of his day.
ŌH O : H ŌI T SU ’ S A D O P T ED SO N
Many paintings by Sakai Ōho (1808 – 1841) are based on or directly
inspired by the work of Hōitsu, his adoptive father and teacher,
who no doubt had great aspirations for him. Yet Ōho died in his
early thirties, and left a comparatively small body of work. In a
Fig. 14. Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), Persimmon Tree, 1816. Two-panel folding
screen; ink and color on paper, 56 9/16 ∞ 56 5/8 in. (143.7 ∞ 143.8 cm). The Metro-
politan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.156.3)
Fig. 15. Sakai Ōho (1808–1841), Hollyhocks, early 19th century. Hanging scroll;
ink and color on silk, 40 1/2 ∞ 14 in. (102.9 ∞ 35.6 cm). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary
and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.101)
RINPA 51
hanging-scroll painting of hollyhocks (Althaea rosea; Japanese: has a delightful simplicity, while the god has a grandfatherly
tachiaoi ) and prince’s-feather flowers (Polygonum orientale; Japa- calm.26 Jurōjin has an elongated forehead, symbolizing great wis-
nese: katade) in the Metropolitan Museum (fig. 15), we observe dom, like another of the lucky gods, Fukurokuju. Both Jurōjin
close similarities with Hōitsu’s moonlit kudzu vine (cat. 9), but and Fukurokuju frequently appear alongside either a crane or a
Ōho does not achieve his father’s subtle touch. We do, however, deer, which, significantly, are also the two most commonly rep-
again witness an Edo Rinpa artist depicting flowers that rarely resented auspicious animals of the Rinpa canon.
occurred in the works of his predecessors. Of course, hollyhocks — Toward the end of his short career, Ōho created a number of
with their stately appearance, tall stems, and symmetrical arrays miniature scroll sets featuring meisho (poetic places).27 The Met
of leaves and blossoms — were a common subject of Rinpa artists has a particularly eye-catching set of six miniature handscrolls
from the seventeenth century onward, but the katade rarely received on the theme of the six rivers in various parts of Japan that are
such attention. The addition of a little butterfly, flat and decora- named Tamagawa, or Jewel River (fig. 16). Each scroll shows a
tive in its effect, is a reminder that the artist was capturing a horizontal expanse of landscape in which the main elements of
poetic moment, a haiku-like snapshot of an imaginary garden. the composition are gradually introduced and then slowly fade
While discussing Ōho, we cannot neglect to mention his out in almost cinematic fashion. The relevant poems would have
felicitous paintings of holy men, sages, and poetic immortals — all been so well known at the time that, no doubt, the person who
themes that would remain popular with Rinpa artists into the commissioned Ōho to create the scrolls did not need for them to
modern period. His hanging-scroll painting of Jurōjin — a god be inscribed. Alternatively, the artist may have expected that some-
of good fortune — and his pet deer in the Fishbein-Bender one would eventually add inscriptions after the paintings were
Collection (cat. 10) has an element of lightness and joviality that completed. Remarkably, among the various sets of prints that
distinguishes Rinpa depictions of Jurōjin from those by artists the celebrated Ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige created on the
of other schools (for example, cat. 29). In Ōho’s version, the deer theme, there is one, published in 1857, that utilized Ōho’s scroll or
a shared model (fig. 17).28 Each print in Hiroshige’s set includes a
poem associated with one of the Jewel Rivers. For instance, the
image identified as Fulling Cloth (Tōi) in Settsu Province features
a verse by the courtier-poet Minamoto no Toshiyori (ca. 1055 –
ca. 1129), originally included in the Collection of Poems of a
Thousand Years (Senzaishū, ca. 1188). It reads:
Matsukaze no The howling of the wind

oto dani aki wa through the pines in autumn
sabishiki ni is lonely enough — as the sound
koromo utsu nari of cloth being pounded echoes
Tamakawa no sato in a village by the Jewel River.
Fig. 16. Sakai Ōho (1808–1841), Six Jewel Rivers (Mu-Tamagawa), ca. 1839.
Handscroll from a set of six (detail); ink, color, and gold on silk, each scroll
approx. 3 9/16 ∞ 46 7/16 in. (9 ∞ 118 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson
Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.100e)
Fig. 17. Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), Six Jewel Rivers from Various Provinces
(Shokoku Mu-Tamagawa), 1857. One of a set of six polychrome woodblock
prints; ink and color on paper, 14 1/4 ∞ 9 5/8 in. (36.2 ∞ 24.4 cm). The Metro-
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.227a).
RINPA 53
54
Although Ōho was still in his early thirties when he died, his Kōrin Painting Manual (Kōrin gafu), as homage to the artist who
small but distinguished corpus of works covering the entire range inspired his creativity. At the same time, the manual was astute
of the Rinpa repertory serves as an excellent case study in how self-promotion, since the works it contains resemble Hōchū’s
pictorial themes that can be traced back for centuries were kept ever-so soft, watery style of rendering flowers and figures more
alive as part of a collective visual memory in early nineteenth- than Kōrin’s. For instance, see how closely the woodblock-printed
century Japan. image of peonies from the book (fig. 18) resembles the painting
just mentioned. Or, Hōchū injects an almost comic dimension
H ŌCHŪ: RE V I V IN G RINPA B ACK IN K A NS A I into the depiction of the revered Six Poetic Immortals of classi-
While Hōitsu and his pupils were central to establishing Rinpa cal waka tradition (fig. 19).
in Edo, other artists promoted the style of Kōrin in the part of As with all of the Rinpa artists mentioned here, the evocation
Japan where it was born: Kansai, which encompassed Kyoto, of the golden age of literature — even if less serious in tone or
Osaka, and the Kobe area. Foremost among them was Nakamura even playful or parodic — nevertheless embraced a fundamental
Hōchū (d. 1819), who at first formed part of the circle of Literati adulation and respect for poetic, legendary, and natural themes
artists in Kyoto that included Kimura Kenkadō, Ike Gyokuran, as represented by their artistic predecessors.
and Ike Taiga (all discussed in Chapter 3). Like Hōitsu and so
many of the artists discussed in this volume, Hōchū was skilled K II T SU: FRO M P O E T RY TO B OTA N Y
in haikai and kyōka. His connections to the poetry world led to While the aforementioned Sakai Ōho was no doubt Hōitsu’s heir
numerous commissions to illustrate poetry anthologies. apparent, inheriting from his adopted father the entire repertory
Though born in Kyoto, Hōchū spent most of his career in of techniques and subjects associated with Edo Rinpa, it was
Osaka. He reengaged with the work of the famous Kyoto painter Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858) who would ensure the style’s continu-
Kōrin, and borrowed freely from motifs and styles associated ity from Hōitsu into modern times. Kiitsu was Hōitsu’s top
with Rinpa artists of a century before. He reinvigorated the pupil, and although he faithfully emulated the style of his master,
traditional motifs of the Rinpa repertory in a more decorative, he sought a fresher, more modern feel in his later work, often
playful, and sometimes even humorous vein. Taking the tara- employing a vibrant palette of pinks, purples, and incandescent
shikomi technique to new extremes, he mixed colorful pigments blues never before seen, even in the colorful Rinpa tradition.
sometimes to almost psychedelic effect. Other times he restricted To begin, however, we must mention a seminal painting in
his palette to light colors or simply ink, as in a lush depiction of the Fishbein-Bender Collection from early in the artist’s career.
peonies from the Fishbein-Bender Collection (cat. 11). This delightful and evocative painting of a frog seated on a lotus
In the early 1800s Hōchū temporarily moved to Edo, and leaf shows how Kiitsu, already in the early 1820s, was interacting
in 1802 he produced the highly influential and often reprinted with natural subjects via radically innovative botanical and literary
approaches (cat. 12). The lotus leaves are handled with the trade-
mark tarashikomi technique of Rinpa masters of past generations,
but the frog and lotus flower are rendered with a naturalistic
precision characteristic of a newly evolving attitude toward flora
Figs. 18 (top) and 19 (bottom). Nakamura Hōchū (d. 1819), “Peonies” and and fauna among late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists.
“The Six Poetic Immortals,” from the Kōrin Painting Manual (Kōrin gafu), after
1826 (reprinted posthumously). Two double-page spreads from a woodblock- The lotus flower has millennia-old associations with Buddhist
printed book in two volumes (orihon, accordion-style); ink and color on paper, ideals in art and scripture, and the frog famously makes its
each page 10 5/8 ∞ 7 11/16 in. (27 ∞ 19.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Purchase, Mary and James G. Wallach Foundation Gift, 2013 (2013.697a, b) presence known in the preface to the Collection of Poems Ancient
RINPA 55
and Modern (Kokin wakashū, 905) and more prominently in popular song recited in gosai-bushi, a type of early Edo jōruri
haikai of the Edo period. Usually, “frog” is a season word (kigo) for (puppet plays with melodic recitation).29 The inscription in
spring but can appear in various summer and autumnal contexts, Shokusanjin’s idiosyncratic handwriting (deciphered and expli-
too. Here, the frog appears in a late summer setting, with some cated more fully in the catalogue section) playfully suggests that
of the lotus petals already starting to wilt. the viewer of the scene had been admiring the glowing drops of
Furthermore, in collaboration with the kyōka poet and literary dew on the lotus leaves, reflecting the beatific light of Amida,
arbiter of his day Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749 – 1823), a liter- Buddha of the Western Paradise. But then the frog leaps in, and
ary acquaintance of Hōitsu’s as well (their poems appear together
in the Insect Book illustrated in fig. 7), Kiitsu created a totally
novel composition that betrays the influence of the popular lit-
erary salon culture of the day. Departing from the usually conser- Fig. 20. Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858), Morning Glories, ca. 1850. Pair of six-panel
vative outlook of haikai seasonal poetry, Shokusanjin added a folding screens; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, each 70 3/16 in. ∞ 12 ft. 5 1/2 in.
(178.3 ∞ 379.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Seymour
rebellious and refreshing interpretation of the scene, playing off a Fund, 1954 (54.69.1, .2)
declares that they are not drops of dew but rather just droplets A painting of this sort would have been displayed in an alcove at
of his amphibian piss! Such unexpected iconoclasm demon- the beginning of spring, which coincided with the first day of
strates how Kiitsu approached the natural world in a way that the first month of the lunar calendar. With its stylized and
would have been totally alien to his Rinpa predecessors. By abstracted representation of a natural scene using bright pig-
engaging with literati of his day, he found ways to enliven a ments and an application of gold dust, this painting perfectly
genre of painting that might otherwise have become overly for- encapsulates the Rinpa aesthetic. Kiitsu’s screen masterpiece
mulaic and static. Morning Glories (fig. 20), acquired in 1954 by the Metropolitan
Kiitsu the Rinpa artist could, however, toe the line and create Museum, draws comparisons to Kōrin’s Irises at Yatsuhashi,
more orthodox compositions when the occasion required, as in mentioned above, in its focus on a single variety of flower arrayed
his hanging scroll of a solitary crane coursing across the sky in an abstract, patterned fashion. Moreover, both compositions
before the glowing red orb of the rising sun on New Year’s Day are on gold-leaf backgrounds and present the flowers in dazzlingly
(cat. 13). An aged pine, pruned as carefully as a bonsai tree, rich pigments, characteristics of Rinpa floral compositions through
complements the symbolic association of cranes with longevity. the centuries. However, while Kōrin’s work hews to its literary
RINPA 57
source material by at least suggesting the architecture of a bridge,
Kiitsu’s composition does not even feature a trellis or other indi-
cation of a garden setting. And what was the artist thinking when
he picked the morning glory (asagao) as his subject? It is not a flower
associated in any significant way with the classical poetic tradition,
although it is the name of a character in The Tale of Genji. Morning
glories appear only a handful of times in the ancient poetry anthol-
ogy Collection of Myriad Leaves (Man’yōshū, compiled in the 8th
century) but not at all in compendia such as the Collection of Poems
Ancient and Modern or New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems
(Shinkokin wakashū, ca. 1205). However, this lack of poetic asso-
ciations changed during the Edo period, when the asagao became
a popular topic for haikai. It served as a season word for autumn —
more precisely, the seventh month of the lunar calendar — most
famously expressed in the poem by the eighteenth-century
nun-poet Fukuda Chiyo-ni that is memorized by everyone who
studies haiku:
Asagao ni Morning glories

tsurube torarete have ensnared the well bucket —
morai mizu so I’ll borrow some water.
But this poem — perhaps the most well-known rumination on

morning glories in the Japanese tradition — and others do not
seem to have been the direct inspiration for Kiitsu’s work, even if
haikai of the period surely led to new types of flowers being rep-
resented in Hōitsu’s and Kiitsu’s compositions. What seems to
have provided a more crucial impetus for Kiitsu was the boom in
the collecting and cultivating of different species of asagao by
horticulturists and amateur gardeners in Edo. For instance, we
know that the Okachimachi district in Edo was once famous for
Fig. 21. Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858), Irises and Moth, ca. 1850. Hanging scroll;
ink and color on silk, 39 7/8 ∞ 12 15/16 in. (101.3 ∞ 32.8 cm). The Metropolitan
the cultivation and selling of potted morning-glory plants. Also, in species of iris are compressed into a single composition, each
the late Edo era and again in modern times, the morning-glory identifiable in the same way that Kiitsu’s morning glories were
market in Iriya (Iriya asagao ichi), at the temple of Kishimojin, itemized in horticultural guidebooks. The anomalous presence of
demonstrates the fascination the public had for this particular the ōmizuao moth might therefore function to emphasize that we
flower. It might therefore be said that Kiitsu’s screens were cre- are not in the world of the Tales of Ise but, rather, in a scientific
ated in the context of both a poetic and a botanical surge of realm of the entomological specimen.
interest in morning glories. Researchers have pointed out that, by Rinpa artists of the late Edo period, especially Hōitsu and
consulting asagao cultivation manuals of the day, the flowers with Kiitsu — while inheriting the visual idiom of Sōtatsu and
oversize blue blossoms in Kiitsu’s screens can be identified as the Kōrin — interacted with literati of their day to create works of art
variety known as nure-garasu (“damp crow”).30 This evocative inspired by the more popular literary genres of haikai and kyōka.
name suggests the glistening but nevertheless dark and moody They were also influenced by the increased interest in the natural
appearance of the blossoms rendered here. sciences, as well as the emergence of the Maruyama-Shijō school
We conclude this discussion of poetic signification in Rinpa (discussed in Chapter 5), which had adopted elements of both
art with Kiitsu’s Irises and Moth (fig. 21). The subject, again, is Western and Chinese styles of naturalistic representation of
irises, but we immediately perceive that these are not the flowers flora and fauna. Through the discussion of these shifting attitudes
of Kōrin’s screens (see fig. 11), nor are they rendered with a tra- toward the interaction of art, literature, and science, we can see
ditional Rinpa approach to floral themes. We see instead a how Edo Rinpa artists participated in a distinctive way of look-
consummate expression of botanical precision and a rejection ing at Japan’s cultural past and, at the same time, the world
of the flower’s potential for lyrical suggestiveness. Four different around them.
RINPA 59
Cat. 5
尾形乾山作色絵和歌陶板
Ogata Kenzan (1663 – 1743)
Tiles with Waka Poems of the Four Seasons, 18th century
Stoneware with polychrome underglaze enamels
Each 7 5 ∕ 8 × 7 3 ∕ 16 × 3 ∕ 16 in. (19.3 × 18.3 × 0.5 cm)
Literature: Nezu Art Museum 1968, no. 35; Kokon Biannual 2010, no. 6;
Carpenter 2012, pp. 147, 156, 205, no. 66
These four stoneware tiles in the shape of shikishi, or rectangular number of wares regarded by scholars as being from his own
poem cards, feature abbreviated landscapes rendered with soft hand. The softness of the brushwork in the paintings, with their
washlike brushstrokes in underglaze enamel. Each one bears a simple seasonal references, contrasts with the strong and confident
poem brushed in the distinctive style of Ogata Kenzan, younger calligraphy in dark “ink.” His bold “Kenzan” signature, written
brother of Ogata Kōrin. The waka (thirty-one-syllable court verse) on the underside of each tile here, became a brand mark of his
are by four of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen), studios and followers.
a roster of famous poets from different eras originally selected Kenzan produced wares in a variety of shapes and sizes, some
by the courtier-poet Fujiwara no Kintō (966 – 1041) in the early decorated in “ink” monochrome, others in richly colored under-
eleventh century. Kenzan’s idiosyncratic calligraphy is effec- glaze enamels. His vessels, many of which were designed for use
tively incorporated into each composition, whether applied as in the tea ceremony, included flat plates with low, straight sides,
“scattered writing” (chirashigaki), with individual lines of verse close in appearance to the Fishbein-Bender pieces. However, it
beginning at different heights, or inscribed in regular text fashion, seems that these four examples, which lack a raised edge, were
as on the tile depicting pine seedlings. intended specifically as tiles. (A comparable set of eight tiles can
Kenzan was deeply familiar with the worlds of poetry and the be seen in the collection of the Miho Museum in Shiga prefec-
tea ceremony, and the decorations and inscriptions on Kenzan ture.) We are not sure what function they would have had, but
wares usually display some form of literary connection. On occa- one possibility is that they were used as substitutes for shikishi,
sion he collaborated with his brother Kōrin, who provided a to be attached to a small screen used in a tea ceremony. Perhaps
variety of painted images in underglaze for Kenzan’s ceramic ves- it is just a coincidence, or perhaps intentional selection by a
sels. Kenzan, however, executed many of the paintings for his own former collector or dealer, that the four scenes here refer to each
ceramics, and the almost artless, minimalist style of the land- of the seasons.
scape motifs ornamenting these tiles is associated with a large
61
子の日する野辺に小松をひき連れてみじか夜のふけゆくまゝに高砂の
春の山路に鶯ぞなく峯の松風ふくかとぞきく
Ne no hi suru On the first day of the rat, Mijika yo no As darkness sets in

nobe ni komatsu o we set off to pluck pine shoots fukeyuku mama ni on a short summer’s night,
hiki-tsurete in the fields this spring, Takasago no is what I now hear
haru no yamaji ni and while on the mountain path mine no matsukaze the wind through the pines
uguisu zo naku we hear the song of the warbler! fuku ka to zo kiku on the peak of Takasago?
— Fujiwara no Kanesuke (877 – 933)
— Onakatomi no Yorimoto (d. 958)
62
水の面に照月なみをかぞうれば大井川そま山風のさむければ
こよひぞ秋のもなかなりけるたついはなみを雪かとぞみる
Mizu no omo ni Taking a tally of ripples Ōigawa When frigid winds

teru tsuki nami o on the face of the water, soma yamakaze no from the mountaintops
kazōreba glimmering in the moonlight, samukereba course across the Ōi River,
koyoi zo aki no we know that this night, tonight, tatsu iwanami o waves crashing against the rocks
monaka narikeru the peak of autumn has arrived. yuki ka to zo miru might be mistaken for snow.
— Minamoto no Shitagō (911 – 983) — Koōgimi (active late 10th – early 11th century)
63
Cat. 6
酒井抱一筆雪中縁先美人図
Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828)
Beauty on Veranda in Snow, ca. 1794 – 95
Hanging scroll; ink and colors on silk
29 1 /8 × 12 1 /4 in. (74 × 31 cm)
Literature: Matsuo and Okano 2011, pp. 34 – 35, 408 – 9;
Nakamachi 2011, p. 27; McKelway 2012, pp. 48 – 49, no. 2
This painting of a pensive-looking courtesan standing on a

veranda in a light snowfall is indicative of Hōitsu’s early train-
ing in Ukiyo-e painting. The woman’s gesture, of raising the
layered collars of her garb with concealed hands to veil the
lower part of her face, appears in Ukiyo-e paintings as early as
the late seventeenth century. Her hair, adorned with a comb and
numerous pins, forms two winglike mounds that characterize
the yoko-hyōgo hairstyle popular among high-ranking courtesans
in the late Edo period. Hōitsu’s beauty resembles courtesans in
paintings by Toyoharu, but her figure is more fragile and atten-
uated in appearance than those of the Ukiyo-e master, or even
the courtesans in Hōitsu’s earlier Ukiyo-e works, an example of
which can be seen in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (11.7837).
The seal reading “Teihakushi” beneath Hōitsu’s signature —
“Playfully painted by Toryō” — suggests that this work was cre-
ated in the mid-1790s, when he began to use this name, but
before 1797, when he took the vows of a Buddhist monk.
This painting was recently reunited with a group of eleven
hanging scrolls by Hōitsu (see figs. 8a – k), each of which rep-
resents one of the months of the year. Beauty on Veranda in Snow
must be the missing twelfth month from the set. It is the only
one to have been painted in the ukiyo-e style and as such may
have been made first, reflecting the influence of Toyoharu,
while the others could have been added slightly later, when
Hōitsu’s growing interest in the Rinpa master Kōrin began to
inform his artistic output.
RINPA 65
Cat. 7
酒井抱一筆楊柳観音図
Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828)
Willow Kannon (Yōryū Kannon), probably 1810s
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold leaf on silk
32 5/8 × 14 1 /8 in. (82.9 × 35.9 cm)
Literature: Fishbein 2014, pp. 176 – 79
While Sakai Hōitsu is most closely associated with Rinpa, a image by Wu can be traced to the Northern Song (960 – 1127),
dozen or so paintings of Buddhist deities by him and his circle with three Guanyin paintings attributed to him in the Chinese
are known today, in polychrome as well as in ink, adhering to imperial collection of the early twelfth century. Several engraved
iconography and styles dating back to ancient times. Several versions of Wu’s Kannon date from the Song through the Qing
are dated to between 1814 and 1825 — years after Hōitsu himself dynasty (1644 – 1911) and are known today from rubbings and book
took the tonsure, in 1797, and the name Tōgakuin Monsen illustrations (fig. 22; see also p. 44).
Kishin. He may have felt compelled to do so following the A version of Willow Kannon very close to the Fishbein-
death of his older brother and the issues of succession it engen- Bender painting was published in a 1934 auction catalogue of the
dered, pressures prevalent in prominent daimyo families like his Koizumi Collection (Tōkyō Bijutsu Kurabu sale 1934), though its
(Tamamushi 2004, pp. 185 – 204; Kinoshita [Asuka] 2009, present whereabouts are unknown, and the signature and seal
p. 38). His new status is reflected in the signature inscribed on are hard to discern in reproduction. The existence of multiple
this painting, “Reverently painted by Tōgakuin Monsen Hōitsu, versions of the same composition dating from the same period
copied from a picture by Wu Daozi,” as well as in his seals, raises the possibility of studio production. Furthermore, a num-
“Copied following a model by Hōitsu, disciple of Shakyamuni ber of paintings bear seals, like the Fishbein-Bender Kannon,
Buddha” and “Monsen.” that read “Shaku Hōitsu rinmo,” but variations in the carving
Here, the miniature Amida Buddha in his tall crown, the suggest that they were added at a later date to an unsigned and
willow branch in his right hand, and the vase in his left identify unsealed painting by Hōitsu or an artist in his circle.
this deity as Willow (Yōryū) Kannon. The willow branch is
believed to ward off evil and illness, while the bottle contains a
nectar with healing powers. The Kannon is painted with an abun-
dance of fine pigments, rich in color yet delicately brushed, as
evidenced by the lacelike robe. The outer cape is rendered with
compulsive detail to suggest an otherworldly aura. The flat disk
of a halo is colored in opaque green, with a velvety, tactile qual-
ity. This tendency to use thick, unmodulated areas of bright
malachite or azurite pigments is also a characteristic of Rinpa
paintings. The signature indicates that the painting was based Fig. 22. “Painting of Kannon by Wu
Daozi, a Treasure of Tōfukuji in Kyoto,”
on a model attributed to the Tang-dynasty master Wu Daozi. from Collected Antiquities in Ten Catego-
Nothing in Wu’s hand survives, however, and his corpus is ries (Shūko jisshu). Woodblock-printed
book. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
known only through later copies and rubbings. A Kannon New York, Thomas J. Watson Library
RINPA 67
Cat. 8
酒井抱一筆四季画賛図
Painting and inscription by Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828)
Scenes and Poems of the Four Seasons, after 1817
Hanging scroll; ink and light colors on silk
52 3/8 × 27 in. (133 × 68.6 cm)
Literature: McKelway 2012, no. 45
Hōitsu captures the nuances of several seasons in a single hanging 一幅の春かけ物や窓の不二

scroll, not only through subtle imagery but also through elegantly
brushed poems that he composed himself. We usually think of Ippuku no Like a hanging scroll
haru kakemono ya for the spring season —
Hōitsu as a painter in the Rinpa mode, but he worked in a range
mado no Fuji Fuji framed by a window.
of styles and earned esteem for his crisp and fluid calligraphy, as
well. Accordingly, the artist indicates in his signature that the 花びらのやまをうごかすさくらかな
work was “painted and inscribed by Ōson Hōitsu.” The artist
impressed the painting with one of his well-known personal seals, Hanabira no Even flower petals
“Ōson,” which means “village of the cuckoos (hototogisu),” yama o ugokasu can move a mountain —
referred to in one of the poems below. sakura kana if they are cherry blossoms!
Hōitsu rendered a snowcapped Mount Fuji evocatively in
若草や鶴のふみたるあとは皆
reserve, with just a single, thin brush line of ink to delineate the
contours of the iconic mountain. Pale ink washes and splotches Wakakusa ya Young grasses —
of tarashikomi ink mottling create the effect of early spring mist. tsuru no fumitaru trampled by a flock of cranes,
The pale ink turns to clouds in the register below to create a set- ato wa mina with their tracks everywhere.
ting for the hototogisu, associated in traditional Japanese painting
with the fifth month, or summertime. Accents of yellow and ほとゝぎす手燭にくらし宵の空
blue maiden flower (ominaeshi) and Chinese bellflower (kikyō)
Hototogisu A cuckoo — lit up
signal the autumn and give more specific imagery to the artist’s
teshoku ni kurashi by a lantern in the dark
haikai poem about a court lady strolling across “a field of flow- yoi no sora early evening sky.
ers.” At the bottom of the painting, the red berries of the auspi-
cious yabukōji plant peek through the snow to signal the 野路や空月の中なるをみなへし
imminent arrival of spring. Yabukōji is also known as jūryō (liter-
ally, “ten gold pieces”), which calls to mind other New Year’s Noji ya sora Along a country path at night
tsuki no naka naru caught in the moonlight —
plants, such as senryō (“one thousand gold pieces”), manryō (“ten
ominaeshi maiden flowers in bloom.
thousand gold pieces”), and kara-tachibana (written with char-
acters that mean “one hundred gold pieces”). Interspersed amid
the paintings, the haikai poems read from right to left in four
registers, from top to bottom:
RINPA 69
うの花のとぎれ扣く闇の門
Unohana no Deutzia blossoms glimmer,

togire tataku as someone knocks at the gate
yami no kado in midnight darkness.
上﨟のひとり歩行や花の原
Jōrō no A lady from the palace

hitori aruku ya walks all alone,
hana no hara across a field of flowers.
名月や声やの鶴の咽の中
Meigetsu ya The mid-autumn moon —

yagoe no tsuru no a crane, loudly shrieking,
nodo no naka swallows it whole.
鰒喰た日はふぐくふたこゝろかな
Fugu kūta I ate some fugu fish —

hi wa fugu kūta and a day you eat fugu
kokoro kana feels so lucky, so good!
枝ながら雀打て園の雪
Eda nagara Sparrows perch on a branch,

suzume utte from which we knock off snow
sono no yuki piling up in the garden.
歳暮
祐成が炬燵に春の嵐かな
Seibo: A year-end gift:

Sukenari ga Soga no Sukenari stretches out
kotatsu ni haru no beneath a low table warmer,
arashi kana awaiting the tempest of spring.
70
71
72
Cat. 9
酒井抱一筆外山光實賛月に葛花図
Painting by Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828)
Inscription by Toyama Mitsuzane (1756 – 1821)
Moon and Kudzu Vine, probably ca. 1820
36 1 /4 × 13 11 /16 in. (92 × 34.7 cm)
Ex-coll. Manno Art Museum, Osaka
Literature: Manno Art Museum 1988, fig. 26;
Kobayashi 1990, pp. 144, 277, fig. 236;
Suntory Museum of Art 2001, p. 45, no. 28;
Carpenter 2012, pp. 10, 188, 207, no. 89
Representations of plants and flowers, often species not tradition- respectively. However, Mitsuzane’s use of “scattered writing”
ally depicted by Japanese artists, became more naturalistic and rearranges the lines so that the poem begins on the lower left
botanically accurate in later Rinpa works, as seen in this atmo- and ends on the right, effectively reversing the traditional order
spheric rendering of kudzu leaves and blossoms on a moonlit of inscribing the poem by placing the last line in Japanese, tsuki
night. By the nineteenth century, such detailed realism reflected zo katabuku (“the moonlight slants down”), in what should be
not only the study of the natural sciences in Japan but also the the starting position. Mitsuzane’s signature lies just below the
advent of the Maruyama-Shijō school, founded by Maruyama moon at upper right, instead of at the far left, as would be
Ōkyo, which specialized in naturalistic drawing and painting expected. The artist’s signature, “Painted by Hōitsu,” and the
(see Chapter 5). Sakai Hōitsu also had access to the Chinese seal reading “Monsen” appear on the left of the composition,
painting manuals that Ōkyo and his followers drew on heavily. inside the lower portion of the vine’s S-curve. Mitsuzane’s
Rinpa compositions nonetheless remained formalized and dec- poem reads:
orative to a certain degree, and detached from any recognizable
landscape setting. 更る夜をはなもうらみのいろみえで
Here, the high-quality, thin green pigments that Hōitsu 葛の葉てらす月ぞかたぶく光貫
used to render the kudzu leaves allowed him to create the effect
of translucency (see detail on p. 34). His pupil Suzuki Kiitsu also Fukuru yo o Like the colors of the blossoms,
painted kudzu vines in moonlight, though they lack the master’s hana mo urami no my bitterness over love remains
lightness and evocative lyricism (Kobayashi 1990, cf. figs. 236, iro miede unseen ’til the depths of night,
237). Kudzu is not a frequent subject in earlier Japanese paintings kuzu no ha terasu when the moonlight slants down
but here becomes a backdrop for a poem on the subject by the tsuki zo katabuku upon leaves of kudzu vines.
courtier-poet Toyama Mitsuzane. The poem is a traditional — Mitsuzane
waka, in five lines of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables,
RINPA 73
Cat. 10
酒井鶯蒲（鶯浦）筆寿老人図
Sakai Ōho (1808 – 1841)
The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin, probably 1830s
40 3/4 × 14 7/16 in. (103.5 × 36.7 cm)
Literature: Carpenter 2012, pp. 89, 98, 202, no. 30
Felicitous paintings of holy men, sages, and poetic immortals

were a popular Rinpa theme into the modern period. Paintings
of Jurōjin, one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, had been
repertory pieces for Sakai Ōho’s mentors, Sakai Hōitsu and
Suzuki Kiitsu, and would remain so for other nineteenth-century
Rinpa painters. Comparing Rinpa depictions of the god and his
pet deer with examples by artists of other schools (for instance,
cat. 29), we can see how Rinpa artists injected theirs with an
element of lightness, even joviality. Here, the deer is rendered
with a delightful simplicity, while the deity has a demeanor of
grandfatherly calm. This painting is based on a work by Hōitsu
(private collection, Japan) that is identical except for the boy
attendant (Matsuo and Okano 2011, no. 169). That painting is
part of a triptych with flanking images of flowers, which is possi-
bly how this work could have been presented, as well. Ōho’s
signature, “Painted by Shigen Ōho,” and a seal reading “Bansei”
hug the left edge of the painting, below the feet of the attendant.
Jurōjin is often mistaken for Fukurokuju, another of the
Seven Gods of Good Fortune whose name is written with the
Chinese characters for wealth, happiness, and longevity. He is
often depicted with a bat, tortoise, crane, or sometimes a stag
(thus the confusion of identities, since a deer is the standard attri-
bute of Jurōjin imagery). Another reason for the confusion is that
both gods are personifications of the southern polar star ( Japa-
nese: Nankyokusei). The bearded Fukurokuju is usually depicted
with an extraordinarily elongated forehead and shown in the
garments of a Chinese sage, holding a cane with a scroll attached
to it. He will usually have a tortoise or crane accompanying him;
both creatures are icons of longevity in China and Japan. Here,
the sage’s head is covered by a Chinese scholar’s cap that could
be covering an elongated forehead, but usually the iconography
of this type of painting is labeled as Jurōjin.
74
Cat. 11
中村芳中筆牡丹図扇面
Nakamura Hōchū (d. 1819)
Peonies, early 19th century
Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll; ink on paper
8 9/16 × 23 1 /4 in. (21.8 × 59 cm)
Rendered entirely in ink, this cluster of peony leaves, buds, and lasting fame: the two-volume Kōrin Painting Manual (Kōrin gafu;
blossoms against a blank background encapsulates the early see fig. 18). As the title suggests, the illustrations were inspired
nineteenth-century Rinpa aesthetic. Stylized, abbreviated, and by the celebrated Kyoto artist Ogata Kōrin, a leading master of
even abstracted renderings of natural themes became the norm, the Rinpa school. In the album, published a century after Kōrin
and floral motifs dominated over scenes from classical literature. was active, the Osaka-based Hōchū captured the master’s bold,
The tarashikomi ink-mottling technique remained a trademark, decorative painting style, but with an even more playful spirit,
but Hōchu and others used it to new and lavish effect. often rendering motifs more abstractly. Hōchū first published the
Many fans of this variety were created to be pasted onto album in 1802 as a printed and hand-colored edition. In 1826,
screens, sometimes with one flower to represent each month. several years after the artist’s death, publishers reissued the book
In traditional Japanese poetry, peonies (botan), revered in East in a deluxe, color-printed edition; the gradated colors were cre-
Asia as the “flower of wealth and nobility,” are associated with ated by wiping pigments on the blocks before printing.
early summer. Here, Hōchū took one of his trademark images Hōchu’s signature reads “Hōchū painted this,” and the
and adapted it to the fan format. He had established his template square seal, though one of his most frequently used, remains
for depicting the peony in the illustrated book that earned him undeciphered.
75
Cat. 12
鈴木其一筆蜀山人（大田南畝）賛蓮に蛙図
Painting by Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858)
Inscription by Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749 – 1823)
Frog on a Lotus Leaf, early 1820s
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
38 × 15 1 /4 in. (96.5 × 38.7 cm)
Literature: Yamane 1980, p. 175, no. 161; Tsuji 1980, p. 69; McKelway 2012, no. 14;
Carpenter 2016; Suntory Museum of Art 2016b, no. 23
This delightful painting of a frog seated on a lotus leaf shows how refreshing interpretation of the scene by quoting from a popular
Suzuki Kiitsu was taking innovative approaches to natural sub- song recited in gosai-bushi, a type of early Edo jōruri (puppet plays
jects as early as the 1820s. The leaves of the lotus, which in art and with melodic recitation). The result is an unexpected iconoclasm
scripture has millennia-old associations with Buddhist ideals, are that would have been totally alien to Kiitsu’s Rinpa predeces-
handled with the trademark tarashikomi ink-mottling technique sors, but which enlivened a genre of painting that was at risk of
of Rinpa masters, but the flower is rendered with a precision char- becoming staid:
acteristic of a new attitude toward flora and fauna among artists
of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A similar はちす葉におくしら露は弥陀の光か有がたや
degree of naturalism defines the frog, which appears here in a そのとき蛙まかりいでそれはおれが小便だ
late summer setting, perched on a lotus leaf that has started to wilt これは語斎ぶしのうたとなん
(see detail on p. 12). At the lower right are the artist’s signature, 蜀山人
“Teihakushi,” and seal reading “Hitsuan.” The poetic inscription
dances across the upper register of the silk in the manner of Hachisu-ha ni oku shira-tsuyu wa Mida no hikari ka arigataya
“scattered writing,” with each vertical line of text beginning at Sono toki kawazu makari-ide sore wa ore ga shōben da
a different height. (kore wa gosai-bushi no uta to nan)
In collaboration with the kyōka poet Shokusanjin (Ōta — Shokusanjin
Nanpo), Kiitsu created a novel composition that betrays the
influence of the kyōka salon culture of the time. Artist and poet What a blessing it is to see, on a lotus leaf,
had no doubt discussed the theme in advance, as often happened glistening dewdrops, glowing in Amida’s light!
within kyōka culture. Departing from the usually conservative But just as we think that, a frog appears,
outlook of haikai seasonal poetry and the normal poetic prosody and tells us, “Oh, that’s just drops of my piss!”
of kyōka, Shokusanjin — whose signature, “Calligraphy by — Shokusanjin
Shokusanjin,” follows the poem — offered a rebellious and
RINPA 77
Cat. 13
鈴木其一筆旭日松鶴図
Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858)
Crane and Pine Tree with Rising Sun, early 19th century
17 11 /16 × 23 1 /4 in. (45 × 59 cm)
Literature: Kobayashi 1991, pp. 119, 279, no. 112; Yasumura in
Itabashi Art Museum 1993, p. 34, no. 36; Suntory Museum of
Art 1998, p. 56, no. 109; Mitsukoshi Department Store 2004,
p. 125, no. 71; Carpenter 2012, pp. 129 – 30, 137, 204, no. 53
A graceful crane crosses the glowing red orb of the rising sun on
New Year’s Day. An aged pine, pruned as carefully as a bonsai tree,
complements the symbolic association of cranes with longevity.
Wisps of clouds are rendered in gold. The simple but bold com-
position may be seen as an abbreviation of the Mount Hōrai
(Chinese: Penglai) type. Depictions of the mountain of the
immortals often include auspicious pine trees, cranes, and turtles,
as well as the rising sun. A painting of this sort would have been
displayed in an alcove at the beginning of spring, which coin-
cides with the first day of the lunar calendar. The composition,
with its stylized and abstracted representation of nature using
bright pigments and an application of gold dust, encapsulates the
Rinpa aesthetic. Also characteristic of this style is the rendering
of the tree trunk with the tarashikomi ink-mottling technique.
The artist’s signature, “Seisei Kiitsu,” and seal, “Shukurin,” are
clearly visible beneath an extended branch of the pine, on the right.
The painting was formerly in the collection of the prewar
industrialist, politician, and cabinet minister Kuhara Fusanosuke
(1869 – 1965). After his death, his estate in Shirokanedai, Tokyo,
was transformed into the Happō-en, famous for its banquet halls
and large traditional Japanese gardens with a collection of carefully
trimmed bonsai trees, similar to the one in Kiitsu’s painting.
79
Nanga
Chinese-Style Landscapes and Literati Poetics
MIDORI OKA
In contrast to Rinpa, which drew inspiration from Japanese court literature and the indigenous forms
of painting known as yamato-e, the coeval strand of Japanese painting called Nanga was deeply indebted
to the literature and aesthetics of China. The early eighteenth century was a time of renewed enthusi-
asm among Japanese intellectuals, writers, and artists for things Chinese. This was nothing new in
the institutional and cultural history of Japan, which from even protohistoric times relied on the
mainland for guidance in the establishment of governmental structures, Buddhist sects, a writing sys-
tem, and artistic precedents. During the Edo period, this revival occurred at a time when Bakufu (mil-
itary government) edicts restricted travel abroad and limited the entry of foreigners to the Dutch
(who were for the most part confined to Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay) and to Asian neighbors
from China, Korea, and the Kingdom of Ryūkyū (present-day Okinawa). Even at a time of reduced
contact with the outside world, China remained a constant source of knowledge and cultural inspira-
tion. At the same time, the fall of Ming rule and the founding of the Qing dynasty in 1644 allowed
Chinese intellectuals and religious teachers to travel to Japan. Most notably, monks of the Ōbaku
Zen sect, a distinctly Chinese form of Buddhism, established temples in Nagasaki and at Manpukuji
in Kyoto, and eventually throughout Japan. These developments afforded select but ample opportunities
for Japanese artists to encounter contemporaneous Chinese calligraphic and painting trends.
81
Assimilation by Japanese artists of Chinese aesthetic and
poetic sensibilities occurred within economic, social, and cultural
contexts that were fundamentally different from those in China,
where a government civil service system fostered the rise of a
class of well-educated poets and artists. Japanese artists born into
the samurai class received a formal education in the Confucian
classics and Chinese poetry, but even those from less privileged
socioeconomic backgrounds were considered bunjin, or literati,
and their diverse output can thus be categorized as Bunjinga, or
Literati-school painting. Bunjinga was then and is now also
referred to as Nanshūga, or Southern-school painting — abbrevi-
ated to Nanga — based on a categorization created by the Ming-
dynasty painter and theoretician Dong Qichang. He divided
Chinese landscape painters into two broad groupings: academic
or professional painters were the “Northern school,” while their
expressive or scholarly counterparts were the “Southern school.” 1
And indeed, fundamental to the understanding of Literati paint-
ing is a knowledge of the importance of calligraphy and ink
brushwork as the manifestation of personal expression or the
revelation of the individual’s qi, or spirit. All aspects of Literati
art — painting, poetry, and calligraphy — focused on the idea of
expressing one’s own personality and highly cultivated aesthetic
awareness, and sharing them with others of like sensibilities.
YAN A G I SAWA KI E N ’ S LY R I C A L UNI VER S E

In both its style and lyrical resonance with Literati ideals, the
complex Landscape in the Blue-and-Green Manner (fig. 23) by the
pioneering Nanga artist Yanagisawa Kien (1704 – 1758) reflects
how Bunjin painters of the first generation emulated Chinese mod-
els and learned from woodblock-printed painting manuals, and
how inscriptions of Chinese poetry, whether brushed by the artist
Fig. 23. Yanagisawa Kien (1704–1758), Landscape in the Blue-and-Green

Manner, first half of the 18th century. Hanging scroll; ink and color on
paper, 53 7/8 ∞ 12 1/2 in. (136.8 ∞ 31.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson
Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.156)
himself or by literary acquaintances, were integral to the interpre- I do not mind people who ignore me.
tation and enjoyment of a composition. A stream that begins with Roaming at will,
distant waterfalls at the top of the composition meanders down the I loathe intrusions from guests.
length of the painting, inviting the viewer to travel with it amid Encountering myriad mountains
cliffs, boulders, and trees. The work is a tour-de-force compen- in autumn colors,
They are hard to traverse
dium of brushstrokes, visible in the variety of foliage, the outlines
if relying on a walking cane.
of tree trunks, the textures of rocks, and even the undulation of
water. Nature is brought to life through the brush, and behind it is
When visitors arrive,
an inherent poetic sensitivity.
I excuse myself from them all.
Meticulously brushed inscriptions fill the painting’s only
During such encounters,
open space, in the upper register, and can be viewed as tributes I recline on my tea table for a nap.
to both the high accomplishment of the painting and the outlook Metaphysical discussions
on life it encapsulated (fig. 24). The inscriptions should not be are ultimately tedious chitchat.
viewed as a distraction but, rather, as an integral part of enter- Literary creativity
ing and enjoying the painting, even though they were added has lost its former brilliance.
after the image was rendered. In both content and compositional Time and again
arrangement, the three poems on the right fit the painting par- I puzzle over the cause of this.
ticularly well. They were brushed in an archaic style by Uno People’s love of antiquity
Shishin (Meika, 1698 – 1745), one of the foremost Confucian has disappeared.
scholars in Kyoto of his day. Born into a wealthy shipping fam- Who would be able to sit alone
in the present world?
ily, he dedicated himself to the teaching and mastery of ancient
[The recluse-sage] Ruan Xuanzi
Chinese literature and philosophy, though he never had the
is forgotten, and people
opportunity to travel to Edo to meet celebrated Japanese Confu-
care only for mere money.
cian scholars such as Ogyū Sorai (1666 – 1728). The inscription
captures the underlying ethos of the Literati lifestyle and laments
It is hard to judge
the impossibility of maintaining its ideals in the modern age such worldly concerns.
(a concern of Sorai as well, who advocated a return to ancient, Though frequently ill,
pre-Song classics and morality). The three poems were brushed I am nonetheless very fortunate.
without any conspicuous breaks, so they appear to be one con- Utterly free,
tinuous text: I am no one’s puppet.
Creeping figs and wild vines
If not for frequent inflictions of illness, can be my attire.
I could never let go of my lofty ambitions. Unconcerned
My undeserved fame stays with my fame as a poet,
whether in office or retirement. I let my scholarship
Drifting about, run its own course, too.
how can I rise or fall in status? Those who wear light furs and ride fat horses
Being lazy, regret in vain that their hair is turning gray.2
NANGA 83
Fig. 24. Detail of inscriptions in Yanagisawa's Landscape in the Blue-and-Green
Manner (fig. 23)
84
Shishin’s inscription extols the virtues of dedicating oneself to the age of seven and impressed the monks there with his callig-
Confucian philosophy and the ideal of the noble philosopher raphy. Thereafter, throughout his career, he showed an indebted-
who rejects material success and comfort for more rarefied aspi- ness to the calligraphic styles transmitted by Ōbaku monks.
rations. Kien’s painting evokes such an ancient outlook, and the Taiga’s The River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes, which
distant mountains serve as a metaphor for the unobtainable probably dates to the 1750s, is the earliest of two Taiga paintings
metaphysical realm. in the Fishbein-Bender Collection (cat. 14).4 The title, inscribed
On the left are an additional six poems, added five years after by the artist in the upper right corner, derives from a Chinese
Kien’s death by his pupil Miyazaki Kinpo (1717 – 1774). The pen- verse, “Ode to the Four Seasons,” by the celebrated recluse-poet
ultimate poem serves as a tribute to his teacher while making an Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming, 365 – 427), a favorite among Literati
eloquent statement on Literati ideals and the integral relationship circles. Certainly, the artist was imagining the phrase while con-
between painting and poetry: ceiving the composition and might even have received the topic
as a commission. The painting captures the lushness of a marshy
Most essential is brushwork, and how he used landscape in the spring, when the riverbanks overflow, yet the
the limited picture space attests to this painter’s skill. conspicuous poetic link in the title adds a deeper resonance to
The sun and the moon appear in the main hall. other poems by Tao. For instance, it is not difficult to connect the
rivers and lakes come into the view of seated guests. solitary scholar playing the qin in a hut in the foreground (see
The night haze turns moist and dewy; detail on p. 80) to Tao Yuanming’s famous “Poem on a String-
the autumn cliffs glow in chilly air. less Qin”:
I empathize with the man of the past,
whose lifelong poetic sensibility lingers here.3 If one only grasps
the deeper meaning of the qin,
Such is the singular aesthetic — marked by a sensitivity to nature Then why work to string it,
and an awareness of the poetic underpinning of landscape — that or try to create sounds.
another of Kien’s pupils, Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776), inherited from
his teacher, together with others of the pioneering generation of The meaning here is that, if the sage understands the ethereal
Nanga artists. Taiga himself was of the peasant class but achieved music of the qin — the playing of which was considered one of the
financial security, and some renown, from his prolific output of Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments of the Literati lifestyle (see
painting and calligraphy. He started out as a fan painter and, by Chapter 1) — then silence and the transcendent sounds of nature
the time he was fifteen, was selling his own Chinese-style fan would suffice. Even if that specific reference was not intended, the
paintings in the fan shop he ran with his mother. He gained a work is imbued with such allusiveness.
degree of commercial success, thus making a living while A pair of screens recently accessioned by the Metropolitan
espousing the Literati lifestyle. He studied the Chinese classics Museum represents the next stage of Taiga’s career (fig. 25).
and the Ming and Qing paintings that were being imported to The style of each screen is conspicuously different, which suggests
Japan at the time but, as a Japanese artist, was not bound by pre- that they were not originally conceived as a pair. Both probably
existing Chinese theories of painting or the weight of that his- date to the 1760s, the right screen to 1762 – 63.5 The screens com-
tory. His work, as a result, is rich in individual expression and memorate the legendary Orchid Pavilion Gathering, hosted in
earned him recognition from both fellow artists and the public. a.d. 353 by the Chinese calligrapher extraordinaire Wang Xizhi
Taiga was also a proficient calligrapher: he went to Manpukuji at (ca. 303 – 361). This famous poetry gathering became an immensely
NANGA 85
popular theme and was depicted in one form or another by nearly this gathering of forty or so poets. All present were encouraged
every Nanga artist. Taiga is known to have painted the subject to write poems while enjoying the idyllic setting along a stream
often, in both screen and hanging-scroll formats. The present 6
in the garden of the Orchid Pavilion (Lanting). Poets who could
work exhibits the artist’s signature pointillist manner of depicting not complete a composition before a cup of wine floating down
foliage in large circular clumps, as well as long, jagged strokes the stream reached them were “penalized” by having to drink,
applied to create the creviced rock formations. with the idea that slight inebriation was conducive to creativity.
To understand why this particular theme was so popular with In the course of the day, poems written in various stages of
Nanga artists nearly a millennium and a half after the original sobriety were gathered into a collection, to which Wang Xizhi
event requires knowledge of what transpired during and after wrote a preface. The calligrapher, no doubt intoxicated himself,
created a text with several mistakes. When he tried to execute a
fair copy the following day, he realized that the spontaneity and
Fig. 25. Ike Taiga (1723–1776), Orchid Pavilion Gathering and Autumn Land-
scape, ca. 1763. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper, each freshness of the original draft, errors and all, were more expres-
63 1/4 in. ∞ 11 ft. 8 3/16 in. (160.7 ∞ 356 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, sive of the mood of the gathering and of his own mindset than
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.163.1, .2) the more deliberately executed final version, which he discarded.
His Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, in semicursive script, At the foot of Mount Ohu,
passed down in various transcriptions, is now recognized as one the rice and millet have grown fat.
of the most famous calligraphy models in East Asia and is studied Pigs are in their pens,
to this day. Literati painters and calligraphers in Japan of the chickens in their coops;
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries likewise revered it, together The door to the house
with the story associated with it. has been left ajar.
The now accompanying screen, Autumn Landscape, is ren- The Autumn Festival is over,
dered in a much softer palette and with more subdued brushwork, and in the evening
perhaps in response to the seasonal subject matter. Just as in The Mulberry leaves
River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes, Taiga added subtle cast long shadows.
accents in red to indicate autumn leaves, grasses, a bridge, fig- To every house tipsy men return,
ures, and details of the hut. Here, Taiga did inscribe a poem, a holding each other up.7
popular Chinese verse by Wang Jia (b. 851) about the Autumn
Festival, celebrating a bountiful harvest:
NANGA 87
The work is signed “Kyūka Sanshō shai” and probably dates to the essence of Literati expression. The painting is dated to 1770,
the early 1760s. Taiga’s choice to add shai, which the scholar
8 late in his career, and it is executed purely in ink. The artist’s
Melinda Takeuchi renders as “painting the idea,” reveals another profound understanding of ink manipulation to create the differ-
way Taiga inherited and adapted Chinese attitudes toward paint- ent mountain forms and to balance them with negative space to
ing. Taiga no doubt mastered terms and concepts such as shai
9 give a real sense of depth and dimensionality is clear. In this
from Chinese manuals, among them the Mustard Seed Garden evocative composition, the artist takes the idea of a shinkeizu one
Painting Manual (Chinese: Jieziyuan huazhuan; Japanese: Kai step further, by capturing the essence of an actual place while
shien gaden), originally published in the 1670s but better known conveying the lyrical expression of the highly accomplished
in Japan after 1748, when it was reissued. The term shai had Literati painter.
earlier been used by such Song-dynasty literati as Su Shi A discussion of Literati painting of this era is not complete
(1037 – 1101) to emphasize the importance of the “nature of the without mention of Taiga’s wife, Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran
object” and to differentiate between this emphasis and merely (1727/28 – 1784), who established a reputation as one of Japan’s
drawing the outer appearance of things, or shasei. Taiga and
10 leading woman artists — both in her own time and for posterity —
Nagasawa Rosetsu, an artist trained in the Maruyama-Shijō independent of her association with her husband. Like him, she
school (see Chapter 5), were both known for adding shai to studied with the pioneering bunjin Yanagisawa Kien. Both her
their signatures. It has been pointed out that Taiga’s regular
11 grandmother Kaji and mother, Yuri, were waka poets.14 Kaji had
use of the term indicates his intentions to adhere to a Literati a teahouse, Matsuya (no doubt the source of Gyokuran’s given
mindset in creating landscapes, but also to express a dedication name, Matsu), close to the Gion district in Kyoto that attracted a
to Chinese poetic principles. 12 clientele of other poets and literati. Yuri and Gyokuran continued
Unlike the two other Taiga works introduced thus far, Spring to run the teahouse while writing poetry on poem cards and fans,
Clouds Arising from the Gorge (cat. 15), in the Fishbein-Bender presenting them as “gifts” to clients, just as Kaji had done previ-
Collection, does not indicate a specific place or literary reference. ously.15 Mother and daughter collaborated at times, with Yuri
Turning again to Takeuchi, we may analyze Taiga’s corpus accord- inscribing poetry on Gyokuran’s paintings.
ing to the concept of shinkeizu, or “true-view picture,” a modern A brightly colored fan painting by Gyokuran that captures
term for topographical paintings that combine real places and the briskness of an autumn day deep in the mountains (fig. 26) is
actual observation with the personal expression of the essence of exemplary of her animated brushwork, which imbues rocks with
a landscape. The concept relates to the long-standing Japanese
13 the vibrant force of nature. Although she began painting well
tradition of meisho-e, or pictures of poetic places, which initially before her marriage, Taiga’s influence is apparent in a hanging
depicted places in Japan — sometimes only loosely connected to scroll in The Met’s collection (fig. 27), notably in the technique
actual locales — that had been pictorialized based on allusions used to create the broad, trailing contour line of the rock and
to sites in classical poetry, or to illustrate Chinese legends. How- the pointed bamboo leaves. Gyokuran is seen at her poetic best
ever, by the Edo period, to an even greater extent than before, in a painting on silk from the Fishbein-Bender Collection
meisho became associated with actual, identifiable sites known (cat. 16). This crisp, refreshing vignette of a bush warbler (uguisu)
for their natural beauty, their frequent appearance in poetry, or perched atop branches of blossoming plum celebrates the rejuve-
their status as historic landmarks. It is unknown whether Spring nation of the world in springtime. In the foreground, orchids are
Clouds Arising from the Gorge represents actual mountains, but it rendered in relaxed yet expert brushwork, with washes of pale
nevertheless shows Taiga’s mastery over brushwork and ink tones, blues complementing dark ink and modulated grays.
Fig. 26. Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran (1727/28–1784), Autumn Landscape, mid-
to late 18th century. Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color
on paper, 7 1/2 ∞ 20 9/16 in. (19.1 ∞ 52.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry
G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and
Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc.
Gift, 1975 (1975.268.95)
89
BUS ON’ S POETI C L AN DSCAPES
The next major Nanga artist represented in the Fishbein-Bender
Collection is Yosa Buson (1716 – 1783), a painter who was better
known in his day as a poet, especially of haikai (known in modern
times as haiku). A master of Chinese verse, he immersed him-
self in the study and composition of waka, as well. Information on
Buson’s early life is scant, but we know from his abundant cor-
respondence that he was from the village of Kema, on the out-
skirts of present-day Osaka.16 He made his way to Edo by the age
of twenty and in 1737 became a student of the haikai poet Hayano
Hajin (1677 – 1742), who had studied with a disciple of Matsuo
Bashō (1744 – 1794). His poems began to appear in anthologies
soon after. Buson eventually assumed the name “Yahantei”
from Hajin, who was also known as Yahantei Sōa.
In addition to becoming one of Japan’s leading poets, Buson
was known for his haiga, or what Stephen Addiss called the
“haiku text-image tradition.”17 He did not study under one spe-
cific painter; in fact, he was essentially self-taught, and there-
fore receptive to multiple painting styles. He learned from various
sources, including the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual,
and had access to works by several prominent Chinese painters
of the past, among them Wang Wei of the Tang dynasty, Mi
Fu of the Northern Song, Wang Meng of the Yuan (one of that
era’s Four Masters), and Dong Qichang of the Ming.18 Such
immersion in the classics is evident in his paintings, although
they would become increasingly personalized, especially in his
later years.
There is no documentary evidence that Buson and Ike Taiga
ever met or knew each other, but they were roughly contempo-
raries, and both were listed in the 1768 Records of Famous Personages
in Kyoto (Heian jinbutsu shi ).19 Their residences in Kyoto were
relatively close to each other, and they shared mutual friends, such
Fig. 27. Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran (1727/28–1784), Peony and Bamboo,

ca. 1768. Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, 36 5/8 ∞ 16 7/16 in.
(93 ∞ 41.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs
Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
(2015.300.169)
as the wealthy sake merchant and antiquarian Kimura Kenkadō screen painting at this time.25) It was a significant period in
(1736 – 1802) and the Confucian scholar, painter, and writer Buson’s career, as he developed into a technically stronger painter
Minagawa Kien (1734 – 1807). Taiga and Buson interpreted
20 and produced several pairs of screens that cemented his reputa-
Chinese Literati prototypes in distinctly personal ways, but tion in Kyoto. A recent gift to The Met (fig. 28) provides an
their works were brought together for posterity by the Ten excellent example of Buson’s deluxe landscape screen painting
Conveniences and Ten Pleasures (ca. 1771), a landmark album of from the 1760s.26 Despite the expansive landscape stretching
genre scenes in a Literati mode. The wealthy sake brewer Shimo- across the right screen and onto the left, the eye is nevertheless
sato Gakkai (1742 – 1790) commissioned works separately from drawn to the figures that populate it, among them an old
each artist — Taiga was to illustrate the “Ten Conveniences” scholar and his servant making their way toward a small village
and Buson the “Ten Pleasures” — which were later bound and two other wise old men chatting in a thatched hut. The
together as a single album. The work, now in the Kawabata theme of the sage-recluse sojourning in a natural setting was a
Yasunari Memorial Foundation collection, is a designated favorite among Literati and can be traced back to the earliest
National Treasure in Japan. 21 stage of landscape painting in Japan, for instance, the Landscape
Buson’s painting career is often discussed in terms of discrete Screen (Senzui byōbu) of the late Heian period, which is tradi-
periods that correspond with his itinerant lifestyle. Following tionally interpreted as a scholar and servant visiting the Tang
Hajin’s death, in 1742, he moved from Edo to Matsushima and poet Bai Juyi.27
was in Kyoto by 1751, before moving to Tango. It was during The mid- to late 1760s represent Buson’s Sanuki period, when
these years that Buson began to paint more seriously, and while he lived in Sanuki province, in northeastern Shikoku.28 In these
his works of this period are not conspicuously reliant on Kano final decades of his career, though he remained rooted in Literati
academicism, they clearly incorporate Literati elements. Upon
22 principles, his work took a clear new direction. The Fishbein-
returning to Kyoto in 1757, Buson began to experiment with a Bender Collection includes two masterworks from this period,
more vibrant palette. It was around this time that the works of the both of which attest to his immersion in painting as a craft and
Chinese émigré painter Shen Nanpin (Shen Quan, 1682 – 1758) in poetry as a personal philosophy. The first, Deer in Moonlight
were gaining fame and influence among Japanese painters, includ- (cat. 17), shows a lone deer traipsing through the snow beneath a
ing Buson, who demonstrated that he was fully competent at crescent moon. The work represents Buson’s full maturation as
producing meticulous bird-and-flower paintings for which Nan- an artist — that is, when his paintings had become more reflec-
pin was known. It is possible that Buson was exposed to Nanpin’s
23 tive of Buson the poet. It is not a full landscape but a vignette,
work during his time in Tango, since he began painting in and though it bears no poetic inscription, the painting is itself
Nanpin’s style soon after his departure from there. thoroughly lyrical in feeling. It calls to mind verses that Buson
The mid-1760s marked Buson’s Byōbu-kō, or “Screen Paint- composed on the theme of a stag in winter:
ing Association,” period, when his haikai poetry colleagues
financed his production of deluxe screens, often of Chinese themes Shika samushi A buck shivering —
based on Ming and Qing landscapes. At the time, Buson could tsuno mo mi ni sou its antlers attached
not afford to paint on nume (lustrous satin-weave silk), so his stu- kareki kana like leafless trees.29
dents formed a byōbu-kō, or “screen painting association,” to
help gather the funds.24 (The increasingly popular custom in the The second example, Herb Gatherers in the Mountains
1770s for wealthy Kyoto townspeople to display screens during (cat. 18), likewise presents a single scene rather than a full land-
the Gion Festival might also have encouraged Buson to focus on scape. It derives from a Daoist legend about two men searching
NANGA 91
for medicinal herbs on Mount Tiantai, a theme that has been viewers the feeling that they, too, are about to embark on a jour-
depicted in painted form in China since the Song dynasty. ney. Buson would come be recognized as one of the great
Buson offers an individual interpretation of the classic tale. Literati painters of eighteenth-century Japan, and we must
First, it would have been unusual for figures in a Chinese paint- conclude that the poesy and originality of his compositions
ing to appear so plebeian, much less barefooted. Furthermore, contributed greatly to this high assessment.
rather than a grand landscape in its entirety, we see only a
small, neatly contained section of one. The figures all face to the EAR LY AND L ATE GYO KU DŌ
left, as though they are set to walk off the painting, which gives The Fishbein-Bender Collection features strong holdings of works
by the next, so-called third generation of Nanga painters of the
late eighteenth to early nineteenth century. Following on the
precedents established by Kien, Taiga, and Buson, among others,
Fig. 28. Yosa Buson (1716–1783), Travels through Mountains and Fields,
ca. 1765. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on silk, each these later proponents of the Literati school continued to seek
621/2 in. ∞ 11 ft. 9 3/4 in. (158.8 ∞ 360 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, personal — and poetic — expression through brushwork itself,
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.157.1, .2) focusing on Chinese subjects. Among the most lauded artists of
the third generation is Uragami Gyokudō (1745 – 1820), renowned much the same way that Buson’s work is animated by poetry,
for his vigorous, individualized brushwork. (His sons, Shunkin Gyokudō’s paintings — almost all of which are mountainscapes —
and Shūkin, would both go on to become painters.) Born into are infused with the spirit of qin music.
the samurai class, Gyokudō received a formal education in Con- Gyokudō’s later works have earned him lasting recognition,
fucian studies, classical Chinese literature, calligraphy, and but to fully understand his arc as an artist, we must first look
painting. He was also a master qin player and composer, and he
30 at where he began. In recent years, more works from Gyokudō’s
built qin, as well. Unlike most artists described in this vol- first decade of activity have come to light, allowing us a better
ume, who started painting as youths, Gyokudō did not begin in understanding of his early corpus. 31 The Fishbein-Bender painting
earnest until his forties. It was about the same time that he In Verdant Mountains Hoping for Snow (cat. 19) is a rare surviv-
resigned from his official position with the Ikeda domain in ing work by Gyokudō from the 1790s. The hallmarks of the bold,
Okayama, in 1794, and settled in Kyoto with his older son, impetuous painting style for which he would become famous
Shunkin. He made an income by playing the qin and giving are not yet apparent, except perhaps for the darker brushwork
music lessons, which allowed him to maintain painting as an in the foreground trees. An indication of where Gyokudō would
avocation in accordance with Literati ideals. Concurrently, in eventually end up as a painter, twenty years after taking up the
NANGA 93
brush, is the Metropolitan Museum’s On a Rustic Bridge, Carry-
ing a Zither from 1814 (fig. 29). It incorporates all the artist’s
trademark features in a single painting, beginning with the sub-
ject of a zither player in a landscape — a favorite of his, for obvi-
ous reasons. Gyokudō used regular, repetitive strokes to build up
the landscape and trees, and the darker strokes lend the painting
a feeling of strength and assurance. The blank circular areas are
another characteristic of his mature work, perhaps an interpreta-
tion of Ming and Qing landscapes.
After his death, Gyokudō fell somewhat out of critical favor
but has been rediscovered in our time, including by Western
collectors who recognize in his work a gestural intensity that res-
onates with Abstract Expressionism and other modern art move-
ments. Stephen Addiss concludes his biography of the artist by
astutely observing, “Gyokudō’s vision of man’s solitude in the
vast world is thoroughly contemporary. His honesty and strength
in facing this vision is the core of his greatness as a painter.” 32
C HI KUDEN AS POET, PAI NTER , A ND CALLIG RAPH ER

Tanomura Chikuden (1777 – 1835) was, like Gyokudō, a scion of
a samurai family, born to a lineage of medical officers in service
to the Oka clan in Bungo province in Kyūshū. After receiving
medical training, he became the leader of the local Confucian
school in 1798, and was erudite and knowledgeable on the sub-
jects of Chinese classics, calligraphy, and poetry. He formally
retired from official service in 1813 after unsuccessfully petitioning
on behalf of peasants protesting unfair conditions in his domain.33
From then on, he devoted himself to a Literati lifestyle of travel
and artistic pursuits, which included painting, calligraphy, and
sencha (Chinese-style tea practice).
Fig. 29. Uragami Gyokudō (1745–1820), On a Rustic Bridge, Carrying a Zither,

1814. Hanging scroll; ink on paper, 50 1/4 ∞ 21 5/16 in. (127.7 ∞ 54.2 cm). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift
of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.177)
Fig. 30. Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835), Scholars and Cranes in a Landscape,

1822 (cat. 20, detail)
There were many opportunities for Chikuden to travel both
before and after he left his official role. While employed, he was
ordered to compile a gazetteer on the artifacts of his province,
which took him to all the major cities and towns of his domain.
Following his retirement, he made multiple trips to Osaka and
Kyoto, where he met and socialized with other Literati painters
and calligraphers in the Kansai area, including Gyokudō and
his son Shunkin, Kimura Kenkadō, and the Confucian scholar
Rai Sanyō.
The broad outlines of Chikuden’s career are usually discussed
in terms of style and subject matter according to four chrono-
logical divisions, the first phase lasting from before 1812 until his
resignation from official duty. During this time many of his paint-
ings were of the bird-and-flower variety. The second phase ran to
about 1820, when his works were influenced by the punctilious
naturalism of Shen Nanpin. In the 1820s his paintings departed
from the Nanpin influence to embrace a Literati mode inspired
by Ming precedents. The final phase in his development occurred
post-1826/27, when he was based in Nagasaki. There, Chikuden
learned of the painting styles of Yuan masters such as Wang
Meng and Huang Gongwang and began to incorporate long
hemp-fiber strokes into his landscapes.34
The Fishbein-Bender Collection includes two paintings from
Chikuden’s third phase, dating to the 1820s. In Scholars and Cranes
in a Landscape of 1822 (cat. 20), we observe how Chikuden fully
assimilated the techniques and attitudes of the Suzhou-based Wu
school of painting, particularly its characteristic gentle brush-
work and overall soft palette (fig. 30). That the artist himself com-
posed and brushed the Chinese verse is likewise reminiscent of
the painter-calligraphers of this Ming-era school. Because the
artist was a poet, there is often a strong correlation between text
and image in Chikuden’s works.35 The inscription (translated on
pp. 110 – 11) demonstrates his complete fluency in Chinese stan-
dard script, with a nearly flawless transcription of his ode to the
ideals of a Literati lifestyle. Chikuden often referred to himself
as “Sanchūjin,” or “a man amidst the mountains,” which derives
from a poetic phrase from the Nine Songs, a Chinese literary
classic from the fourth century b.c. In inscribed compositions
NANGA 95
such as this one, we see how mountains serve as metaphors for a with their emphasis on meticulous, naturalistic depictions of flora
metaphysical quest for seclusion and contentment. and fauna. Nevertheless, both artists’ firm grounding in Chinese
The literati ideal of gathering like-minded individuals with studies and general immersion in the painting styles of earlier
similar aesthetic sensibilities is a theme that goes back to eleventh- Literati models gave their works a seriousness often lacking in the
century China, when, according to legend, sixteen prominent skilled but more decorative compositions of artists of the Mori
statesmen, literati, and artists convened for one such august and Shijō schools active at the time.
assembly. The “Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden,” as it Tsubaki Chinzan (1801 – 1854), scion of a samurai family,
came to be known, was first reported on by the scholar-painter was born in the Koishikawa district of Edo. As was expected of
Mi Fu and depicted in painted form by Li Gonglin. A rendition samurai officials of the time, he studied the Chinese classics,
of the scene by Chikuden (cat. 21), created in the eighth month Neo-Confucianism, poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He was
of 1826, hews to Chinese conventions, with Mi Fu, Li Gonglin, also skilled in horsemanship, played the Japanese shō (a reedless
and their fellow-scholar Su Shi all accounted for. The style of wind instrument with upright pipes), wrote poetry, and practiced
execution likewise embraces Chinese traditions, although we do sencha. He first studied painting with Kaneko Kinryō but even-
not yet see the long, Yuan-inspired hemp-fiber strokes of the tually joined the studio of Watanabe Kazan,37 and he received
artist’s third phase of development. As a consequence, the viewer some instruction from Tani Bunchō, as well. Earning a reputa-
is led to focus more on the figures and their activities than the tion as a serious, diligent scholar and artist, who is said to have
landscape (fig. 31). Chikuden used a more vivid blue-and-green avoided drinking, smoking, or cavorting with women, he became
palette than he did in other works of this period, perhaps to Kazan’s trusted, top student. When his teacher was arrested in
accommodate the lavish tastes of the work’s patron, Kameyama 1839, he joined (unsuccessful) efforts to gain his release.
Muken, a skilled calligrapher who is known to have requested a As suggested above, later Literati painters experimented with
set of deluxe gold-leaf screens from the artist. In the poetic
36 more naturalistic representations of fauna and flora, even when
inscription (translated on p. 113), Chikuden addresses Muken treating themes that remained central to the traditional corpus.
directly, suggesting that there is no reason why Literati networks It was through the mentoring of painters such as Kazan and
in Edo Japan could not rise to the same rarefied level as those in Bunchō that Chinzan became interested in naturalism. In fact,
China of the distant past. when Chinzan felt stifled as an artist and despondent over criti-
cism that his paintings were uninteresting, he turned to Kazan for
BIR D -A N D -F LO WE R C O M P O SI TI ONS : advice. In letters from 1840, Kazan explained to Chinzan the
C H I N Z A N A N D B A I I T SU need for a painting to be infused with the essence of a subject in
Moving chronologically into the Bakumatsu, or the “end of the combination with skill and shasei, or “drawing from nature.”
military government,” which marked the final years of the Edo Chinzan was forty at the time and, by Kazan’s estimation, a “good
period, our focus turns to two artists, Tsubaki Chinzan and artist” but not “great.” But, he explained, if Chinzan absorbed
Yamamoto Baiitsu. Both maintained a clear reverence for the the significance of shasei while adhering to the precepts of the
Literati ideals of earlier generations while also revealing the pro- ancients or Chinese masters, then he could fulfill his potential
found influence of the Maruyama-Shijō and Nagasaki schools, as a painter.38
Demonstrating how Literati artists combined traditional
themes with naturalistic precision is a tour-de-force painting of
chrysanthemums from the Fishbein-Bender Collection (cat. 22).
Fig. 31. Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835), Elegant Gathering in the Western
Garden, 1826 (cat. 21, detail) It bears a title in the artist’s own hand, The Reflection of Fragrant
NANGA 97
Flowers Dangling over a Pond, a poetic phrase derived from a The two artists bonded as artistic and literary friends and together
caption in the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual. Chinese made their way to Kyoto. Chikutō painted but also wrote paint-
and Japanese Literati painters shared a fondness for chrysanthe- ing treatises, while Baiitsu focused solely on painting. He also
mums, regarded not only as a symbol of excellence and long life, spent years of his life traveling. When he eventually returned to
but also as a test of one’s prowess with the brush, since the flower his hometown of Owari, in 1854, he was appointed official painter
had such a complex array of overlapping petals and leaves of irreg- in residence (goyō-eshi) to the daimyo. With this appointment,
ular shape. Showing the influence of other schools of painting, Baiitsu received samurai status.
Chinzan rendered the chrysanthemums using the “boneless” Baiitsu was capable of executing ink landscapes in a Literati
(mokkotsu) method espoused by Rinpa and Shijō artists: instead mode, as demonstrated by a quartet of paintings recently acquired
of using outlines, he allowed the ink to pool naturally to form the by The Met, 39 but he was best known for his idyllic bird-and-
edges of leaves and petals (fig. 32). flower paintings in soft washes and colors. They reveal his indebt-
To understand further how artists such as Chinzan abandoned edness to Shen Nanpin, who worked in Nagasaki from 1731 to
the spontaneous brushwork associated with Nanga painters of 1733, and to other Nagasaki and Shijō painters. Like Chinzan,
previous generations, it is instructive to compare two of his hang- Baiitsu was also known to make use of the “boneless” method
ing scrolls of red and white peach blossoms — one a preliminary when painting flowers and leaves, but he was unique in his skill
sketch (shita-e), the other the final commission (figs. 33a, b). The art- for combining translucent washes with areas of color. Both
ist created the composition using a collage method: the branches techniques are evident in a hanging scroll in The Met’s collection
on the upper left of the sketch, for example, appear to have been of egrets amid willows and flowers (fig. 34). Egrets were a
painted on a separate sheet, which the artist then pasted in. favorite subject of Baiitsu’s, and the sole example of a Baiitsu
Chinzan copied this revised composition onto the final scroll, painting in the Fishbein-Bender Collection shows a flock of
using lighter brushstrokes and deleting all pentimenti. Unfor- these white birds descending on a pond full of lotus plants
tunately, Chinzan lost some of the verve of the study’s spiky (cat. 23). The effective use of naturalistic perspective relates to the
draftsmanship when he made the transfer to the final work, and Maruyama and Shijō schools, especially of the later eighteenth
he also changed the Chinese poetic inscription. century onward. It is a composition of extraordinary complex-
Chinzan’s near contemporary Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783 – 1856) ity, yet through the repetition of just two elements — birds and
was from Owari (present-day Nagoya area) but mingled with the flowers — it becomes a joyful play of pattern and rhythm.
Kyoto Literati. Born into the artisan class, to a family of shrine Though Baiitsu can be associated with Literati networks,
carpenters employed by daimyo, he originally trained under his it is clear that he did not limit himself to the quest for self-
father in the carving of architectural ornaments. However, he expression through ink brushwork. He learned from artists of
found his true calling in painting and is believed to have received previous generations and various schools, and he amalgamated
training from the Shijō artist Chō Gesshō (1772 – 1832) and from a their influence into an original style of his own, characterized
local Nagoya artist, Yamamoto Rantei. Through Kamiya Ten’yū, a by a sensuous surface quality and serene clarity. In turn, he
wealthy merchant and art collector in Nagoya, he met other contributed a lyrical, intimate vision of nature to Nanga paint-
local Literati, among them Nakabayashi Chikutō (1776 – 1853). ing. Such a robust melding of modes of depiction was indicative
of the social climate of the day, when artists were not necessarily
confined to painting in a specific manner.
In the works of Literati artists — from the pioneering age of
Fig. 32. Tsubaki Chinzan (1801–1854), The Reflection of Fragrant Flowers
Dangling over a Pond, 1840 (cat. 22, detail) Kien to the flourishing of Taiga and Buson, from the poetic vir-
NANGA 99
100
tuosity of Gyokudō and Chikuden to the experimentation of
Chinzan and Baiitsu — we can see how they attempted to re-create
China in Edo Japan. The idealized landscapes evoked a long-
ago and faraway land prized by Chinese recluse poets of the past,
and even for samurai, wealthy merchants, and courtiers, whose
own lifestyles and social circumstances were conspicuously dif-
ferent, they provided a refuge from the stress of daily life. From
our contemporary vantage point, it is remarkable that these
Literati — partaking of painting, calligraphy, the tea ceremony,
and even qin music in an archaic Chinese manner — could thrive
in early modern Japan, communicating via a written language
(classical Chinese) they could not speak and describing land-
scapes they could never have seen in person. Yet for these men and
women of culture, Chinese literature was not foreign but part
of their upbringing; they would have recognized an allusion to
the poetry or calligraphic style of Su Shi as easily as they would
to those of a famous Japanese poet-calligrapher closer in time.
Perhaps what is more remarkable still is that inscribed paint-
ings from more than two centuries ago — espousing a philosophy
of reclusion and harmony with nature, created in a Japanese soci-
ety so different and so far away from America of the early twenty-
first century, with its great wealth and high level of material
comfort — can continue to speak directly to students and collec-
tors of Edo art in such an engaging and thought-provoking
manner. It is a reminder that the motives of escape from the work-
aday world and from the stresses of politics under an autocratic
government remain a perennial goal of art lovers of every society.
Figs. 33a, b. Painting and inscription by Tsubaki Chinzan (1801–1854), Red and
White Peach Blossoms, 1843, and related preliminary sketch. Hanging scrolls;
color on paper, each 56 7/8 ∞ 14 13/16 in. (144.5 ∞ 37.6 cm). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art,
Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane
Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg
Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.115, .116)
Fig. 34. Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783–1856), Egrets, Peonies, and Willows, first half of
the 19th century. Hanging scroll; color on silk, 57 1/2 ∞ 28 3/16 in. (146.1 ∞ 71.6 cm).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collec-
tion of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers,
NANGA 101
Cat. 14
池大雅筆「春水満四澤」
Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776)
The River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes, 1750s
38 9/16 × 13 11 /16 in. (97.9 × 34.8 cm)
Literature: Yoshizawa 1982, p. 2
This scroll anticipates many of the traits for which Ike Taiga was
celebrated throughout his career: evocative compositions; strong,
expressive ink outlines; and mountain peaks receding into the dis-
tance. Here, the artist has captured a spring setting, when the
rivers surge with snowmelt and willow trees burst into bud. In a
hut amid a cluster of trees, a solitary figure plays a zither (qin)
resting on a red mat (see detail on p. 80), which works as the
focus of the composition, a feature seen in other Taiga paintings.
A pavilion stands unoccupied at center. This work shows how
the artist could apply subtle coloration to amplify the mood of a
conventional landscape, where recession is staged in a distinct
foreground, middle ground, and background. The pavilion and
trees in the foreground are larger than the empty structure and
trees in the middle, and the mountains and bushes in the back-
ground are smaller still. Water connects the different planes, and
a bridge at the top left connects one piece of land to another.
As elaborated in the related essay, the title of this painting
derives from an ancient Chinese verse, “Ode to the Four Sea-
sons,” by the celebrated recluse poet Tao Qian. The work most
likely belongs to a set of four hanging scrolls, each representing
a season; based on the handling of the foliage in the foreground,
the artist probably executed this one while in his early thirties
(Yoshizawa 1982, p. 2). There are at least three other similar known
sets by Taiga, one of which is in the Metropolitan Museum
(2015.300.226a, b; see also Nakagawa 1803, nos. 189, 536, and
537). Here, he signed his art name “Sangaku,” or “Three Peaks,”
along with his seal “Higashiyama [Tōzan] Issō,” a combination
that is comparatively rare within his corpus (Fischer and Kinoshita
2007, no. 10). Another seal, a more common one, combines the
first character of his family name and his art name of the time:
“Seal of Ike Mumei.”
Cat. 15
池大雅筆「春雲出岫」
Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776)
Spring Clouds Arising from the Gorge, 1770
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
50 1 /4 × 14 5/16 in. (127.7 × 36.3 cm)
Literature: Kurimoto 1960, no. 475; Iijima and Suzuki 1973,
p. 171, pl. 74; Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, pp. 359, 468, no. 199
When compared to his River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes

(cat. 14), this landscape by Ike Taiga offers a more realistic view
of mountain peaks, even though we cannot know the actual moun-
tains he painted. The painting embodies Literati expression — the
master in control of brushwork and ink tones. The brushwork, in
Mi dots and hemp-fiber strokes, appears to derive directly from
the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual and the Eight Varieties
of Painting (Hasshū gafu). The latter publication is a Chinese
“primer” for artists published in China during the early seven-
teenth century and republished in Japan in 1672 and 1710. It was
popular with Japanese Literati artists. “Mi dots” refer to a paint-
ing technique employed by Mi Fu, a Chinese ink painter and cal-
ligrapher of the Northern Song dynasty, which involved using
soft ink “dots” in an almost impressionistic manner to build up
landscape forms. The simple composition reveals the artist’s under-
standing of how to balance mountains painted in varying grada-
tions of ink with negative space to convey the sense of recession.
The artist’s signature specifies the date of the work’s com-
pletion: “Painted by Mumei, in the second month of the kanoe-
tora Year of the Tiger [1770].” Based on its title, the painting is
thought to be the one presented to Kimura Kenkadō (1736 – 1802)
for a shogakai, or “calligraphy and painting gathering,” in 1770 at
the Ryūsenji subtemple of Tennōji. Kenkadō was a painter and
calligrapher of note, but he may have had a greater impact as a
scholar, collector, and patron in Literati circles in the Kansai area
(Nakamura 2000). He is thought to have “rejected” this painting
because he expected a more elaborate work on silk (Iijima and
Suzuki 1973, p. 171; Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, p. 468).
NANGA 103
Cat. 16
池（徳山）玉瀾筆梅に鶯図
Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran (1727/28 – 1784)
Warbler in a Plum Tree, mid- to late 18th century
48 1 /8 × 17 1 /16 in. (122.2 × 43.4 cm)
Literature: Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, pp. 236, 424, no. 106
This crisp, refreshing vignette of a bush warbler (uguisu) perched

atop branches of blossoming plum celebrates the rejuvenation of
the world in springtime. In the foreground, orchids are rendered
in relaxed yet expert brushwork, with washes of pale blues com-
plementing dark ink and modulated grays. Kyoko Kinoshita has
observed (in Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, no. 106) that this paint-
ing is “one of the masterpieces on silk by [Tokuyama] Gyokuran,”
and that her works in this medium often exhibit a refinement
absent in some of her works on paper.
The song of the bush warbler in poetic tradition celebrates
the coming of spring, and in a very similar composition on
paper (ibid., no. 108), Gyokuran inscribed in her own elegant
handwriting a poem that explicates the setting:
Shirayuki no Perched on a branch

kakareru eda ni covered with fresh snow,
uguisu no does the warbler
haru o shirite ya sing the year’s first song
hatsune nakuramu when it senses spring?
The work is both signed and sealed with her art name, “Gyokuran.”
As she was known to do, Gyokuran placed another of her seals,
reading “Shōfū,” in the middle of the composition as a visual
accent. “Shōfū” can also be read “Matsukaze,” or “wind through the
pines,” and relates to the artist’s given name, Matsu.
Cat. 17
与謝蕪村筆月下孤鹿図
Yosa Buson (1716 – 1783)
Deer in Moonlight, ca. 1780
49 × 19 3/16 in. (124.5 × 48.8 cm)
A solitary deer under a crescent moon is the invention of

Yosa Buson, one of the greatest Japanese Literati painters of the
eighteenth century. The composition may be modeled after a
pair of six-panel screens depicting three deer under a full moon
(Itsuō Art Museum, Osaka), but while those deer are rendered
naturalistically, reflecting the influence of the Chinese émigré
painter Shen Nanpin (Shen Quan), this smaller-scale work is
more expressive, a quality characteristic of Buson. Here, details
on the animal’s fur — the small, repetitive brushstrokes, the spots
in white, the prominent dark stroke down the back, and the fuzzy
tail — lend a rich, textural quality. The sky, meanwhile, is ren-
dered simply in light gray washes. The crescent moon is defined
through negative space. Buson was an established poet prior to
becoming a painter, and this work evokes a mood similar to his
haiku on the theme of a solitary deer longing for a mate (see p. 91).
During the mid- to late 1760s, Buson painted many land-
scape screens based on Ming and Qing prototypes. He went on
to develop his own distinct style in the decades that followed,
producing paintings that tended toward abstraction and evoca-
tive ink washes. The current painting dates from this later phase of
his career, specifically between 1778 and 1783, when he used the
signature “Painted by Shain” (Tsuji 2015a). The artist impressed
the work with his standard seals, “Shain Chōkō” and “Shunsei.”
The same signature and seals appear on the larger landscape paint-
ing Cold Forest and Solitary Deer (1779, Kyoto National Museum).
As here, the common Literati motif of a solitary traveler in the
mountains was replaced by a deer, which becomes the paint-
ing’s focus, without the expansive landscape.
NANGA 105
Cat. 18
与謝蕪村筆谿山探薬図
Yosa Buson (1716 – 1783)
Herb Gatherers in the Mountains, ca. 1780
Hanging scroll; ink and color on satin
53 3/8 × 24 3/8 in. (135.5 × 62 cm)
Literature: Onshi Kyoto Museum 1932, pl. 52;
Tokyo National Museum 1966, pl. 58
A gray-bearded man in a green cloak and cloth cap rides a horse

along a mountain path; he has a basket and a cutting tool by his
side. He is accompanied by a younger assistant on foot, carrying
a hoe. Though he shows only a small cross section of the land-
scape, the artist effectively conveys a setting deep in the moun-
tains, his punctilious brushwork rendering the diverse textures
of the rocky crags and the ancient pine tree. Figures in remote
rustic settings appear often in East Asian literature and art to
represent the virtues of an unfettered life, or to serve as allego-
ries for banished officials living in exile. Here, however, because
of the mounted man’s tools, we can assume that he is a scholar-
doctor searching for medicinal herbs.
The idea of Daoist “herb gatherers” dates back to ancient
China, and the subject was popularized by the legend of the
sage-doctors Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao who, in search of medici-
nal herbs, scaled Mount Tiantai, a sacred mountain in Zhejiang,
China. Japanese Literati painters embraced the theme in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but adapted it loosely, fre-
quently straying from orthodox iconography. Here, for instance,
the doctor is shown barefoot, which would have been odd in a
Chinese context. The Fishbein-Bender example also focuses
closely on the figures, which in this large format creates a more
dramatic effect.
The theme of travelers on a mountain path occurs often in
Buson’s corpus. The present work is signed “Painted by
Shashunsei at Shikoan” and impressed twice in the lower right
corner. The storage box has an inscription brushed in 1880 by
Amenomori Hakusui (1793 – 1881), the noted Nihonga artist and
professional painting authenticator.
NANGA 107
Cat. 19
浦上玉堂筆「青山欲雪」
Uragami Gyokudō (1745 – 1820)
In Verdant Mountains Hoping for Snow, ca. 1794
9 × 10 1 /4 in. (22.9 × 26.1 cm)
Literature: Suzuki 1978, no. 91; Tanaka (Ichimatsu) et al. 1980, pl. 15;
Moriyasu et al. 2006, no. 41; Augustin 2014, pp. 96 – 100
This small Chinese-style landscape is representative of the earliest Because the assured brushwork of Gyokudō’s later works is
stage of Uragami Gyokudō’s career, when he was still striving to absent here, and owing to the use of multiple perspectives in
reach the same level of mastery he had already achieved as a the right and left foregrounds and for the mountain at upper
musician and composer. He was known especially for his profi- left, the composition feels somewhat unstable. Nevertheless, it
ciency on the seven-string qin, one of the four traditional accou- reflects his experimentation with washes, gradations of ink,
trements of a Chinese literatus, and his calligraphy was likewise and short, quickly rendered strokes to accentuate darker areas;
highly acclaimed. He was conversant in Xie He’s “Six Principles and with extremely fine lines for architectural details. Together
of Chinese Painting,” included as a preface to the Guhua pinlu with the seals “Gyokudō Ki Tasuku” and “Yū bunbō jūhachi-ya,”
(ca. 550), and other Chinese painting treatises, and we know that both of which he used on at least two other works created when
he copied Ming and Qing versions of Song and Yuan Literati he was in his late forties to early fifties (see Chiba City Museum
paintings. Still, Gyokudō expressed frustration over his inability of Art 2012, no. 58), these elements help date the work to about
to find his voice as a painter (Satō 1997, pp. 73 – 74). It was not 1794. Around this time he left his official position in the domain of
until he reached his sixties and early seventies that he achieved Bizen (in current-day Okayama prefecture) with his sons, Shunkin
a more energetic, abstract, and expressive mode of ink painting. and Shūkin, both of whom also became painters.
109
Cat. 20
田能村竹田筆高士と鶴山水図
Tanomura Chikuden (1777 – 1835)
Scholars and Cranes in a Landscape, 1822
Hanging scroll; ink and color on satin
44 1 /2 × 13 3/8 in. (113.1 × 34.1 cm)
Tanomura Chikuden was one of the greatest bunjin painters of the 山峭拔兮高澄，水瑩徹兮無聲，霜氣橫兮澤涸，林如束兮葉落。
generation following Ike Taiga and Yosa Buson. Here, he cap- 嶔巇兮岝崿，泬寥兮蕭索。彼何人兮抱琴歸，伴野鶴兮以高飛。
tured a tranquil scene of two scholars conversing in a pavilion, 百僚賢兮夔龍，天子聖兮軒羲。智進兮愚退，政和兮績熙。
not far from a pair of auspicious cranes. The theme of scholars in 耻介性兮垂戾，嘉穎陽兮遇時，載杜蘅兮大旆，結薜荔兮長帶。
a remote pavilion is standard in the Chinese artistic repertory; 凝神兮獨往，與世兮蟬蛻。煙嵐合兮上下，乾坤混兮內外，
the cranes, symbols of longevity and companions of the immor- 波沸騰兮魚潛淵，氣窈窅兮鳶戾天。黃茅之屋兮酣睡，
tals, connote a lifestyle that transcends the everyday. The light 粗糲飯兮饑餐。舉手謝世兮黻冕之人，誓志從我兮精神所安。
brushwork that defines the mountains, rocks, and trees (see detail
on p. 96) and the overall soft palette are reminiscent of the 壬午之秋九月畫併錄還山吟一篇
Suzhou-based Wu school of painting, active during the Ming 竹田邨農迂憲
dynasty (1368 – 1644), which was so influential in shaping Lite-
rati painting in Japan. Mountains rise tall and steeply,
The artist self-deprecatingly signed the painting “Chikuden, as waters flow clear and quiet.
the humble peasant Ken,” accompanied by seals reading “Farm- The chill of frost spreads over the valley,
house boy” and “The only thing to do in life is to enjoy oneself.” and leaves pile up in a forest of bare trees.
(A third seal, at lower right, reads simply “Chikuden.”) The Cliffs are steep
“humble peasant” (sonnōu) part of his signature, found on a num- and dangerously precipitous.
ber of his early works, may have been ironic, since Chikuden was The sky remains cloudless, but the atmosphere
of the samurai class. He had given up his official position with the melancholy and solitary.
han (feudal fief) but not his stipend. Nevertheless, he seems to [In such an idyllic place], who would dare
have been asserting his close connection with the local people to pick up the zither and return home?
rather than his privileged ancestry. Let us live purely, with the cranes of the field
Chikuden, a talented calligrapher, often added inscriptions as our companions.
in Chinese to help anchor his compositions. While other bunjin The hundred officials are wise,
painters inscribed their works with famous verses, Chikuden wrote like Emperor Shun’s ministers [Kui and Long].
his own, which were often, in turn, depicted literally in painted Our emperor is saintly
form (Berry 1985, p. 136). Here, he rendered his words, a paean to as the great ancient kings
the ideals of a Literati lifestyle, in a highly refined standard script: [the Yellow Emperor and Fuxi].
Bring sages together,
and fools will be driven away.
Politics will be capably administered,
and the benefits spread far and wide.
One’s own narrow character and sense of contrariness
should be a source of shame.
Aspire to an excellent character,
and one will be honored.
Raise the banner of a virtuous gentleman,
and dress in the humble clothes of a hermit.
One’s spirit should be remote and solitary,
apart from the ordinary world
[like a cicada that has shed its shell].
Enclose yourself in the mists enshrouding Nature,
and achieve total union with the universe.
Then the waves will heave up
and fish will reach deep waters.
When the air is deep and obscure,
the bird of prey will glide high in the sky.
Sleep sufficiently in a crude yellow [earthen] hut,
and hold off starvation with humble food.
In encountering worldly officials,
vow to obey one’s inner will.
This spiritual attitude will flow naturally
from one’s own contentment.
I painted this and added this inscription on “Returning to

the Mountains” in the ninth month of autumn of the jingo
year of the horse [1822]
— Adapted from an anonymous translation
NANGA 111
Cat. 21
田能村竹田筆西園雅集図
Tanomura Chikuden (1777 – 1835)
Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, 1826
68 1 /2 × 29 3/4 in. (174 × 75.6 cm)
Literature: Iijima 1980, fig. 2; Berry 1985, pp. 97, 200, pl. 28
This colorful painting by Tanomura Chikuden depicts the theme

of the “Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden,” which
commemorates an — imaginary — assembly of sixteen promi-
nent Chinese statesmen, literati, and artists of the Northern Song
dynasty (960 – 1127). The account of the legendary gathering was
originally written by the scholar-painter Mi Fu and painted by
his contemporary Li Gonglin. It became a popular subject in
Chinese painting and, later, for Japanese Nanga painters. Here,
the overall composition and representation of figures adheres to
established Chinese conventions. Mi Fu stands with brush in
hand, Li Gonglin sits at a table on the center right, and their
fellow literatus Su Shi, with his scholar’s hat, brushes calligra-
phy at the lower right (see detail on p. 96). A Buddhist monk
appears beside the bamboo grove at top center.
Chikuden did not paint this subject often, and it was unusual
for him to emphasize figures over landscape. He was also not
known for using so much color in his landscapes, though there
are several exceptions to the rule. However, while the use of color,
subject matter, and composition are atypical of Chikuden’s corpus,
the gnarly trees with craggy branches are hallmarks of his style,
as is the way in which the ground, especially beneath the figures,
is accentuated by darker horizontal strokes.
The artist’s signature, in the upper left corner, dates the
work with precision: “By [Chiku]Den Ken, on the day before
mid-Autumn.” The inscription confirms that the work was com-
missioned by Kameyama Muken, a noted calligrapher of the
late Edo period and acquaintance of Chikuden’s. Chikuden may
have painted this work in the Chinese blue-and-green mode to
cater to his friend’s “preference for tasteful ostentation” (Berry
1985, p. 200). From surviving correspondence, we know that
Muken also commissioned a pair of deluxe screens on gold-leaf
flecked paper (kinsen) from Chikuden (ibid., p. 84). The inscrip-
tion reads:
客滿西園擧酒辰，神州九點不生塵。
只今吾國美於彼，必出蘇黃一籌人。
夢硯詞契囑予寫《西園雅集圖》始成，
因係一內見意。時丙戌中秋前一日。田憲
The Western Garden was once filled with guests,

being offered wine,
During a time the dust of the world did not arise
in that Divine Land [China].
Since our country [Japan] is even more
beautiful than theirs now,
People of the likes of Su Shi and Huang Tingjian
are bound to appear here as well.
Inscribed in 1826, on the fourteenth day of the eighth month,

upon the completion of the painting, Elegant Gathering in the
Western Garden, which was commissioned by my literary
friend [Kameyama] Muken. I have composed this quatrain
to express my innermost feelings. [Signed] Den’ken.
— Translated by Shi-yee Liu
NANGA 113
Cat. 22
椿椿山筆「香垂潭影」
Tsubaki Chinzan (1801 – 1854)
The Reflection of Fragrant Flowers Dangling over a Pond, 1840
53 15/16 × 15 7/8 in. (137 × 40.4 cm)
Literature: Kaikodo Journal 2011, p. 126, no. 50
Chinzan rendered these chrysanthemums using the “boneless”

(mokkotsu) method of painting — that is, without any outlines.
Instead, the ink pools naturally to form the edges of the leaves,
and the yellow chrysanthemum petals are meticulously drawn by
alternating shades of yellow with areas of white and faint gray
accents, again, without relying on outlining. The flowers in full
bloom during the height of autumn are depicted naturalistically
as the countless delicate petals twist and turn. In addition, the
traditional repetitive texture strokes to define rocks in the Chi-
nese manner have been minimized, and they are executed with a
combination of washes and minimal line work (see detail on p. 98).
Of the two seals impressed on the work, the one at middle
left offers the Chinese saying “All that is still unattained in life
will work out fine.” The signature reads, “Painted for the ninth
day of the ninth month [the chrysanthemum festival] of the
kanoe-ne Year of the Rat [1840],” which lets us know the occa-
sion for which the work was created.
Chrysanthemums were among the eight flowers that were
favored by the Chinese literati and were considered a metaphor
for excellence and a symbol of longevity. Japanese Literati paint-
ers such as Chinzan would also have studied painting methods
for flowers in Chinese woodblock-printed books like the Mustard
Seed Garden Painting Manual — which, in fact, inspired the theme
of this painting (see p. 99). With the emphasis on the seasons
in Japanese art, chrysanthemums, along with other plants such
as the bellflower and pampas grass, became synonymous with
the autumn.
Cat. 23
山本梅逸筆蓮池白鷺図
Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783 – 1856)
Egrets in a Lotus Pond, 1852
50 × 21 13/16 in. (127 × 55.4 cm)
A flock of egrets has descended upon a pond where lotus plants

are bursting into bloom; a group of the snow-white birds in the
foreground is already pecking for food, while others in the back-
ground are just arriving. Yamamoto Baiitsu, one of the most pro-
lific and highly esteemed Literati painters of the Owari domain
(present-day Nagoya), was renowned for his bird-and-flower
paintings and ink landscapes. This composition departs from the
standard fare of his output by taking the two primary pictorial
motifs — egrets and lotuses — and repeating them in profusion. The
effective use of perspective adds a naturalistic flavor to the depic-
tion not often found in the artist’s works. Baiitsu also mastered the
“boneless” (mokkotsu) technique of painting, whereby outlines are
discarded and pigments naturally pool to form the edges of painted
surfaces, as seen in the rendering of the lotus leaves.
Baiitsu often created avian imagery with a pair or a small
number of egrets, but here the artist experiments with showing
the birds in a wide range of poses, in flight, strutting, or at rest.
The lotus plants, some rendered from the side, likewise range in
their manner of presentation, from closed buds to fully open
flowers, large green leaves to brittle brown ones. Still others are
shown in a state of decay or dotted with insect holes. The choice of
lotuses, important symbols of the Buddhist faith, combined with
their depiction at various stages of growth was perhaps meant as an
allegory of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, which the artist
himself may have been contemplating in his old age: the lengthy
signature reads “Painted under the southern eaves of the Chi-
kugan Studio, in the first month of the mizunoe-ne Year of the
Rat, by Baiitsu Yamamoto Ryō at age 70.”
NANGA 115
Zen Monks and Eccentrics
Sacred Art to Confound and Amuse
As observed in the transmission of painting themes between generations of Rinpa artists, the
respect for artistic lineage within the Kano school, and the aesthetic sensibilities shared among Lite-
rati artists, Edo painting was predicated on a reverence for the past or for one’s teachers, as well as an
ethos of cooperation. Various artists of the era, however, were regarded as unconventional and not
properly observant of social or artistic norms, owing to their antisocial behavior, reclusion (religious
or otherwise), or outright iconoclasm. Such artists came to be known as kijin, “eccentrics.”1 The foun-
dational study of this social and artistic phenomenon is the 1790 illustrated volume Biographies of
Eccentrics from the Early Modern Era (Kinsei kijin-den), by Ban Kōkei and Mikuma Katen. The text
cast a wide net over all sectors of Japanese society, and among the handful of artists included were
Yanagisawa Kien, Ike Taiga, and Ike Gyokuran, whom we met in the previous chapter.
Beyond unconventional social behavior, scholars have recognized another, broader concept of
nonconformity among Edo artists, called kisō. In 1970 Tsuji Nobuo was the first to identify it in
his influential study the Lineage of Eccentrics (Kisō no keifu).2 At the center of his discussion are the
so-called Three Eccentrics of Edo painting — Itō Jakuchū, Soga Shōhaku, and Nagasawa Rosetsu.
Jakuchū, who was only eccentric in the sense of being reclusive, is most famous for his brilliantly
colored and compulsively detailed paintings of flora and fauna, but he also created spontaneously
117
brushed Zen-style ink paintings, many featuring calligraphic and meaning. Inscriptions are deciphered and interpreted to inject
inscriptions by monks in his circle. The Zen-inspired but ultimately another layer of understanding and appreciation.
independent painter Shōhaku was truly rebellious and eccentric, Zen defines itself as a “transmission outside the scriptures,”
in both behavior and imaginative derring-do. Rosetsu, the remain- but is it really? While all sects of Buddhism are intimately tied
ing member of the Three Eccentrics, is, in fact, treated in the to the veneration of particular sutras (the Buddhist scriptures), it
succeeding chapter, on the Maruyama-Shijō school, which he can be proposed that no other sect relies so intensely on verbal
rebelled against and from which some claimed he was ejected, messages as Zen does for its core teaching practices. In a Zen
but to which he maintained ties throughout his career. context, however, words function differently than in daily com-
Tsuji Nobuo identified kisō in not only these and other painters munication. Words play an integral role in transmitting the
but also certain Zen monks. In Japan, monk-artists have been message and mindset of Zen. Whether in the sutras recited in
creating ink paintings and calligraphy since the early medieval daily services, especially the Heart Sutra; the verbal conun-
period, continuing into the present day. “Zen art” is associated with drums called kōan; or in “Zen sayings” inscribed on hanging
spontaneity, verve, and outright rule-breaking, with inscriptions scrolls, words are further animated by their presentation in works
that tease the mind out of normal modes of perception. Such works of dynamic calligraphy. It is not necessary to be a Zen practi-
have captivated many collectors in the West, though it was not a tioner or an expert in reading cursive scripts to experience that
particularly serious collecting interest of Richard Fishbein and spiritual and creative energy. Poetic texts rendered as expressive
Estelle Bender, who were drawn to only a few works in this cat- brushwork imbued with a Zen spirit can capture this Buddhist
egory. It likewise appealed to Abstract Expressionist artists, the
3 sect’s fundamental principles while bypassing the established
Beat poets, and proponents of New Age philosophy, not to men- catechism of sutras and didactic commentaries.
tion an entire postwar counterculture, as a kind of visual antidote
to modern malaise or a protest against the conventionality and FIND ING ME A NING IN M O NK S ’ ME SS AGE S
rule-abiding conformity of the workaday lifestyle. Through this
4 To examine how poetry functions in Zen paintings, we first need
lens, Zen practice — even the quest for satori, or enlightenment — to address their most common subjects.7 Foremost among pop-
was seen as tantamount to artistic discovery. That creative and ular themes in the Zen repertory are imaginary bust-length
spiritual aspect should by no means be dismissed: each of the “portraits” in ink monochrome depicting Daruma — the Japanese
painter-calligraphers discussed here pursued creative paths infused abbreviated pronunciation of the Sanskrit Bodhidharma. Born
with the principles of Zen, which advocated “looking into one’s in India in the fifth or sixth century, Daruma is recognized as the
own mind to discover Buddhahood” and pursuing a “mind to first patriarch of Chan Buddhism in China. Chan is the Chinese
mind” (i.e., master to pupil) transfer of spiritual teachings, as well translation of the Sanskrit dhyana, which refers to the yogic pos-
as “transmission outside the scriptures.” Zen practice at its root
5 ture of meditation. In Japanese, it is pronounced Zen. Daruma,
aims at giving its practitioners a transformative spiritual expe- according to legend, sat in continuous meditation for nine years
rience; the related art encapsulated this mindset. in a cave in northern China. Not only was he the founder of the
This short essay is not the place to outline the tenets of Zen Zen sect, but he also served as an inspiration to monk-painters
as a religious sect or to discuss its complex institutional structure for their own contemplative practice.
or aesthetic priorities; these subjects have been explicated elsewhere Following the well-established medieval tradition of mono-
by many others. Here, I simply set out to introduce a number
6 chromatic depictions of Daruma are the simple yet powerful
of images and calligraphic works directly inspired by Zen teach- Zenga (“Zen paintings,” particularly of the early-modern era) on
ings and to recontextualize them based on an analysis of style this subject by the Zen master Fūgai Ekun (1568 – 1654). Fūgai,
a monk of the Sōtō sect, created numerous “portrait” images of
the venerable patriarch, including one recently presented to The
Met (fig. 35). Following medieval precedents, Fūgai delineated
Daruma’s features with the utmost economy: a single brush line
to render the pate, soft gray washes to suggest a beard and eye-
lashes, and a few bold calligraphic strokes to define the robes.
Much of the compositional space is blank, purposely left so to
accommodate an inscription or to suggest a metaphysical state
of nothingness.
Though based mainly in the Odawara area (present-day
Shizuoka prefecture), Fūgai occasionally traveled to other parts
of Japan and achieved widespread fame in his day as a popular-
izer of Zen. He created numerous abbreviated ink paintings of
Daruma and the legendary happy-go-lucky monk Hotei (described
in more detail below), often accompanied by pithy Zen phrases
executed in his distinctive handwriting. We know that Fūgai, a
religious mendicant, often inscribed paintings such as these in
exchange for rice and other provisions when he lived in the coun-
tryside. Despite being trained in the Sōtō tradition — a sect that
emphasized daily meditation and placed mindful work in the
monastery above the quest for sudden enlightenment — Fūgai had
a reputation as a recalcitrant, nonconformist monk in the mold
of Daruma himself. He often lived in seclusion in caves or in the
wild for prolonged periods of time and was known for eccentric
behavior. He did not think of Zen as an escape from life but,
rather, as an intense immersion into its essence.
Fūgai inscribed his portrait of Daruma with Chinese char-
acters, brushed in a highly cursive script that is at once forceful
and playful. He varied the pressure of the brush to make some
characters bold and brusque, while others are written delicately
with thin, attenuated lines. He included the same inscription
on several other images of Daruma; it is, perhaps, not what one
Fig. 35. Fūgai Ekun (1568–1654), Portrait of Daruma, Momoyama (1573–1615)–

Edo (1615–1868) period, early 17th century. Hanging scroll; ink on paper,
30 1/2 ∞ 12 1/8 in. (77.5 ∞ 30.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015 (2015.500.9.5)
ZEN MONKS AND ECCENTRICS 119

would expect on a painting of a patriarch in the hierarchy of The monk Hakuin Ekaku (1685 – 1768) did more than any
Zen Buddhism: other prelate in late Edo-period Japan to revitalize the Rinzai sect
of Zen Buddhism, with its emphasis on kōan practice and sud-
At Heaven’s edge, a lone osprey den enlightenment. He sought to reinvigorate traditional teach-
swirls and soars through empty skies. ings through a renewed emphasis on rigorous meditation, and
Crows and sparrows on fences and eaves he also tried to popularize the hitherto elitist sect through preach-
have no place to take refuge. ing, painting, and calligraphic performances.9 Early in his life,
With both talons, the osprey scatters its prey Hakuin recognized the power of painting and calligraphy to
like rubble from a collapsed building, reveal the inner nature of the writer-artist, but it was not until
Swooping down and fiercely rampaging the last three decades of his life that he became a prolific painter
everything in all directions. 8 in his own right. His ink paintings and calligraphies had the
potential to shock, amuse, and dislodge one’s conventional mode
As is common in Zen writings, the literal meaning disguises of perception. Take, for instance, his bold, oversize rendition
implied teaching. Here, the enlightened Daruma himself embod- of the character for “virtue” (toku 悳), in the Fishbein-Bender
ies the fierce spirit of the osprey, attacking the complacency of Collection, which exemplifies the exuberant spiritual energy he
birds of the fields and farmhouses — crows and sparrows — who exuded with only ink and the brush (cat. 25).10
represent people trapped in the workaday world or an overly Hakuin created more portraits of Daruma in the course of his
complacent mindset. While it is impossible to reconstruct a career than any other artist, before or after his time. One of
chronology of the artist’s works, the mention of an osprey, which these, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum (fig. 36),
lives near the shore, suggests that he conceived the verse during bears a boldly brushed yet cryptic inscription: “No matter when
the last twenty years of his life, when he lived in the seaside vil- one looks . . .” (Itsu mite mo . . .). Scholars have long pondered its
lage of Manazuru, on Sagami Bay in Kanazawa (about 60 miles meaning. Some propose that it alludes to the fundamental Zen
east of Edo). tenet, “Look into oneself to discover one’s Buddha nature,” sug-
In another work by Fūgai, from the Fishbein-Bender Collec- gesting that whenever one looks, it will always be there. Another
tion, Hotei, the portly and smiling monk of Zen legend, is portrait of Daruma in a similar pose in the Eisei Bunko Museum,
shown pointing at an unseen moon, a symbol of enlightenment Tokyo, bears a similar inscription, “In whatever way one looks . . .”
(cat. 24). Hotei, or Budai in Chinese, was a popular figure in (Dō mite mo . . .).11 The implication is that, whenever or however
the Zen pantheon, often depicted as a chubby, good-humored one looks at Daruma, he will be there, he will be the same, and
monk carrying a large sack. A semihistorical figure, he is thought whenever or however one looks at one’s own Buddha nature (or
to have lived in southern China in the late ninth century and spiritually enlightened mindset), one will find it. Yet another
was eventually recognized as a manifestation of Miroku (Sanskrit: version of a Daruma portrait, recently up for auction,12 contained
Maitreya), the Buddha of the Future. In Japan, he also came to an inscription incorporating the same phrase but in a more exten-
be identified as one of the beloved Seven Gods of Good Fortune, sive message, offered as a humorous seventeen-syllable poem:
a pantheon previously encountered in Chapter 2 in our discus-
sion of Jurōjin (see pp. 52, 74), who was likewise known to Itsu mite mo No matter when one looks,
receive “eccentric” treatment (see cat. 29). As in his portrait of me-dekai Daruma the large-eyed Master Daruma
Daruma, Fūgai’s representation of Hotei is achieved through Daishi kana is there, isn’t he!
abbreviated brushwork and a suggestive use of blank space.
In these powerfully simple painting-calligraphy compositions,
Hakuin enjoined students and members of the public to pursue
a path of spiritual self-discovery.
Both Fūgai and Hakuin teased, cajoled, and encouraged
their followers to embark on a spiritual journey, the bold strokes
and rule-breaking style of their calligraphy reinforcing the potency
of their messages. Both prelates had inherited a medieval writing
tradition used by Zen monks — called bokuseki, or “traces of
ink” — but nonetheless developed their own distinctive hand-
writing styles. Nearly a generation later, Jiun Sonja (1718 – 1804)
consciously embraced Zen bokuseki, even when the phrases he
inscribed were outside the Zen tradition.
Jiun was originally a monk of the Shingon (Esoteric Buddhist)
sect, but he was eclectic in his religious training and later turned
to Zen, which emphasized meditation as its central practice. A
scholar and prolific writer, from about the age of seventy Jiun
also dedicated himself to the study of Shinto, the indigenous belief
system of Japan whose practice predated the arrival of Buddhism.
Shinto can be described as a type of animism advocating the
belief that supernatural local deities, or kami, are present in the
natural world — and Jiun authored more than thirty volumes
on the subject. He also applied himself to the study of the Chinese
classics, Confucianism, and the Sanskrit texts, becoming one
of the greatest Sanskrit scholars of his day. (He created a “Zen”-
style Sanskrit calligraphy later in his life.) Frustrated by his study
of traditional Buddhist commentaries, Jiun turned to meditation
and eventually became a full-time practitioner of Sōtō Zen — the
sect with which Fūgai Ekun had been affiliated.
Jiun’s calligraphic compositions are celebrated for their pro-
jection of energy, spontaneity, and forcefulness. He followed Zen
monks of the past who had experimented with boldly inscribed
statements, more often than not consisting exclusively of Chinese
Fig. 36. Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768), Portrait of Daruma, mid-18th century.

Hanging scroll; ink on paper, 46 1/4 ∞ 21 1/4 in. (117.5 ∞ 54 cm). The Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015
(2015.500.9.3)

122
phrases imbued with religious meaning. In one example, a recent take lay Buddhist vows. As a resident of Kyoto, he had access to
gift to The Met made in memory of Richard Fishbein, Jiun various Zen monasteries and drew inspiration from their artistic
brushed three characters reading shijōshin, or “profound sincerity,” holdings. To understand Jakuchū as a painter, however, it is crucial
on a vertical sheet of paper (fig. 37). The phrase derives from the to note that, along with spontaneous, Zen-style ink paintings,
Sutra of Meditation on Amida Buddha (Kanmuryōju kyō) and his lasting reputation was built on decorative, almost compulsively
characterizes the first of three types of mindsets that a believer in detailed depictions of flora and fauna in a natural setting. In one
Buddhism should possess in order to reach enlightenment. Whereas masterwork executed in this mode, the artist presented a large
the message encapsulates a fundamental concept of Pure Land full moon as sole witness to a miraculous burst of white blossoms
Buddhism (the aim of which is rebirth in the Western Paradise), emerging from the branches of a gnarled plum tree (fig. 39);
the calligraphy reflects the rapidly written style associated with the petals of each flower are carefully delineated in white, the
Zen calligraphy. stamens picked out in yellow. We may surmise that Jakuchū was
Jiun left numerous other examples of calligraphy in the counted among the Three Eccentrics in part because of this com-
bokuseki mode. Another of his works in The Met’s collection con- pulsive capacity for detailing. Moreover, in his exuberant depic-
sists of a single column of brusquely inscribed characters that tions of plant life, he combined seemingly incompatible elements
can be translated as “For a hundred years, [I have been] a person such as realism with abstraction and brilliant color, borrowing
with no attachments” (fig. 38). Such a statement succinctly from trends in Rinpa as well as the Maruyama-Shijō school.
captures the priorities of a monk who trained under the austere Jakuchū’s own inscription dates White Plum Blossoms and Moon to
conditions of a Zen monastery. Here, as was observable in his 1755, less than a year after he left his family’s greengrocer busi-
statement on the Amida Buddha, Jiun embraced “flying white” ness, and the painting may be viewed as a poignant declaration of
in his brushstrokes. Instead of reloading a brush with ink when it his decision to alter his life in order to focus on painting. He
ran dry, he continued writing as it became less saturated, inten- created two other, nearly identical paintings of plum blossoms —
tionally leaving areas within strokes uninked to hint at the rapidity one of which is in the Museum of the Imperial Collections,
and intensity with which they were written. Tokyo — and because of this, we know that he made detailed tem-
plates for his complex paintings, similar to the example shown
T HE N AT URE O F ZEN IN J A K U CHŪ PA IN T INGS in the discussion of bird-and-flower paintings by the Literati art-
Returning to the famed Three Eccentrics of Edo painting, let us ist Tsubaki Chinzan (see figs. 33a, b).13 The Met’s White Plum
look first to Itō Jakuchū, who was not an ordained monk but Blossoms and Moon is the earliest example of the three works on
became deeply interested in Zen while in his thirties and did this subject and must therefore have served as a model for the
template and later versions.
Jakuchū is perhaps best remembered for his depictions of
barnyard fowl of every variety, which he clearly studied directly
from life.14 In one impressive painting dated to 1792, a heroic
Fig. 37. Jiun Sonja (1718–1804), Profound Sincerity, ca. 1780–90. Hanging
scroll; ink and color on paper, 44 ∞ 17 7/8 in. (111.8 ∞ 45.4 cm). The Metropolitan rooster with a flamboyant tail directs its gaze upward while stand-
Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Joan B. Mirviss, in memory of T. Richard
Fishbein, 2015 (2015.601)
ing on one foot; a hen, perhaps waiting for it to crow, appears to
be admiring the rooster’s gallant figure (fig. 40). This painting,
Fig. 38. Jiun Sonja (1718–1804), For a Hundred Years, [I Have Been] a Person
with No Attachments, late 18th century. Hanging scroll; ink on paper, from the end of the artist’s career, not only attests to his skill at
46 1/2 ∞ 10 7/8 in. (118.1 ∞ 27.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New avian depiction but also incorporates a subtle rendering of a grape-
York, Gift of Morton Berman, in honor of Sylvan Barnet and William Burto,
2015 (2015.602) vine in ink, a reminder of Jakuchū’s virtuosity in that medium.

124
An excellent example of Jakuchū’s prowess as an ink painter is
a delightful image from the Fishbein-Bender Collection of
groups of turtles, painted in 1789 (cat. 27). The turtles are ren-
dered in the so-called sujime-gaki, or “white-line drawing,” tech-
nique, developed by Jakuchū and perfected over the course of
decades, but avoided by more traditional artists of the Kano
school as too unorthodox. It was accomplished by executing
strokes with a very wet brush, close enough together to leave a
space between them that resembled a white line. Such brush-
work required a keen sensitivity to the absorbent nature of the
soft gasenshi paper Jakuchū used, and to how far the ink might
spread after being applied.
Jakuchū’s deftness in ink is further demonstrated by two
paintings — one of peapods, in the Fishbein-Bender Collection
(cat. 26), the other of a beanstalk, in the Metropolitan Museum
(fig. 41) — that once formed part of a set of six paintings of veg-
etables.15 Having been born into a family of greengrocers, Jakuchū
often incorporated vegetables into his paintings, sometimes
imbuing them with a moral or religious significance. In his well-
known Vegetable Nirvana, for instance, he elevated a lowly daikon
radish to the status of the Buddha entering his final enlighten-
ment.16 Bean plants likewise feature in his encyclopedic handscroll
Vegetables and Insects.17
The vegetable paintings may originally have been mounted
on a six-panel folding screen, but at some point each one was
remounted as a hanging scroll. All of them feature Chinese
inscriptions brushed in an almost intractable cursive by Musen
Fig. 39. Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800), White Plum Blossoms and Moon, 1755. Hang-
ing scroll; ink and color on silk, 55 3/8 ∞ 31 1/4 in. (140.7 ∞ 79.4 cm). The Metro-
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.213)
Fig. 40. Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800), Hen and Rooster with Grapevine, 1792.
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 40 1/8 ∞ 16 1/4 in. (101.9 ∞ 41.3 cm). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection
of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers,

Jōzen (1693 – 1764), eighth abbot of the Ōbaku Zen temple Man-
pukuji, in Uji, near Kyoto. Ōbaku, established in Japan in the
seventeenth century by Chinese émigré monks, is the so-called
third sect of Zen, along with Sōtō (Fūgai and Jiun) and Rinzai
(Hakuin). Jōzen inscribed numerous ink paintings by Jakuchū,
sometimes styling himself “Tangai Jōgi.” In the Metropolitan
Museum painting (fig. 41), his words make erudite reference to
ancient Chinese poetry while offering a statement on the Zen
philosophy of nonduality:
The green vine puts forth blossoms,

and its pods are like half-formed swords.
The bean and stalk are inseparable;
both were born from the same roots.
This cryptic verse alludes to a well-known poem by Cao Zhi, who

protested his mistreatment by his brother Cao Pei, the tyrannical
first emperor of the Chinese Wei dynasty (220 – 264), by using
the imagery of beans being boiled over a fire made from their own
pods. As the story goes, Cao Pei commanded his brother to com-
pose a poem before he took seven steps, threatening him with
execution if he failed. Cao Zhi composed the following verse,
which deeply shamed the emperor:
Beans boiled to make a soup,

peas puréed to make the base.
Beanstalks blaze beneath the pot,
while in the pot the bean sheds tears:
“We both were born from the same roots —
how quick you are to burn me!”18
Fig. 41. Itō Jakuchū (1716–1800); inscription by Musen Jōzen (Tangai, 1693–1764),
Bean Vine, mid-18th century. Hanging scroll; ink on paper, 49 1/2 ∞ 18 7/8 in.
(125.7 ∞ 47.9 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Lita
Annenberg Hazen Charitable Trust Gift, in honor of Cynthia and Leon Polsky,
1985 (1985.97)
By borrowing the phrase “both were born from the same roots,” and brushwork. Both are in evidence in the sublime Mount Fuji
Jōzen added a Chinese literary dimension to Jakuchū’s composi- and Seikenji Temple, from the Fishbein-Bender Collection (cat. 28),
tion while expressing a notion prevalent in Zen regarding the in which we see Shōhaku experimenting with Western perspec-
underlying unity connecting all living things. tive and its idea of transferring a scientifically calculated three-
The vegetable paintings were created sometime in the early dimensionality onto a two-dimensional surface. The painting
1760s, before Jōzen’s death in 1764. Jakuchū was then engaged maintains many of the idioms found in a classic, vertically oriented
in the monumental project of twenty-four paintings of plant and Chinese landscape — trees, architecture, a river, and a distant
animal subjects, created in rich color and teeming with detail. 19 mountain — but the artist’s interest in working beyond these estab-
(These remarkable hanging scrolls formed a larger set with a lished paradigms is clear. The Metropolitan Museum’s Lions at the
triptych depicting the Buddhist deities Shaka, Monju, and Fugen, Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai (fig. 42) takes Shōhaku’s experi-
which the artist donated to the Zen temple Shōkokuji in Kyoto; mentation a step further. At first glance it is difficult to discern
the complete set is now in the Imperial Household Collection.) the subject of this energetic painting of a most unusual land-
Here, in the more direct medium of ink monochrome, Jakuchū scape inhabited by lions. It depicts the famous natural stone
captured a compelling vision of the natural world with the same bridge at Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang province, China, the holy
sure grasp of form and composition evident in his polychrome mountain of the Tiantai ( Japanese: Tendai) sect of Buddhism.
paintings. They anticipate the many works Jakuchū created in the According to Buddhist legend, a mother lion living on the moun-
spontaneous ink mode during his late years. tain threw her cubs over the cliff to see which of them would
persevere in climbing back to her. The poetic inscription at the
SH ŌH A K U ’ S ECCEN T RI C TA K E S O N L EGEND top of the painting describes this scene:
In contrast to Jakuchū, who was quiet, reclusive, and serious, Soga
Shōhaku (1730 – 1781), another of the Three Eccentrics, was said Mount Tiantai towers upward
to be truly peculiar in his behavior, especially when inebriated, forty-eight thousand feet,
and he seems to have cultivated this image to go with the equally Fantastic cliffs, steep and sheer,
outlandish art he created. Like most artists of his day, his initial lofty scarps that reach the sky.
training was with a Kano-school artist — in Shōhaku’s case, the Atop the stone bridge,
relatively unknown Takeda Keiho. Yet clearly his primary influ- whereon Perfected Beings tread and
ence was the Soga school, and Shōhaku, without any legitimate Winged magicians with cranes
evidence, declared himself to be the tenth-generation descendant linger and wheel.
of the first Soga Jasoku (or Dasoku), a Muromachi-period painter Those who have not transmigrated
associated with a subtemple of Daitokuji in Kyoto. Shōhaku cannot take a step to cross it.
was himself little known in the annals of Japanese painting until Behold how wondrous is such an immortal,
recent times, perhaps because he was not easily categorized as an the painting master Soga.
artist of one school or another. His artistic reputation, like that A hundred, a hundred thousand lions
of Jakuchū, however, has soared, the resurgence of his popular- appear at the tip of his brush,
ity due in no small part to the attention of Western collectors Chasing and racing top to bottom,
and museum curators. 20 ferociously growling and snarling.
Eccentricity in behavior aside, Shōhaku’s paintings always Scaling peaks, fording streams,
exhibit a high level of unconventionality in both composition the cubs strive for first place,

While one among them, old and huge,
sits with eyes like falling stars.
Those that have followed the wrong path
fall from the craggy brink.
They can reverse their course
if they repent their basic nature.
The artistry and skill shown here
cannot be expressed in words.
Though mine are unworthy,
this painting will be handed
down forever.21
The inscription was, appropriately, brushed by a Rinzai Zen monk,

Gazan Nanso of Tenryūji Temple, Kyoto. Mount Tiantai was
the legendary residence of the Chan (Zen) eccentrics Fengkan,
Hanshan, and Shide (Japanese: Bukan, Kanzan, and Jittoku),
and was known for its scenic beauty by the generations of pil-
grims who visited the site. Shōhaku has therefore taken a tradi-
tional Buddhist theme of Chinese origin and created a fantastic
landscape with his assertive brushwork and remarkable powers
of interpretation.
In all of these examples of ink painting and calligraphy by
artists deeply involved in Zen practice, steeped in the premodern
tradition of bokuseki, or working in collaboration with Zen monk-
calligraphers, we see how words and poetic meaning were used
to transmit Buddhist teachings. The language is sometimes
exhortative — urging followers to pursue the right path — but at
other times the message is like a kōan, asking one thing but
encouraging an irrational response. In every case, the calligraphy
used for the inscription conveys an impression — the medium is
the message, to the extent that such styles of handwriting sug-
gest breaking through convention, ignoring formal protocol, and
Fig. 42 (and detail opposite). Soga Shōhaku (1730–1781), Lions at the Stone
Bridge of Mount Tiantai, 1779. Hanging scroll; ink on silk, 44 7/8 ∞ 20 in.
(114 ∞ 50.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs
Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
(2015.300.216)
embracing life with exuberance. Pictures of famous Zen prelates ings are akin to the untrammeled nature of Zen eccentrics from
are animated by accompanying phrases, as if presenting the spo- ancient Chinese legend. Some of the works shown here aimed at
ken words of holy men in visual form; Jakuchū’s edible flora projecting a sensation of satori; others drew on Zen tropes to
achieves transcendent significance when contextualized by reli- convey a more nuanced message. The artists who executed these
gious poetry; Shōhaku’s lions are symbolic of spiritual transmi- works might be surprised to see how their creations have been
gration. Calligraphy by Hakuin and Jiun can stand by itself for its interpreted in modern times, especially by audiences untutored
stunning visual impact, and its spiritual profundity is unleashed in the reading of classical Chinese and Japanese, but somehow, I
when the meaning of the characters is revealed. Shōhaku’s dis- doubt they would be disappointed.
regard for social decorum and the vibrancy of many of his paint-

Cat. 24
風外慧薫筆指月布袋図賛
Fūgai Ekun (1568 – 1654)
Hotei Pointing at the Moon, 1650
12 15/16 × 17 3/16 in. (32.9 × 43.7 cm)
The portly, affable monk Hotei, revered in Japan as one of the life (see fig. 35), this poem conveys a more relaxed attitude toward
Seven Gods of Good Fortune, hoists his commodious satchel over pursuing the “Middle Way” advocated by Buddhism — that is,
his shoulder while pointing upward at an unseen moon. The satchel a lifestyle of neither extreme asceticism nor overindulgence in
is composed of a single thin, dark contour line, while Hotei himself material luxury. Hotei is pointing at the moon, which is a sym-
is rendered in a combination of modulated outlines and pale gray bol of satori, or enlightenment, in Zen imagery. He is signaling
washes. A few bold strokes suggest the robes. Much of the com- to his followers that they, too, should be striving for a spiritual
positional space is blank, a common convention of Zen ink goal. That the image is accompanied by an inscription by an
painting, and purposely left so to accommodate an inscription ordained Zen master gives the message added forcefulness:
or to suggest a metaphysical state of nothingness. Such abbrevi-
ated brushwork and evocative use of blank space were associated 生涯不貧、大福無隣、
with medieval Zen monk-painters and adopted in the Edo period 指月看月、途中老賓
as a way of spreading Zen teachings.
The inscription, in Chinese, showcases Fūgai’s characteris- Shōgai hin narazu Throughout my life,
tically brusque — sometimes nearly illegible — handwriting and I haven’t been poor
reads from left to right (the opposite of normal convention). daifuku rin nashi Nor have lived
Both it and the artist’s signature, “Fūgai drew and inscribed this amid wealth.
painting when an old man of 83 years,” combine fine, spidery tsuki o sashi tsuki o miru Pointing at the moon,
brush lines with others that are stronger and more darkly inked. In looking at the moon,
contrast to Fūgai’s more combatively toned inscriptions, warning tochū no rōhin I’m just an old traveler
readers against forming attachments to the comforts of worldly along the way.
131
Cat. 25
白隠慧鶴筆大字「悳」
Hakuin Ekaku (1685 – 1768)
Virtue, mid-18th century
41 3/4 × 20 1 /2 in. (106 × 52 cm)
Literature: Fishbein 2012, pp. 110 – 12
Hakuin’s oversize rendition of the character for “virtue” (toku 悳) inheritance, originally by the eleventh-century Chinese scholar
projects an exuberant spiritual energy. The brushstrokes are bold and historian Sima Guang. It reads:
and dense, yet closer examination reveals subtleties within the
strokes themselves, for instance, a puddling of the ink that adds 積金貽子孫々々無能持,
liveliness to the character. The two stray horizontal lines toward 積書貽子孫々々無能讀,
bottom left, created inadvertently as the brush was laid down, 不知積陰徳於冥々中,
as well as the glimpse of “flying white” (white areas within a 以貽子孫久長計。
brushstroke, caused by a separation of the brush hairs) at the bot-
tom center, convey a general aura of spontaneity. If you pile up money for your children and grandchildren,
The characters in the eight-line inscription range in size, with they won’t be able to hold onto it.
the first one and those at the top of the third line being the most If you pile up books for your children and grandchildren,
prominent. Some are written in a more cursive script than others, they won’t read any of them.
and the ink tones vary, as well. The exaggerated vertical exten- No, the best thing to do is to quietly accumulate virtue,
sion of the final stroke of the inscription adds to the overall vigor in the spiritual realm.
of the work while making a visual connection to the character Such a gift will benefit your descendants
below. The inscription derives from a verse about the value of an for a long, long time.
— Translation adapted from Jonathan Chaves
133
Cat. 26
伊藤若冲筆無染浄善（丹崖）賛豌豆豆図
Painting by Itō Jakuchū (1716 – 1800)
Inscription by Musen Jōzen (Tangai, 1693 – 1764)
Peapods on a Branch, late 1750s – before 1764
47 1 /2 × 19 in. (120.6 × 48.3 cm)
In this simple yet deft rendering of peapods on a branch, Jakuchū and did not know which way to head. Jōzen wryly analyzes this
combined broad, wet strokes of pale ink wash with bold accent all-too-human predicament by composing an entirely new verse:
strokes to capture the springiness of the stalks and the gravity-
defying lightness of the almost-ripe peapods. The sheet once 何年羊眼觸藩籬，
belonged to a set of six paintings of vegetables — a common sub- 應免令人泣路歧。
ject for the artist, who came from a family of greengrocers. His
signature, just above the stem of the vine, reads “Created by When reaching that year, whenever,
Jakuchū,” followed by two seals, one of which reads “Lay Buddhist and facing an impossible impasse,
devotee Jakuchū.” A person shouldn’t cry since, after all,
Like the other paintings in the set, this one includes an there’s nowhere to go anyway!
inscription by the Ōbaku Zen monk Musen Jōzen, who impressed
the work with three of his seals. He composed a couplet of seven- Ultimately, the thought-provoking, quasi-humorous statement,
syllable Chinese verse that is perplexing at first glance. It includes though difficult to comprehend at first, conforms to the Zen tradi-
the phrase “goat’s eye,” which is another way of referring to a tion of trying to break down logical thought processes. It succeeds
type of pea. Yet that phrase was just a leaping-off point for the to the extent that readers — modern readers included — pause to
Zen master, who wove into the poem allusions to Chinese phil- reflect on the challenges that arise when obstacles appear unex-
osophic texts, such as using the phrase “goat’s-eye peas brushing pectedly in people’s lives. The ability to turn away from conster-
up against a fence” to mean “unable to go forward or backward,” nation, an intransigent mindset, or obsession with an intractable
or to reach an impasse. situation is part of the definition of satori. On the one hand, it
The second line refers specifically to a passage in the ancient comes across as somewhat pessimistic for a Zen monk to suggest
Teachings of Master Huainan (Chinese: Huainanzi; Japanese: that there is no place to go in any case — but on the other, it is
Enanji), in which the philosopher Yang Zhu bursts into tears at liberating to reflect on success and failure as different sides of
a fork in the road, because he could go either north or south the same coin.
135
Cat. 27
伊藤若冲筆鎌田鵬賛亀図
Painting by Itō Jakuchū (1716 – 1800)
Inscription by Kamata Hō (Ryūō, 1754 – 1821)
Turtles, 1789
43 1 /16 × 20 7/16 in. (109.3 × 51.9 cm)
Literature: Kyoto National Museum 2000, p. 145, no. 105;
Kyoto National Museum 2002, vol. 1, p. 195, no. 120
Turtles are auspicious animals in the East Asian tradition, said are considered lucky in Japanese folklore). The last line of the
to live for ten thousand years. Here, Jakuchū rendered groups of poem includes these numbers, and the artist cooperated by cre-
them using the so-called sujime-gaki, or “white-line drawing,” ating three clusters of turtles: seven at the top (including the two
technique, in which he carefully applied dark, wet brushstrokes babies on the carapace of the largest turtle), five at the bottom
to the paper in such a way as to leave a narrow, unpainted space right, and three at the middle left. We may assume, therefore,
between them, resembling a white line. The inscription, by the that both artist and calligrapher had the idea in mind.
Confucian scholar and ethicist Kamata Hō, is a quatrain of When signing the work, the artist apparently misremem-
seven-character lines: bered his age for a moment, then scribbled a “6” above “75” to
correct the error, so that the signature ultimately reads “Painted
靄々祥雲掛瑞嵐， by Old Man Beito at the age of 76.” Kano Hiroyuki suggests
千金之屋實堪妉。 that someone trying to simulate a Jakuchū signature would never
萬年龜壽成群到， have been so brazen, meaning that only the artist himself could
況是行々七五三。 have made the annotation (Kyoto National Museum 2000, p. 354).
The round seal reading “Lay Buddhist devotee Jakuchū” is
As auspicious clouds fill the skies the one the artist cherished and used most, especially during his
and beneficent rain falls, late career, but it also appears on works created by his pupils, so
Staying at a house of abundance caution must be exercised in separating studio creations from
is indeed enjoyable. those of the master. For reasons unknown, there has always been a
Long-lived turtles, ten thousand years old, break in the circular outline on the left side of this seal; a second
arrive in small groups, break, on the right side, begins to appear in later works. The
One after another, just like this, in clusters vertical rectangular seal above it, “Seal of Tō (Fuji[wara]),”
of seven, and five, and three. was also a favorite of Jakuchū’s. Similar to the round seal, a
chip occurs at the lower right (Tsuji 2015b, pp. 205 – 6, 208).
Keeping in mind that child mortality was common in premodern Two additional seals, one at the beginning of the inscription and
Japan, the owner of this work may have commissioned it to hang two at the end, were impressed by the calligrapher. The one at the
on the Shichi-go-san, or Festival for Seven-, Five-, and Three- upper right espouses the Confucian concept of “expressing
Year-Olds, when parents celebrate the special birthdays of little one’s aspirations.”
children (the numbers seven, five, and three, or shichi, go, and san,
Cat. 28
曽我蕭白筆富嶽清見寺図
Soga Shōhaku (1730 – 1781)
Mount Fuji and Seikenji Temple, 1770s
46 × 20 1 /8 in. (116.8 × 51.1 cm)
Literature: Kano Hiroyuki in Kyoto National Museum 2005, pp. 329 – 30, no. 15;
Kano 2008, p. 88; Chiba City Museum of Art 2012, p. 219, no. 84;
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum 2013, pp. 39, 58, no. 29
Located about sixty miles southwest of Tokyo, Mount Fuji other aspects of Western-style perspective here, especially in the
would have been visible from almost anywhere in eighteenth- rolling hills below Fuji, which are given form by the juxtaposition
century Edo, without the skyscrapers and smog of today. With of light and dark tones instead of the application of traditional
the increase in travel along the Tōkaidō Road connecting Edo Chinese “axe-cut” strokes and outlines. The latter can be seen in
and Kyoto, many Japanese of the era would have had the oppor- the foreground, and the zigzagging river and craggy mountain-
tunity to see the iconic mountain, and it became a popular desti- tops to the left of Fuji are likewise traditional Chinese idioms.
nation for pilgrims. Soga Shōhaku created several hanging-scroll Shōhaku took other artistic liberties: while artists often
and screen paintings of Fuji, but there is no evidence that he ever depicted Fuji with a small notch on the right slope following an
visited the iconic peak. He instead drew inspiration from the his- eruption in 1707, Shōhaku eliminated that detail in order to
torical tradition of Fuji paintings, the secular depiction of which emphasize the mountain’s conical shape. Also, the narrow spit of
extended from a visual vocabulary introduced by the fifteenth- land dotted with pine trees, Miho no Matsubara, seen to the
century ink master Sesshū Tōyō, and which was well established right of the composition is, in reality, along the same coast, south-
by Shōhaku’s day. In the current work, the artist combined a tradi- west of Fuji. In the lower left, the temple Seikenji can be located
tional Chinese-inspired approach to landscapes with an interest among the landscape and cliffs, which are painted in the tradi-
in naturalism, a trend at that time (see Chapter 5). tional manner with emphasis and attention to line work and
At upper left a symbolically white Fuji — left predominantly brushstrokes. The painting is not dated, but based on the seals
unpainted, except for some delicate ink gradation that empha- (“Yūten” and “Shiryū”) and the style of the signature (“Soga
sizes its sanctity and importance — rises above the rolling hills Shōhaku Kiō [Terutaka?] zu”), it can be placed in the final stage
below, which are executed with an interest in shading and atmo- of Shōhaku’s career.
spheric perspective evocative of the European tradition. We find
Cat. 29
曽我蕭白筆寿老人図
Soga Shōhaku (1730 – 1781)
The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin, late 18th century
52 3/4 × 22 5/16 in. (134 × 56.7 cm)
Literature: Kano 1997, no. 27; Kano Hiroyuki in Kyoto National Museum 2005,
p. 353, no. 108; McKelway 2005, pp. 162 – 63, no. 48; Kano 2007, p. 190, no. 118;
Kano 2008, p. 72; Satō 2010, p. 13, no. 56
This jovial and auspicious scene shows Jurōjin, one of the Seven in New Year’s paintings.) The strong and vibrant ink brush-
Gods of Good Fortune, in a boat with a deer, an animal with work used to delineate the tree and stones, including Chinese
which he often appears in paintings. To compound the felicitous “axe-cut” strokes, are characteristic of Shōhaku’s work (see
imagery, Jurōjin lifts a small minogame turtle into the boat. The detail on p. 116).
tail of the turtle — a symbol of longevity in East Asian art — is Researchers such as Satō Yasuhiro and others have suggested
formed from seaweed, to demonstrate how long the amphibious that many works bearing what appears to be a perfectly accept-
animal has lived. Jurōjin’s forehead is traditionally depicted as able seal and signature might be by apprentices or followers of
overly large or elongated, emblematic of his wisdom. The iconog- his day (bearing in mind that Shōhaku deliberately wrote in dif-
raphy of Jurōjin and Fukurokuju often overlapped in popular ferent script types and styles, even on works close in date, in
imagery, as explained in the entry on Sakai Ōho’s painting of keeping with the flamboyant, eccentric persona he liked to cul-
Jurōjin (see cat. 10). The present image depicts the god in a more tivate). Scholarly consensus has not yet formed on the authentic-
animated and humorous manner than usual. The accenting of ity of works like this, which has a genuine “Kiitsu” seal (as found
his mouth and lips in bright red, a color associated in Japan with on verified works in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and other
the budding of flowers in spring, adds to the celebratory effect of institutions). The spiky signature above the seal reads “Painted
the work, no doubt made for the New Year. (Plum blossoms and by Shōhaku.”
bamboo, seen here in the background, are frequently featured
141
Maruyama-Shijō
Poetic Symbolism in Naturalistic Painting
MIDORI OKA
What happens when a painting tradition that arose from an intimate connection with East Asian
literature encounters science, botany, and a general fascination with naturalism? Every other chapter
of this volume — whether examining Kano, Rinpa, Nanga, Zen, or Ukiyo-e — makes note of the
close integration between the pictorial and the literary arts. Among the diverse painting styles that
had developed in Japan by the eighteenth century, the introduction of detailed, even botanical preci-
sion had an impact on all schools and set the stage for modern painting movements. In the art of the
Maruyama and Shijō schools, artists took as their subjects motifs historically associated with poetic
and emotive themes in Japanese art, but they did so in dialogue with a new interest in realism. The
observation of nature found balance with the realistic depiction of flora and fauna in compositions fea-
turing a decorative surface — by this time a modus operandi of Rinpa artists, as well. The result was the
creation of an entirely new, broadly appealing approach to widely accepted animal and avian subject
matter. If a deer or sparrow is depicted with fidelity to its actual appearance, it can still maintain poetic
allusiveness, yet literature-based interpretations are not necessary to enjoy or understand the work.
Maruyama Ōkyo (1733 – 1795), the foremost proponent of naturalism in eighteenth-century
Japanese painting, founded a school dedicated to its principles. Some have labeled him and his followers
the Shasei-ha, or “School of Realism.”1 Ōkyo was born to a family of farmers in current-day Kameoka,
143
outside of Kyoto, and by his early teens made his way to the capi- SK E TCHING FRO M L IFE : DEFINING SHA SEI
tal, where he went from working in a shop that sold cosmetics To understand which principles of painting underlie the works of
and sundries to making gosho-ningyō, or “palace dolls,” for a toy Ōkyo and his followers, it is necessary to investigate certain fun-
store. He may first have become interested in creating a sense of damental concepts and terms surrounding shajitsu-sei, or natu-
three-dimensional space from small images sold in the store that ralism, to use the closest and most convenient translation. Ōkyo’s
were meant to be viewed through a nozoki karakuri, a type of works have been referred to as shasei-ga, or “pictures sketched
stereopticon fitted with a lens and mirror. It is believed that his from life,” for he did not merely copy the works of past masters
employer at the store, Nakajima Kanbei, recognized Ōkyo’s artis- following the time-honored practice of using funpon (copybooks).
tic talent and sent him to study with Ishida Yūtei (1721 – 1786), Rather, he filled his own sketchbooks with images of what he
who was known for meticulous renderings of avian subjects observed in the world around him: animals, birds, and fish drawn
and whose own style blended the colorful styles of the Tosa and from every conceivable angle; leaves in different stages of growth;
Rinpa schools. Early on, Ōkyo revealed himself to be some-
2 flowers in bud, full bloom, or wilting; the atmospheric effects of
thing of a prodigy, eventually assuming leadership of his own rain or mist; the qualities of moonlight reflected on water; and
painting studio. so on. Artists who preceded Ōkyo, such as Kano Tan’yū and
In the notable Fishbein-Bender Collection painting Two Deer Watanabe Shikō (1683 – 1755), were also known to have created
beneath Maple Trees (cat. 30), we see the type of composition that life sketches of birds and flowers, and Ōkyo, in fact, is known to
Ōkyo and his atelier often created, using a subject familiar to the have copied those made by Shikō in exacting detail, in essence
repertory of Japanese painting motifs as well as the standard canon making funpon after a master painter’s sketches.6 Alongside
of literary topics. Deer and maples have been signifiers of the Ōkyo’s sketches from life was a deep fascination with the natural
autumn in Japanese court verse from as early as the Nara period sciences, botany, entomology, and ornithology, a trend that per-
(710 – 794), so viewers of Ōkyo’s painting would have recognized
3 meated intellectual culture in the eighteenth century. Western
instantaneously the poetic allusions connected with his imagery. printed books and illustrations on the subjects, as well as Chinese
At the same time, however, the work’s striking realism begs the bird-and-flower styles of the Nagasaki school, exerted a huge
question of whether it was meant to evoke the actual experience impact on Ōkyo and his followers.
of encountering a deer in nature. While Ōkyo’s choice of subject Ōkyo was not the only artist of his time to experiment with
is deeply rooted in poetic tradition, his approach sought the the direct observation of nature, especially as it related to Western
practical methods of seeing and re-creating the natural world. methods of calculating scientific perspective. While the dictio-
From correspondence preserved at the Daijōji Temple in nary definition of shasei today is simply “to sketch or paint from
Kami City, in Hyōgo prefecture, we know that Ōkyo and his stu- nature or life,” its meaning is decidedly more complex. The origins
dio were overextended with major commissions at the time that of the word can be traced back to the Six Principles of Painting
Two Deer beneath Maple Trees was made, among them fusuma-e in China, established in the fifth century by the art theorist Xie
(sliding-panel paintings) for the Landscape Room and Guo Ziyi He, which emphasized spirit resonance in brushwork (valued
Room at Daijōji. Furthermore, in late 1787 Ōkyo was making reg-
4 especially in Nanga painting, as discussed in Chapter 3).7 Similar
ular visits to Prince Shinnin of Myōhō’in, a monzeki (palace- terms such as shinsa (“true copy”), shasin (“copy truth”), and seisha
affiliated) temple in Kyoto. During these visits, he produced (“life copy”) implied the practice of drawing from the actual
impromptu paintings (sekiga) at the prince’s request. A relatively
5 subject in real life.
small, meticulously executed painting like Two Deer beneath Maple One of the strongest proponents of this vein of thinking was
Trees would have been created in the calmer setting of the atelier. the artist Shiba Kōkan (1747/48 – 1818), who believed that the
“spirit of the brush” was insufficient for capturing reality. In his tectural scenes, were at that time being imported from China,
treatise Discussion on Western Painting (Seiyō dan), he stated: and Ōkyo had seen examples depicting sites in Suzhou. He made
similar versions after these models as well as some of his own,
Western painting style is not punctilious about the power and perhaps inspired by them to think of different ways in which to
feeling of each brushstroke the way Japanese and Chinese add an element of perspective to full-sized scenes of nature and
painting is. The brush was originally nothing more than a other subjects.11
tool for making paintings. Nevertheless, [now in Japanese Ōkyo remained an assiduous student of painting, as evidenced
and Chinese painting] only the feeling of the brushstroke is through Journal of Ten Thousand Things (Banshi), an anthology of
expressed — for example, in painting a cow, rather than show- copious notes transcribed and compiled by his patron, the monk
ing that it is a cow, the cow is indicated by just one brush Yūjō of Enman’in, a subtemple of Miidera in Kyoto. The journal
of ink. This is exactly like a doctor using medicine to cure an offers information not only on the technical aspects of painting,
illness: the medicine, in other words, is the ink, the doctor such as the application and types of pigments, but also on Ōkyo’s
is the brush, and the illness is equivalent to the picture. 8 conceptual views. For example, he speaks of sketching from life
as a necessity, and did so daily himself, for he believed that it
Kōkan, who once created ukiyo-e prints and paintings under the equipped one with the skills to paint anything, even an unfamil-
name Harushige, and who famously made forgeries of woodcuts iar or never-before-seen subject.12 In another passage Ōkyo, who
by Suzuki Harunobu (1724 – 1770), eventually became devoted to was known to have kept small animals so that he could draw
the production of copperplate etchings in the Western style. He them, suggests using a telescope to observe animals that were
based them on models imported by the Dutch into Nagasaki, and easily startled. The journal even includes a passage regarding the
to painting in a Western manner using oil on silk. It was a time artist’s methodology when depicting a monkey: Ōkyo suggests
when interest in natural history as a discipline (hakubutsugaku) was that many painters made the mistake of drawing a monkey’s head
growing, especially among the samurai elite and bureaucrats. The by referencing a human’s, whereas a dog’s was a more appropriate
ban on Western books had been lifted in 1720, and Chinese and model, since a human’s ears are too low and close to the neck.13
European publications on botany and zoology were now accessi- Ōkyo was maturing as a painter at a time when the Kano
ble to some in Japan. A group of “Holland-obsessed lords” (Ran- studio, which had upheld its status as the “establishment” school
peki daimyō), including Hosokawa Shigekata, Masuyama Sessai, for more than three centuries, was becoming hidebound and
and Satake Shozan, were greatly interested in Western methods of stifled in its creativity. Wealthy patrons from the thriving mer-
near-scientific depiction of the natural world, and painters like
9 chant class and from large, established temples in and around
Kōkan and his contemporary Odano Naotake, the latter of the Kyoto were also providing a new market for painters in search of
Ranga (Dutch-style) school, tutored themselves extensively, pro- commissions.14 Perhaps it was this social context and the new
ducing hanging-scroll compositions that incorporated perspec- influx of material from the Western world that converged to facili-
tive and shading. They struggled, however, with the limitations tate Ōkyo’s success as an artist. The Chinese paintings and pub-
of mineral pigments on silk (compared with Western oils on lications to which he now had access included the Illustrated
canvas), and their results were often jarring or awkward. 10 Chinese and Japanese Encyclopedia (Wakan sansai zue, 1713) and
Ōkyo’s early training also involved the painting of megane-e, Manual of Eight Categories of Painting (Hasshū gafu, first published
pictures for the aforementioned mechanized device called in China in the 1620s and reprinted in Japan in 1672 and 1710);
nozoki karakuri, with which he had become familiar at the toy these were compendia on every subject imaginable, the first
store. Megane-e, which exaggerated depth perception in archi- having been published in China in 1607 as the Illustrated
M A R U YA M A - S H I J Ō 145
Compendium of the Three Powers (Sancai tuhui). Ōkyo’s Kano- more realistic, remained pleasing to the eye and familiar to view-
school training would have provided him with a practice rooted ers who were used to more conventional modes of depiction.
in Chinese brushwork techniques, but his study in this area is Ōkyo achieved as much through his assiduous commitment to
known through his sketches after Chinese paintings that he observing the natural world.
observed firsthand. 15
What differentiated Ōkyo from other artists who were LY RI C A L V IE W S O F N AT URE BY ŌK YO A ND GOSHUN
experimenting with innovative methods of rendering natural phe- In addition to their careful imitation of nature, such as the
nomena was the subtlety of his approach. He took established hair-by-hair replication of fur in Two Deers beneath Maple Trees
themes and made slight visual adjustments that infused them with (see detail on. p. 142), Ōkyo and his pupils were preoccupied
a sense of organic vitality. The resulting works, though visibly with something that might be classified under the broad phrase
“the lyrical use of space.” Let us start by introducing two screens
(of different dates, but which stand together well as a pairing)
that bookend chronologically Ōkyo’s painting of deer: Goose and
Reeds, dated 1774, and Willows in Moonlight, dated 1793, the
Fig. 43. Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795), Goose and Reeds, 1774; Willows in
Moonlight, 1793. Six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper, each very end of the artist’s career (fig. 43). They were likely made
60 9/16 in. ∞ 11 ft. 7 1/2 in. (153.9 ∞ 354.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as halves of different pairs, hence the discrepancy in dates,
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.197.1, .2) but both compositions capture the mood of autumn. Poetic
associations between the seasons and certain migratory birds, The lyrical quality of the screens is clear, but they are also a prime
especially geese, had already been firmly established by the example of Ōkyo’s mastery at maximizing the effect of negative
Nara period; their presence in the Collection of Myriad Leaves space in large compositions. In the right-hand screen a single goose
(Man’yōshū, 8th century), the earliest extant anthology of Japa- swoops down toward the surface of the water, indicated by a few
nese verse, and through the centuries in waka and haikai led to pale brushstrokes. (The prominent white band toward the tips of
their becoming ingrained in the Japanese cultural psyche. The
16 the wings indicates that the bird is a Greater White-Fronted Goose,
reflection of the moon on rippling water, moreover, evokes the or magan.) By capturing the form of the goose with its wings not
sentiment of loneliness, another marker of the season. Even fully extended but tucked slightly inward, mid-flap, Ōkyo imbues
though there is no text inscribed on the painting, its melancholy the painted bird with a real sense of motion. This complex compo-
tone conjures a famous verse by an anonymous poet from the sition was one that Ōkyo painted more than once — a scroll by
Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern: him once in the collection of Enman’in portrays a goose very
much like this one, and a crane assumes a similar pose on what
Ko no ma yori When I see the light were originally sliding doors he created for Kongōji.18
morikuru tsuki no of the moon leaking The left-hand screen shows only the reflection of the moon
kage mireba through the trees, I know on water; nearby, a cluster of willow trees disappears into the
kokoro zukushi no that heart-wrenching mist. Even though the screens may not have been meant to be a
aki wa kinikeri autumn has arrived. 17
pair, they display a similar atmosphere of quiet serenity, barely
disturbed by the slight breeze suggested by the bending of the Among Ōkyo’s most famous followers, Matsumura Goshun,
reeds and the movement of the goose. Through his careful place- or Gekkei (1752 – 1811), stands out for his similar mastery of the
ment of a few pictorial elements, Ōkyo “constructed” negative use of space while maintaining complete control of the brush.
spaces that are vital to the composition; they are active elements Goshun began his studies under the Literati artist Yosa Buson
necessary to the success of the visual drama. In many of his paint-
19 (see Chapter 3) but eventually joined the circle of Ōkyo. His
ings, Ōkyo combines this expansive and calculated use of empty branch of Ōkyo’s lineage became known as the Shijō school,
space with the more solid presence of subjects, whether animals, since he was born and raised on Shijō Street, in central Kyoto.
figures, or elements of a landscape, to create the extraordinary (In his later years, he arranged for nearly all of his pupils to live
works that appealed to his clientele. nearby, on the same street.) Goshun was from a family that served
the government mint, and his father, Kyōtei, was a senior super-
visor to the Tokugawa regime. Goshun was himself in service as
a foreman.20 Being from a samurai family, he was well educated
Fig. 44. Matsumura Goshun (1752–1811), Woodcutters and Fishermen,
ca. 1790–95. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper, each in the arts and studied painting, originally with Ōnishi Suigetsu
65 15/16 in. ∞ 12 ft. 2 7/16 in. (167.5 ∞ 372 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (active 1750 – 75), an immensely popular artist who was listed
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.206.1, .2) before Ōkyo in the 1768 Records of Famous Personages in Kyoto
(Heian jinbutsu shi).21 It was upon Suigetsu’s death that Goshun present-day Osaka, the following year, and took the tonsure.
went on to study painting and haikai poetry with Buson. At this time he also changed the artist name he had been
In subject, style, and overall ambiance, the screens Woodcutters using, Gekkei, to Goshun. He did not leave Ikeda until 1789,
and Fishermen represent one of the finest examples of Goshun’s although in 1783 he rushed to Kyoto to be at Buson’s death-
paintings executed in a Buson-like manner (fig. 44). The hazy bed. In 1787 Goshun joined the team of painters assisting Ōkyo
atmosphere and full, lush foliage suggest the warmth of spring on the above-mentioned fusama-e commission at Daijōji. A
as woodcutters hike along a mountain road and fishermen relax painting in the Fishbein-Bender Collection, Winter Scene with
in a boat. As Buson the Literati artist would have done, Goshun Ducks and Pine Trees (cat. 31), which dates from the late 1790s,
painted Chinese figures, who are identified as such by their gar- reveals how Goshun’s work with Ōkyo influenced his style:
ments. The fishermen, moreover, symbolize the purity and lofti- there is no longer any particular emphasis on brushwork, and
ness of the classic Chinese recluse-scholar. The screens are dated forms are given dimensionality through the selective application
to the first half of the 1790s based on the style of Goshun’s signa- of ink washes. Nevertheless, despite his new association with
tures, written in a loose form of kaisho, or standard script.22
Ōkyo, written records confirm that Goshun was still known as
Goshun suffered setbacks in his personal life in 1781, when a top pupil of Buson’s.23
both his wife and father passed away. He moved to Ikeda, in
T HE M O RI SCH O O L A ND T HE A R T O F SHA SEI preferences or to fill a market niche. Take, for example, the
As the eighteenth century transitioned into the nineteenth, the Mori brothers, Shūhō (1738 – 1823) and Sosen (1747 – 1821).
Edo art world was in a state of tremendous flux. Artists changed Both received training in the orthodox style of the Kano school,
their studio affiliations or painting styles according to their personal but Sosen went on to specialize in naturalistic paintings of mon-
keys, while Shūhō concentrated on landscapes and bird-and-
flower paintings.24
The younger Mori brother took to the shajitsu method, based
Fig. 45. Mori Tetsuzan (1775–1841), Deer and Maples, early 19th century. on the observation of nature, and he is therefore considered a
Sliding panels hinged as a pair of two-panel folding screens; ink and
member of the Maruyama-Shijō school. He achieved huge fame
color on gilt paper, each panel 64 13/16 ∞ 53 1/4 in. (164.7 ∞ 135.3 cm).
Promised gift of Robert and Betsy Feinberg in his day as a painter of monkeys, and the majority of Sosen
works found in collections around the world — and which still Sosen’s paintings are dated, this change allows us to determine if
appear regularly on the market today — are pictures on the sub- a work falls earlier or later in his corpus.
ject (although some of these have been proven to be paintings by The Fishbein-Bender Collection does not include a typical
followers eager to benefit from the popularity of his signature Sosen primate composition, but one can observe the same atten-
images). The authentic works exhibit meticulous brushwork,
25 tion to detail in two of his hanging-scroll paintings in the collec-
with attention paid to every tuft of fur on the primates, and their tion, one of a deer and the other of an exotic species of fowl. Stag
eyes give a genuine impression of sentient alertness. So closely amid Autumn Flowers presents a proud but seemingly lonesome
was Sosen’s reputation associated with the painting of monkeys deer (cat. 32). Like so many of the works explored in this volume,
that in 1807 he changed the first character of his art name, so 祖, the painting can be said to automatically evoke poetic associa-
meaning “ancestor,” to so 狙, meaning “monkey.” Though few of tions, but its success as a work of art owes more to its naturalistic
depiction than to its literary connections. Similarly, in his large- have been accomplished through shajitsu — that is, direct obser-
format, tour-de-force painting of the soft-feathered fowl known vation and sketches from life.26
as silkies, or ukokkei, the artist captured the birds’ appearance Rounding out our discussion of the Mori school is Mori
with astonishing accuracy (cat. 33). Such precision could only Tetsuzan (1775 – 1841), born the son of Shūhō but adopted by his
uncle Sosen. Tetsuzan trained initially with Sosen before becom-
ing one of Ōkyo’s “top ten students.” Like him, Tetsuzan assisted
the master on the Daijōji fusuma paintings, and he would even-
Fig. 46. Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754–1799), Puppies in the Snow, late 18th century.
Set of four sliding panels hinged as a pair of two-panel screens; ink and color tually go on to become one of the leading artists of the entire
on paper, each pair 66 7/16 ∞ 72 1/16 in. (168.7 ∞ 183 cm). The Metropolitan
Maruyama-Shijō school.27 His multipanel composition Deer and
Museum of Art, New York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and
Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.203.1, .2) Maples, in the collection of Robert and Betsy Feinberg, was
originally painted as sliding doors but was later remounted into ROSE T SU: FLY ING T HE CO O P O F N AT UR A L ISM
its current format of large folding screens (fig. 45). The depic-
28 From the point of view of pure stylistic analysis, the two works by
tion of deer in an autumn landscape calls to mind Sosen’s and Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754 – 1799) in the Fishbein-Bender Collec-
Tetsuzan’s methods of observing nature. The animals, some male tion do not belong to this discussion on shasei, for despite being
and others female, appear at ease, assuming a variety of stances, one of Ōkyo’s “top ten students,” Rosetsu took a markedly dif-
and their forms overlap in a realistic way. The largely blank left- ferent approach to his subject matter than did other of the mas-
most panel echoes Ōkyo’s handling of negative space, while in ter’s pupils.29 Moreover, modern scholarship counts him, along
the right half of the composition, the emphasis is on the land- with Soga Shōhaku and Itō Jakuchū, as one of the Three Eccen-
scape itself, which in turn gives viewers the feeling that they trics of eighteenth-century Japanese painting, discussed in the
are actually looking at an animal in nature. preceding chapter. It is clear, then, that Rosetsu was able to
break successfully away from his master’s distinct, disciplined through animated brushwork. One can again observe the signif-
manner of painting and establish his own well-defined style. icance of negative space in these sliding-door panels, especially
That style combined strong, vibrant brushwork with bold com- in the two panels on the left, which feature one dog and not
positions, as well as a whimsical approach when it came to the much else. Ōkyo painted puppies of a similar type, and Rosetsu’s
depiction of animals. debt to his teacher is seen in the minimal but carefully placed
A recent gift to the Metropolitan Museum shows what hap- landscape elements behind the dogs.30
pens when an artist trained in the minute rendering of fur decides Cranes, a pair of hanging scrolls by Rosetsu, depicts three
to abandon all that to produce an image of fluffy puppies, frol- Japanese red-crowned cranes with a realism verging on the amus-
icking in sprightly revelry (fig. 46). Puppies in the Snow presents a ing (cat. 34). Cranes traditionally have been associated with
group of frisky pups — perhaps a humorous reference to the Chi- longevity in East Asia, and they were the subject of screens,
nese theme of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove — delineated sliding-door paintings, and scrolls by both Rosetsu and his men-
tor Ōkyo.31 The bird looking straight out at the viewer is espe-
cially intriguing with its feeling, almost, of irreverence. Since
premodern Japanese painting was based primarily on ink brush-
Fig. 47. Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754–1799), Landscapes with the Chinese Literati Su
strokes before the application of color, fully frontal views of
Shi and Tao Qian, 1795–99. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and gold leaf humans or animals were rare; they posed a challenge to artists
on paper, each 67 3/8 in. ∞ 12 ft. 2 3/4 in. (171.1 ∞ 372.7 cm). The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, accustomed to executing forms purely by contour line, without the
Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane assistance of graded color, ink shading, or naturalistic perspec-
Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg
Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.75, .76) tive. Nevertheless, a frontal orientation appears again in Rosetsu’s
Sparrows on a Plum Tree (cat. 35), also in the Fishbein-Bender the orthodoxy of his times. The Met’s Landscapes with the Chinese
Collection, in which a sparrow at the lower right stares out at Literati Su Shi and Tao Qian (fig. 47) dates to the last five years of
the viewer, inviting them into the world of the painting. Like the artist’s life and presents a poetically charged, exuberant
Rosetsu, Ōkyo took on this representational challenge: he was composition of ink directly on gold leaf. In contrast to Ōkyo’s
known on occasion to draw female faces and tigers in a frontal view, attempt to capture nature in its gentlest moods, Rosetsu cele-
as though to demonstrate his skills as a draftsman. Note as well
32 brated the rebellious spirit of the Chinese poets he was extolling.
the frontality of the lounging deer in his Two Deer beneath Maple Even the calmer scene at the right, centering on a scholar with
Trees (cat. 30). Perhaps this tendency can be attributed to his young attendants in a hut within a willow grove — meant to por-
youthful days painting dolls in the toy shop, which gave him the tray the ancient Chinese poet-recluse Tao Qian in his country
opportunity to study contours and shapes. retreat — evokes a feeling of transcendent removal from the every-
Rosetsu is thought to have established himself as an inde- day world. Eschewing the concept of nature espoused by his
pendent painter when he was roughly twenty-seven years old. teacher, Rosetsu’s geese are the opposite of naturalistic — abstract
About five years after that, in 1785 or 1786, he moved to south- black shapes against a gold background. In the left screen, where
ern Wakayama, where he produced several large-format sliding- Rosetsu reveals his ferocious creative energy, a forbidding, grotto-
door paintings and folding screens. To demonstrate how Rosetsu pierced precipice calls to mind the site on the Yangzi River where
completely departed from the strictures of his teacher, one can the Song-dynasty literatus Su Shi composed his famous “Ode
compare Ōkyo’s sets of screens introduced above and those cre- on the Red Cliff.” In a mode of expression more reminiscent of
ated by Rosetsu at the end of his career, by which time he had the wildest brushwork of Ike Taiga or Yosa Buson than the con-
established himself as a true eccentric, or kijin, rebelling against trolled exercises of the school where he established himself,
Rosetsu effectively sets up an explicit contrast between the moods panels formed two sides of a tsuitate (single-paneled standing
of the two scenes, with Tao’s self-imposed exile suggesting qui- screen) and were later remounted as a diptych of hanging
etude, and Su’s forced exile evoking rage. Rosetsu ultimately is scrolls, which is how Mr. Fishbein acquired them. For conser-
remembered for his bravura handling of the brush and his derring- vation reasons, and to replicate in some way the earlier format,
do as an artist rebelling against the status quo — both are fully he had them remounted as a two-panel folding screen. In the
in evidence here. current arrangement, the paintings create an intriguing image,
with the crows in flight on one side juxtaposed with resting
ZE SHIN ’ S L ACQ UERED N AT URE egrets on the other. When considering the two images separately,
It might seem peculiar to include the work of Shibata Zeshin as they would have been seen originally, the individual compo-
(1807 – 1891), best known for his accomplishments as a lacquer sitions have a Rinpa-like quality to them, with the negative space
craftsman, in an essay devoted to the Maruyama-Shijō school, appearing more a part of a design than it would in a composition
but what is not commonly known is that Zeshin’s earliest artistic by Ōkyo (fig. 48). This is no surprise, since Zeshin, as a designer
training was in the precise pictorial methods of Ōkyo and his of lacquerware, was accustomed to adapting pictorial motifs to
followers. Accordingly, he aptly represents the transition of the
33 the shape and size of various objects.
Kyoto-based school to Edo/Tokyo, and from the Edo period into It is significant that Zeshin, who straddles the end of the Edo
the Meiji (1868 – 1912). Early on, Zeshin studied painting with period and the beginning of the Meiji, pictorially blends the
Suzuki Nanrei and then with Okamoto Toyohiko, both of whom Maruyama-Shijō style with Rinpa. This melding of styles was a
were Shijō painters. Zeshin is celebrated for his use of lacquer as precursor to new developments in Japanese painting of the modern
a painting medium, with the rich, black sheen adding a quality of era. Maruyama Ōkyo developed a specialized yet subtle paint-
gravitas and texture to his subject matter. In this respect he follows ing style that appealed to a broad audience. Other artists, seeking
in the Maruyama-Shijō tradition of attempting to re-create a nat- new or different channels of inspiration, took a more radical
uralistic world in two-dimensional form by crafting the illusion approach, adopting elements from Western models. Their efforts
of three-dimensionality, using lacquer as opposed to ink or col- often resulted in works that had limited appeal, turning them
ored pigments. into novelties rather than recognized art objects. Although shasei
One of Richard Fishbein’s favorite paintings, and one of very was a new idea, it was Ōkyo’s subtle approach in using it to manip-
few Meiji-era works in his and Estelle Bender’s collection, is the ulate the details of paintings that led to his success, sustained
two-panel screen Egrets and Crows (cat. 36). Originally, the well into the Meiji period and beyond.
Fig. 48. Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891), Egrets and Crows, late 19th century
(cat. 36, detail)
Cat. 30
円山応挙筆紅葉鹿図
Maruyama Ōkyo (1733 – 1795)
Two Deer beneath Maple Trees, 1787
Hanging scroll; color on silk
18 5/8 × 32 1 /16 in. (47.3 × 81.5 cm)
The artist informs us in his signature that he created this paint-

ing in the tenth month of the lunar calendar — that is, at the
beginning of the winter season, when the maple trees begin their
transformation from green to brilliant crimson. Deer in Japanese
poetry are connected with the autumn, and Ōkyo’s evocative land-
scape provides a lyrical setting for a stag and a doe. Ōkyo and his
studio created several paintings of deer, though usually they were
white, of the variety associated with the God of Good Fortune
Jurōjin (see cats. 10, 29). These deer are nevertheless painted
with Ōkyo’s characteristic exacting detail, and the texture of the
fur has an almost tactile quality (see detail on p. 142). We know
that Ōkyo took special interest in painting deer, for in his Journal
of Ten Thousand Things (Banshi), the artist’s patron monk Yūjō
states that Ōkyo advised turning to goats, not horses, as mod-
els when attempting to paint deer (Mizutani 2016, pp. 25 –27).
In a nod to established methods of painting, the use of trees
to frame the picture plane is a Kano-school convention, while the
foliage and the river elements reflect the ink-mottling technique
called tarashikomi, used primarily by Rinpa artists. The contours
of the trees, leaves, hillock, and stream, meanwhile, are brushed
economically, without firm outlines, and recall the Spring and
Autumn Waterfalls diptych (Kyoto National Museum) created by
Ōkyo about three months earlier.
The placement of the maples, deer, water, and rock was
deliberate and establishes clearly that the trees are behind the
animals. The realism of the scene would have been a novelty to
audiences at the time, but Ōkyo handled the arrangement with
a subtle touch. One need only contrast it with the painting of a
deer in the Literati mode by Yosa Buson (cat. 17) to see how radi-
cally Ōkyo and his followers had departed from the idea of
brushwork as a method of expression in its own right.
158
159
160
Cat. 31
松村呉春筆雪中松に鴨図
Matsumura Goshun (1752 – 1811)
Winter Scene with Ducks and Pine Trees, late 1790s
15 7/8 × 28 1 /2 in. (40.4 × 72.4 cm)
Literature: Murayama 1911
Matsumura Goshun’s work is notable for its poetic lyricism,

inspired by haikai verses he learned from the Nanga painter Yosa
Buson, his mentor before he joined the circle of Maruyama Ōkyo.
This composition conveys the quiet, gentle mood of a winter’s
day — not harshly frigid but refreshingly brisk, just after snow has
fallen. The soft blue of the pond upon which pairs of ducks float
contributes to the placid feeling. A poem composed nearly a
thousand years earlier, in 706, by Prince Shiki encapsulates the
sentiment associated with such scenes in Japanese painting:
Ashibe yuku Frost glazes the feathers

kamo no hagai ni of wild ducks, making their way
shimo furite through reeds along the shore,
samuki yūbe wa as, in the shivering evening cold,
Yamato shi omōyu I long for my home in Yamato.
While still retaining elements of Buson’s poetic sensibilities, the

painting demonstrates how Goshun was drawn to Ōkyo’s style.
The snowscape is created without any particular emphasis on
brushwork; indeed, most of the silk surface is in reserve, perfectly
blank. The large pine trees in the lower left are reminiscent of
Ōkyo’s famed screens Pine Trees in the Snow (Mitsui Memorial
Museum) and like them give dimensionality through the selec-
tive application of ink wash. The calligraphic style of the signature,
reading simply “Goshun,” combined with the oval “Goshun” seal
places the work in the late 1790s (Ozaki 1989).
161
Cat. 32
森祖仙筆秋草に鹿図
Mori Sosen (1747 – 1821)
Stag amid Autumn Flowers, before 1807
40 3/8 × 15 1 /16 in. (102.5 × 38.3 cm)
In the Japanese poetic tradition, waka (thirty-one-syllable court

verse) often invoked the image of a solitary deer traipsing through
fallen leaves or autumn flowers as a metaphor for lost love. Here,
a lonesome-seeming stag has paused on a moonlit evening, as if
to listen for the call of its mate. The grasses, leaves, and white
fujibakama flowers (Eupatorium japonicum), associated with mid-
autumn in Japanese poetry, are rendered in the naturalistic yet
still decorative style of the Maruyama-Shijō school, established
by Mori Sosen’s mentor, Maruyama Ōkyo. While taking a sub-
ject imbued with literary associations, Sosen followed the predilec-
tion of his school to create a meticulously detailed image showing
the actual appearance of a stag.
Sosen, who was raised in Osaka (and probably born there, in
Nishinomiya, though some sources give Nagasaki as his birth-
place), built his reputation on realistic depictions of monkeys,
deer, and other animals. His interest in naturalism is particularly
evident in the way in which he used fine brushstrokes to repro-
duce individual hairs in the animals’ fur. His reputation was so
closely tied to his depiction of monkeys that he altered the way
he wrote his art name — “Sosen” — changing the first character,
so 祖, meaning “ancestor,” to the homophonic so 狙, meaning
“monkey.” Since Sosen used the earlier form of his name in the
signature here, we know that the work was created relatively early
in his career, before 1807, when he adopted the simian moniker.
The seals read “Mori Shushō” and “Sosen.”
164
Cat. 33
森祖仙筆烏骨鶏図
Mori Sosen (1747 – 1821)
Silkies, before 1807
33 3/4 × 51 in. (85.7 × 129.5 cm)
Literature: Kokka, no. 110 (1899); Kōno 2011, pp. 31 – 32
This tour de force of avian painting captures the subtle coloration a seasonal association that the artist signaled with the inclusion of
and soft plumage of a cluster of seven silkies, a breed of chicken dandelions, a traditional symbol of springtime.
from China known for its fluffy, furlike feathers. These peculiar The artist signed the painting as he did most of his works
birds even caught the attention of Marco Polo during his travels in before 1807: simply “Sosen,” accompanied by seals reading
Asia in the thirteenth century: “There is a strange thing there “Mori Shushō” and “Sosen.” However, the painting itself is a
which I needs must tell you. . . . they have a kind of fowls which deviation from Sosen’s more conventional repertory of monkeys
have no feathers, but hair only, like a cat’s fur” (Polo 1903, pp. 225 – (his forte) or deer, though he did create a number of paintings
26). Silkies occur in various colors, and the dark blue of their of peafowl. Only one other painting of silkies is known by the
wattles and earlobes is particularly striking; they also have five artist, and it is in Rinshō’in, a subtemple of Myōshinji. The
toes rather than four, as most chickens do. In Japanese they are inscription on the box for this scroll states that the work was
called ukokkei (Chinese: wuguji), which literally means “chickens created for a Doctor Kimura Nanrei of Osaka. Kōno Motoaki
with raven-black bones.” (2011, pp. 31 – 32) has noted that the subject would have appealed
Here, the two black-plumed birds and five white ones are to medical specialists, since the eggs of silkies were utilized for
arranged artfully to give the painting a sense of rhythmic harmony. their medicinal qualities, especially for treating ailments of
Sosen rendered his subjects with a striking accuracy that could pregnant women. In China, moreover, soup made from silkies
only have been achieved through direct observation. The feathers is believed to have curative properties.
of silkies are most beautiful following their molting in the spring,
Cat. 34
長沢芦雪筆鶴図
Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754 – 1799)
Cranes, 1780s
Pair of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper
Each 61 7/16 × 35 7/8 in. (156 × 91.2 cm)
This striking diptych of hanging scrolls depicts three Japanese although it would have been reasonable for Ōkyo to expel Rosetsu,
red-crowned cranes (tanchōzuru), with no further landscape set- it may have been more convenient to keep him around because
ting. With the exception of the signature patch of crimson skin of his ability to copy his master’s work; the two worked together
on the crown of the head — painted in brilliant red and adding a in 1795 at Daijōji Temple, after the alleged expulsion incident
vivifying touch — the cranes are rendered entirely in ink. Their (see Tsuji [1970] 2012, pp. 156 – 57). Rosetsu went on to develop
poses vary, their bodies delineated through a combination of bold his own powerful, distinctive style, and his ink paintings, often
outlining, unpainted space, and gray wash. Rosetsu’s steady hand on animal themes, demonstrate an irreverence for the conservative
with the brush is clear, notably in the birds’ sticklike legs, juxta- style often found in ink paintings of the time.
posed with the ink washes at the ends of their dark feathers. Rosetsu created a number of compositions of cranes, in both
The feet are also carefully placed, as Rosetsu’s mentor Maruyama the hanging-scroll and screen formats. Examples bearing a strong
Ōkyo was known to do in his own paintings of birds. The over- resemblance to this diptych are a pair of two-panel folding screens
all effect is one of surprise and humor, as if we happened upon the in the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Murase 2000, pp. 284 – 85) and
birds and caught them posing for the artist — or for us. fusuma-e (sliding-door paintings) in Sōdōji Temple in Wakayama,
Rosetsu was not one to toe the line, and he was said to have where Ōkyo also produced fusuma-e (Yamakawa 1963). The left
been expelled from Ōkyo’s studio, though recent scholarship scroll is signed “Painted by Rosetsu” and bears a pair of seals,
suggests that this story is probably apocryphal. Various scholars, “Seal of Nagasawa Gyo” and “Rosetsu.”
including Tsuji Nobuo, have expressed doubts, saying that,
167
168
Cat. 35
長沢芦雪筆梅に群雀図
Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754 – 1799)
Sparrows on a Plum Tree, ca. 1795 – 99
61 7/16 × 35 7/8 in. (156 × 91.2 cm)
A group of birds alighting on a flowering branch was a frequent in varying degrees of ink tones. The sparrows are vivacious: one
theme of Nagasawa Rosetsu, who was especially fond of sparrows, flies above, while others perch on the branches, gazing in vari-
one of many types of nonmigratory birds found in abundance ous directions. Both the birds and the branches are rendered in
in Japan, and which were closely associated with daily agrarian the “boneless” (mokkotsu) method, without the use of outlines,
life (Shirane 2012, pp. 116 – 17). Sparrows in flight or perched a technique Rosetsu learned from Maruyama Ōkyo, under
amid a dynamic system of tree branches were a favorite subject whom he trained. Rosetsu’s ink monochrome paintings feature
of Rosetsu’s. As is the case here (at bottom right), he commonly bold brushwork and compositions, but he also developed an
depicted at least one of the birds gazing right out of the painting, individual style in his use of polychrome. The artist’s signature
as if engaging the viewer directly. suggests that he was trying to capture and transmit the shai, or
The ink play in the painting is impressive, with smaller essence, of the scene, not necessarily a naturalistic depiction of
branches overlapping and crossing with larger ones, each defined birds on a tree branch.
169
170
Cat. 36
柴田是真筆烏鷺図屏風
Shibata Zeshin (1807 – 1891)
Egrets and Crows, late 19th century
Individual panels remounted as a two-panel folding screen;
colored lacquer and white pigment on gold leaf
Each 53 11 /16 × 35 7/8 in (136.3 × 91.2 cm)
Literature: Gōke 1981, pls. 142, 143; MOA Museum of Art 1983,
no. 13; Sasaki and Sasaki 2000, p. 1134, no. 4684-1, 2;
Metropolitan Museum 2012, p. 63
The two panels of this brilliant gold-leafed screen display con-

trasting scenes of two egrets at rest and three crows in flight, with
white and black forms counterbalancing each other to mesmeriz-
ing effect. To create the white bodies of the egrets, Zeshin cut
away a portion of the gold-leaf layer to expose the paper beneath,
a technique the artist used on other examples of avian painting.
The application of lacquer as a painting medium is fascinating in
its own right and, in the hands of a master lacquerer like Zeshin,
reached new heights of virtuosity. Zeshin earned esteem for his
paintings that use lacquer like ink or colored pigments, a process
decidedly more challenging than working with traditional paints.
This tour-de-force composition — a favorite of Richard
Fishbein’s — was commented on by the Zeshin scholar Gōke
Tadaomi in 1981 when it was still mounted on two separately
framed panels. Each panel is signed simply “Zeshin”; the right
panel has a seal reading “Residence facing willow trees,” and
the left panel, a seal reading “Shin.”
171
Ukiyo-e
The Poetry Culture of the Floating World
Ukiyo-e, a genre of images distinguished by boldly delineated and brightly colored portrayals of women
of the demimonde and actors of the Kabuki stage, has an immediate aesthetic appeal that transcends
historical and cultural boundaries, even without an understanding of the artistic, social, and eco-
nomic contexts that underlie their dynamic imagery and production. The term ukiyo-e translates liter-
ally to mean “pictures of the floating world” or “pictures of a buoyant society,” in the sense that they
depict a transient world of pleasure — one that floats by and therefore has to be enjoyed in the moment.
Since ukiyo-e images and the early genre paintings that preceded them elegantly wove their own
pictorial realities and dismissed the more sordid aspects of the lives of female and male prostitutes,
they cannot be said to offer credible documentation of the conditions that flourished in the pleasure
quarters of urban areas like Edo and Kyoto.1 We sense nevertheless that the artists saw themselves
as sympathetic participants in the world of their subjects rather than detached chroniclers of the
demimonde. Elevating the gorgeous, playful, and cultured side of bordello life over its ugly, painful,
or vulgar aspects undoubtedly provided emotional solace and aesthetic transcendence for both artists and
their subjects. Ultimately, ukiyo-e is a fictional art offering sensual, emotional, and intellectual escape.
It invites the viewer to exchange the worries of the workaday world for a realm of pleasure: ukiyo-e
offers what it depicts.2
173
Compared to the deluxe paintings in this category, wood- cities in the seventeenth to nineteenth century. For instance, the
block prints by artists of the Ukiyo-e school (the term is capital- screen painting Amusements in a Mansion, created in the mid-
ized when referring to the school) are much better known in the seventeenth century, shows what appears to be a daimyo mansion
West and have been avidly sought by collectors in Europe and transformed into a fictive house of pleasure with magnificently
America since the late nineteenth century. They were, in fact, the attired young men and women entertaining older hosts of the
primary pictorial catalyst of the Japonisme movement, the mania revelry (fig. 49). Such a sumptuous set of screens would have been
for all things Japanese that arose in European and American art commissioned by a wealthy samurai patron. Since the behavior
and design circles at the turn of the twentieth century. Neverthe- it illustrates was outlawed by the shogunate, its commission and
less, during the postwar period nearly all serious collectors of that of other works like it may be viewed as nostalgia for a time
Edo painting in America added at least some deluxe paintings of of more relaxed rules and a form of gentle protest against the
the Ukiyo-e school to their holdings. Moreover, in recent years
3 prevailing Neo-Confucian morality of the day.5
the more prurient component of ukiyo-e, the genre of erotica We see here samurai enjoying life’s pleasures in an age of
known as shunga (literally, “spring pictures”), has started to receive peace, when their services as military men were no longer needed.
serious scholarly attention. 4 Instead, they adopted refined cultural pursuits such as calligra-
The Fishbein-Bender Collection has only a handful of Ukiyo-e phy, poetry, and the appreciation of painting while concomitantly
paintings, and all represent the quintessence of refined taste, engaging in transgressive pastimes: cavorting with prostitutes,
in terms of the times in which they were made as well as present- drinking to excess, smoking tobacco, playing cards, and dressing
day connoisseurial standards. All are carefully and exquisitely extravagantly. It is no coincidence that such paintings of dream
painted and would have been expensive commissions in their dwellings — half brothel, half properly appointed residence —
day. Furthermore, whether by accident or design, nearly all of began to appear from about 1635, when the third Tokugawa sho-
them have a conspicuous literary component, and several have gun, Iemitsu, reissued a more elaborate version of the Regulations
inscriptions by famous poets of the era. The literary sophistica- for Samurai Households (Buke shohatto, originally promulgated in
tion of Ukiyo-e paintings partly reflects the undeniable cultural 1615 and again in 1629), a guide to samurai conduct that strin-
accomplishments of many courtesans — especially in the arts of gently regulated the management of daimyo residences.6 Other
calligraphy, poetry, and music — not to mention the inherent directives were aimed specifically at preventing young male
theatrical plot-weaving of Kabuki (though that aspect is not rep- Kabuki actor-prostitutes (wakashu) from accepting invitations to
resented in the Fishbein-Bender Collection). The discussion that the homes of daimyo or wealthy merchants. One official record
follows focuses on the literary and poetic aspects of deluxe Ukiyo-e of 1655 notes: “Laws have been issued time after time that even if
paintings. In looking at the extra-pictorial realm — calligraphy, kabuki actors are invited to feudal lords’ residences, they must
poems, and other forms of text that accompany these striking not go. Of course they must not wear sumptuous costumes. . . .
images — we discover that the space surrounding figures in these Minstrels, if invited to residences, must not do imitations of
works is often charged with fictive and poetic signification. kabuki, nor imitate the Shimabara style.” 7 Not surprisingly, such
incidences are exactly what artists depicted, no doubt respond-
GENRE PRECED EN T S A ND E A RLY UK I YO - E ing to the rebellious inclinations of their patrons.
Ukiyo-e portrayals of high-ranking courtesans in gorgeous apparel In screen paintings such as these, we also see classic exam-
arose out of more complex genre paintings of the seventeenth ples of how calligraphic texts or the inclusion of musical instru-
century. Genre works borrowed from both the real and the imag- ments enhanced the image of courtesans as emblems of elevated
inary to portray the flash, exuberance, and hedonism of Japanese cultural standing, comparable to the role played by ladies of the
idealized Heian court. A vignette on the right screen shows a
courtesan seated with brush in hand, inscribing a letter; on the Fig. 49. Amusements in a Mansion, mid-17th century. Detail from one of a pair
left screen, a female performer can be seen strumming a sham- of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gofun (oyster-shell pigment), gold, and
gold leaf on paper, each 38 3/16 in. ∞ 8 ft. 10 11/16 in. (97 ∞ 271 cm). The Metro-
isen, the three-stringed instrument associated with Kabuki and politan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Mary and James G. Wallach
the pleasure quarters. There was, of course, precedent for this Foundation and The Vincent Astor Foundation Gifts; Harris Brisbane Dick,
Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, and Seymour
kind of cultural appropriation, for instance, when artists drew on Funds, 2017 (2017.37.1, .2)
UKIYO-E 175
classical Chinese themes to depict the Four Gentlemanly Accom- calligraphy — many were, but only a minority had the luxury
plishments: music, board games, calligraphy, and painting of leisure time in which to perfect their skills. All the same, the
( Japanese: kin-ki-sho-ga, discussed in detail in Chapter 1). In one iconography of the pleasure quarters, as recorded by painters
famous example, the ink-painting master Kaihō Yushō (1533 – 1615) and print artists, constantly reinforced the idealized image of a
depicted four women rather than four Chinese gentlemen engaged realm where the literary arts and musical performance took
in these elevated pastimes. In the famous Hikone Screen, the
8 precedence over sexual gratification. Ukiyo-e paintings of later
implements of these four pursuits were replaced with those of generations often incorporated a courtesan or female performer
the pleasure quarters: the qin with the shamisen, as seen in Amuse- with the paraphernalia of poetry writing or music making, such
ments in a Mansion; and the complex strategy game go with either
9 as a brush or poem card (cat. 39), a shamisen (cat. 40), or a koto
sugoroku, a backgammon-like board game, or the Western-style (cat. 41). As suggested above, these depictions of the trappings
playing cards that were then coming into vogue. In the most radical of refined cultural pursuits hark back to conventions of the early
overturning of tradition, the inscribing or reading of love letters by stages of genre painting in seventeenth-century Kyoto.
beautiful courtesans replaced images of wizened men in the robes of
scholars admiring calligraphic models or books by Chinese sages. L I T ER A RY A ND C A L L I GR A PHI C CO N T E X T S
Ukiyo-e prints and paintings continued the parodic representation In the wake of the expensive, large, and complex genre screens —
of the Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments as one of their leit- commissioned mostly, it is assumed, by samurai patrons — and
motifs, although not all four of the kin-ki-sho-ga motifs were nec- screen paintings of individual dancers, a crucial, foundational stage
essarily included in a single composition. in the development of ukiyo-e was the creation of the so-called
In short, when we see images of women of the demimonde Kanbun bijin, or “beauties of the Kanbun era.” This generic label
with a shamisen or a koto (thirteen-string zither), holding a brush, was bestowed on anonymous paintings with an exclusive focus
reading letters or poem cards, or competing in a game of sugoroku, on the human figure, depicting a woman (or sometimes a hand-
we realize that their creators have manipulated, somewhat play- some young man) standing alone against a neutral background.
fully, a long-established tradition of using kin-ki-sho-ga to sym- Kanbun bijin isolated courtesans or female performers similar to
bolize the elevated cultural attainments of the figure or figures figures in screen paintings of a generation earlier (like Amuse-
depicted. This kind of complex but whimsically tongue-in-cheek ments in a Mansion), and honed in on the stylish dress and elab-
transformation was both inspired by and further reinforced by orate coiffure of a single beauty. The designation applies to works
the image-making machine of Edo-period brothel culture. produced even a decade or two after the Kanbun era (1661 – 72)
Officially sanctioned brothel districts throughout the country — ended. An excellent example in the collection of the Metropolitan
Yoshiwara in particular — fostered an ornate system of organi- Museum presents a tall, slender woman, her hair dressed in an
zation, hierarchy, and practices that deliberately borrowed from elaborate style called gosho-mage, or “palace chignon,” covering her
traditional courtly culture. They also, as suggested above, drew on mouth with both hands while dancing (fig. 50). The painstakingly
imperial customs to add a veneer of respectability and prestige rendered designs on her outer garment include areas of kanoko,
to a system of indenture that amounted to sexual slavery. At the or “fawn spot” — stitch-resist dyeing interspersed with painted
same time, Ukiyo-e paintings and prints allowed for the possibil- patterns. The sections with bright colors stand out strongly against
ity of vicarious enjoyment for thousands of viewers who could the subdued ground areas decorated only with small floral designs.
never afford a night at the high-class brothels. Paintings of Kanbun bijin from the late seventeenth century
Part of the ploy of deception was that courtesans were were the direct predecessors of signed bijin paintings and wood-
expected to be talented performers of music, dance, poetry, and block prints made a few decades later by pioneers of ukiyo-e. The
earliest creators of ukiyo-e prints engendered a tradition that ret-
roactively came to be called the Ukiyo-e school, represented by
numerous lineages of artists (most working in both painting and
print mediums, although some specialized in one or the other).
Hishikawa Moronobu (ca. 1618 – 1694) is generally referred to as
the “founder” of the Ukiyo-e school, though we have already
pointed out that his anonymous predecessors, as well as known
genre painters of various orthodox schools, had an important
hand in establishing the pictorial conventions of ukiyo-e. In his
prints, illustrated books, and deluxe paintings, Moronobu devel-
oped a template for depictions of beautiful women of the plea-
sure districts that would, in effect, remain in place for the next
two centuries. He stood apart from the unnamed artists of the
Kanbun bijin, not only in the way he established his reputation as
a chronicler of the pleasure quarters and Kabuki stage in Edo,
but also for his popularization of this art form, making it afford-
able and accessible to the general public. Before the generation
of Moronobu, portraits of beautiful women and images of merry-
making were aimed at an elite, wealthy clientele. Moronobu’s
greatest impact on the visual culture of his day was effected
through his illustrations of the 1670s and 1680s for works of tra-
ditional and popular literature, as well as woodblock-printed
pattern books and portrayals of people from all walks of life.10
He was immersed in literature both poetic and prosodic, and
knowledgeable about all the levels of allusiveness that involved.
And though his works can be enjoyed on a purely visual level,
the underlying literary foundation is always present.
A prime example of this cultural referencing is visible in a
scene from Moronobu’s nearly fifty-eight-foot-long handscroll of
a sojourn to the Yoshiwara district, in the John C. Weber Collec-
tion, New York (fig. 51).11 As is frequently seen in Moronobu’s
prints and books, it is clear that the artist wanted to present the
Fig. 50. Beauty of the Kanbun Era, late 17th century. Hanging scroll; ink, color,
and gold on paper, 24 1/8 ∞ 9 5/8 in. (61.3 ∞ 24.4 cm). The Metropolitan
UKIYO-E 177
hedonistic aspects of life in the pleasure quarters through the artist tried to capture the same effect as Chinese ink paintings
rose-tinted lenses of literary respectability. Of course, at the of sages amid soaring mountains, accompanied by ancient styles
core of things are courtesans carrying out their duties of enter- of calligraphy. In the foreground a male entertainer strums a
taining male clients upon triple layers of futons and underneath shamisen. Behind him is a wakashu, a handsome male youth, no
the commodious quilt-kimonos that can cozily envelop a cou- doubt an attendant to the samurai chatting with a courtesan.
ple. But one must also look at the overall setting, and how the Recalling genre screens of previous generations, Moronobu
captured the entire ambiance of the pleasure quarters, not just
the appeal and fashionable apparel of a single courtesan.
Fig. 51. Hishikawa Moronobu (ca. 1618–1694), Interior Scene at a Brothel The earliest example of an Ukiyo-e painting in the Fishbein-
in Yoshiwara (detail), late 1680s. Section of a handscroll; ink, color, and Bender Collection presents an image of a solitary, gorgeously
gold on paper, overall 211/8 in. ∞ 57 ft. 91/2 in. (53.7 ∞ 1761.5 cm). John C.
Weber Collection, New York attired young woman, painted by Moronobu probably about 1690
(cat. 37). It was near the end of the master’s career, but this image The painting is enhanced visually by the attachment, in the upper
of a solitary courtesan, completely removed from any recogniz- right corner, of a poem card (shikishi) inscribed with a verse
able context, harks back to his earlier compositions, described attributed to the esteemed poet Sarumaru Dayū (active late 8th
above, in which clusters of figures form self-sufficient composi- century). This poem, long famous from its inclusion in the popu-
tions within a larger one. In his painted screens and scrolls or lar thirteenth-century anthology One Hundred Poems by One
printed pictures of life in Yoshiwara, Moronobu produced many Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu), plays on the conceit that a stag,
similar images of a female figure in procession. like a courtesan’s patron, wanders the autumn hills in search of
It is noteworthy that the artist signed his name “Yamato-e his lost mate. The text reads:
Moronobu,” meaning “Moronobu of the lineage of traditional
Japanese-style painting.” In other words, even though he was Oku yama ni Deep in the mountains,
painting a lady of the demimonde, the artist still considered momiji fumi-wake traipsing through leaves,
himself to be working within the tradition of depicting figures naku shika no a deer cries for its mate —
from famous tales of the ancient court. Moreover, the painted koe kiku toki zo when I hear that sound,
shells on the courtesan’s garment are a reference to the aristo- aki wa kanashiki it’s autumn at its saddest.13
cratic parlor game kai-awase, in which players matched pairs
of shells painted with a scene or poem from classical literature. The poem was originally composed within a literary court culture
Moronobu even decorated some of the shells with motifs that far removed in time and place from Edo-period Yoshiwara, and
appear to be loosely based on woodblock-printed versions of the for an almost diametrically different social class. The inclusion of
Tales of Ise or the The Tale of Genji, both masterpieces of courtly
12 the verse — probably added by a former owner, not the artist — in
Heian-period narrative. effect likening the absent lover of a high-ranking palace lady to
the absent client of a Yoshiwara courtesan, was both playful and
CO UR T LY P O EMS ( WA K A) O N PA IN T INGS revelatory of the owner’s literary knowledge. Such a sportive
The artist who took up Moronobu’s mantle as a sensitive chron- repositioning of social status and gender — a male poet writing
icler of the courtesans of Yoshiwara while extending the popu- in the voice of a woman — would become a common feature of
larization of ukiyo-e to a broader audience was Kaigetsudō Ando Ukiyo-e painting.
(ca. 1671 – 1743). He created courtesans even more statuesque With time, the complexity of literary references found in
and regal than those of his predecessors and continued the con- Ukiyo-e imagery became increasingly convoluted, nurtured in
vention of leaving the background completely empty. In contrast part by a boom in amateur poetry that persisted through the
to Ukiyo-e paintings by other artists, most of the Kaigetsudō mid-nineteenth century. One of the lengthiest, most complex, and
atelier works were on paper, and painted less finely and in greater most visually striking calligraphic inscriptions to be found on an
number, no doubt to keep up with demand. With his attention Ukiyo-e painting in the Fishbein-Bender Collection accompanies
focused on the human figure, all the artist’s energy went into an eye-catching depiction of an oiran, or high-ranking courtesan
the creation of textile designs of abstracted flowers and trees, of the Yoshiwara district (cat. 38). The painting, by the little-
contained within the outlines of a woman’s garments. known Momokawa Shikō (active late 18th – early 19th century),
In a painting from the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, shows a magnificently garbed and coiffed courtesan (fig. 53).14
Ando follows a pictorial formula established by Moronobu to In spite of her splendor, the composition is dominated — almost
present a courtesan who has paused momentarily in her procession overwhelmed — by the inscription, elaborately brushed by the artist
to glance back, perhaps to acknowledge an admirer (fig. 52). in the Reizei style of calligraphy, popular in courtly circles from the
UKIYO-E 179
late medieval period onward. Reizei is characterized by extreme
variations in the thickness of brushstrokes, and derives from the
idiosyncratic calligraphy of Fujiwara no Teika, whom we previ-
ously encountered as an influence on the distinctive writing
style of the Rinpa master Ogata Kenzan (see Chapter 2). Anyone
viewing this Ukiyo-e painting in the late Edo period would have
picked up on the visual dissonance of framing a woman of the plea-
sure quarter in a veritable curtain of court calligraphy. The content
of the inscription (fully explicated on pp. 191 – 93) merges Buddhist
parable with waka poetry originally composed by Takuan Sōhō,
a famous Rinzai Zen monk of the early Edo period.15
It became common practice in Ukiyo-e paintings for a poetic
inscription to be added in the blank area above the figure, as
demonstrated by an early nineteenth-century hanging scroll by
Chōbunsai Eishi (1756 – 1829) in the Fishbein-Bender Collection
(cat. 39). In it, an elegantly posed courtesan holds an elongated
poem card (tanzaku) that makes specific reference to poetry and
literary performance. The verse brushed in the space above her,
translated on p. 194, appears to be a waka inscribed by a male
patron, not a famous work from the classical canon, as was often
the case. Beyond the inscription, we can see how the artist pro-
jected a suggestion of cultural refinement in his manner of por-
traying the courtesan. Overall, her appearance is conventional
in that her coiffure features an array of hairpins and she is dressed
ravishingly. Yet it is in examining more closely the motifs on
her surcoat (uchikake) that we detect distinct literary references.
Amid the branches of plum are kanmuri, a type of cap worn by
courtiers, with fan-shaped side flaps called oikake. Such ceremo-
nial headwear is associated with the Thirty-Six Poetic Immor-
tals, in particular Ariwara no Narihira (ca. 825 – 880), a
reputed bon vivant thought to have been the model for the
Fig. 52. Kaigetsudō Ando (ca. 1671–1743), Standing Courtesan, early 18th
century. Hanging scroll mounted as a panel; ink and color on paper,
40 15/16 ∞ 16 5/8 in. (104 ∞ 42.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke
Foundation, 2015 (2015.300.118)
Fig. 53. Momokawa Shikō (active late 18th–early 19th century), Parading
Courtesan, late 18th century (cat. 38, detail)
UKIYO-E 181
protagonist of the Tales of Ise. Therefore, Eishi connotes the cul- On the left, Chōzan sits at her elegantly appointed desk with her
tural refinement of the courtesan not only by presenting her hold- writing brushes, poem cards, and books — all the accoutrements
ing a tanzaku but also by integrating into the image a motif usually associated with a male literatus. Her child assistant blows
associated with a famous male poet of the past. The addition of a on the coals in the hibachi, or container of hot coals. Chōzan has
waka verse by a contemporaneous poet-calligrapher only rein- transcribed a poem by Lady Ise from the Collection of Ancient and
forces the overall projection of poesy. Modern Poems:
Such compositions combining female portraiture with a poem
recall the central importance in Heian court culture of an aris- Harugasumi Departing wild geese
tocratic lady having expertise in calligraphy, if only to be able to tatsu o misutete appear blind to the arrival
compose a visually appealing love letter or verse in response to yuku kari wa of spring mists —
a suitor’s morning-after missive. The idea of courtesans as poet- hana naki sato ni is it because they harken
calligraphers is a central theme of a set of printed designs by sumi ya naraeru from villages with no flowers?
the artist-writer Kitao Masanobu (known in poetry circles as
Santō Kyōden, 1761 – 1816), entitled A New Record of Calligraphy This large-format volume, printed in luxurious color, conveyed the
by Courtesans of Yoshiwara (Yoshiwara keisei shin bijin jihitsu kagami). message that courtesans of the Yoshiwara could be viewed as
This album, which by common consensus is one of the high calligraphers and cultured literati, capable of holding their own
points of courtesan portraiture from the late eighteenth century, with male poets of the day. It also draws on the long and revered
contains printed images of courtesans and attendants in their tradition of the Three Perfections, or the three supreme arts of
New Year’s finery. Some of the poems included in the images are the East Asian tradition: poetry, painting, and calligraphy.
famous verses from imperial anthologies; others appear to be origi-
nal poems by the courtesans themselves, written in a traditional T HE PA RO D I C V ER SE (K YŌK A) M OV EMEN T
waka mode. Next to waka court poetry, the most common type of poetic
One double-page spread from the volume depicts Yoshiwara inscription found on Ukiyo-e paintings is the thirty-one-syllable
courtesans of the Chōjiya brothel (fig. 54). Hinazuru, standing witty verse called kyōka, literally, “mad verse,” though rarely do
on the right, is flanked by two child attendants (kamuro) in span- they achieve that level of unconventionality. As we learned in the
gled headpieces and a teenage apprentice (shinzō). Displayed before earlier discussion on Rinpa (see Chapter 2), kyōka inscriptions
her are an elegant smoking kit and a plate of sweets. Hinazuru rose in frequency, especially in the late eighteenth and early nine-
has copied out in her own hand — the transcription of which was teenth century, when it became “chic” to have a celebrated poet-
precisely transferred to a woodblock by a carver — a poem by calligrapher or courtesan brush a poem on a painting. Sometimes
the twelfth-century courtier-poet Fujiwara no Sanesada from the this was done at the time that the painting was being made, and
anthology One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets: painter and calligrapher coordinated their contributions. On other
occasions the inscription was added by the owner — or at the
Hototogisu Turning to catch a glimpse request of the owner — long after the painting was created. Kyōka
nakitsuru kata o of the form of the cuckoo on paintings of beautiful women, usually written by a male poet,
nagamureba as it cried out, were composed as though expressing the sentiments of the cour-
tada ariake no all that remained were traces tesan’s patron (conceivably the owner of the painting), although
tsuki zo nokoreru of the moon in the dawn sky. sometimes the poet adopted the voice of the female subject.
Fig. 54. Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden, 1761–1816), A New Record of Callig-
raphy by Courtesans of Yoshiwara, 1784. Two-page spread from a woodblock-
printed book; ink and color on paper, 14 15/16 ∞ 10 1/4 in. (38 ∞ 26 cm).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Mary and James G.
Wallach Family Foundation Gift, in honor of John T. Carpenter, 2013 (2013.768)
183
Despite its erudite playfulness and referencing of the past,
kyōka was more than just another literary genre: it became the
raison d’être of an entire salon culture in late eighteenth- and early
nineteenth-century urban centers. Kyōka parties can be viewed
as “modern” revivals of the poetry contests (uta-awase) of Heian-
period court society, in which poets competed and were judged
on their compositional prowess. Talented poets became judges,
and woodblock-printed records of contests sometimes indicated
which poems had been deemed best. Just as every courtier and
lady of rank at the Heian court knew more than the rudiments of
poetry composition, in the salon culture of Edo, writer and reader,
performer and audience, were one and the same. In this respect,
Heian and late Edo were closer in spirit than the eight-hundred-
year interval between them would suggest. Though one culture
was aristocratic and the other popular, both placed great emphasis
on formalized cultural pursuits as a means of regulating personal,
social, and political relationships.16
In the early stages of the kyōka boom, samurai intellectuals
such as Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749 – 1823), who wrote the
sophisticated poem on a deluxe bijin painting by Utagawa Toyo-
haru (1735 – 1814) in the Fishbein-Bender Collection (cat. 41),
gathered to compose impromptu poetry together with chōnin
(well-to-do townspeople) who shared an interest in classical liter-
ature. Social distinctions were of little consequence, and mem-
bers of both classes would show up at the same meetings. Many
of the prominent writers, publishers, Ukiyo-e artists, and actors
of the day numbered among the kyōka movement’s most active
promoters. Poetry circles eventually did form along social class
lines and by neighborhood divisions, but participants felt free to
attend gatherings hosted by other groups.
The kyōka movement that caught fire in Edo during the
Tenmei era (1781 – 89) initially was sparked by the enthusiasm
Fig. 55 (and detail opposite). Kubo Shunman (1757–1820) and others, The Six
Poetic Immortals, ca. 1810. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, 36 ∞ 12 3/4 in.
(91.4 ∞ 32.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Sebas-
tian Izzard and Masaharu Nagano, in memory of T. Richard Fishbein, 2014
(2014.727)
of a group of literati friends centered on Shokusanjin, his fellow prominent poetry masters, recognized the commercial potential
samurai Karagoromo Kisshū (1743 – 1802), and the merchant- of kyōka and began to publish kyōka-bon, woodblock-printed
class Santō Kyōden (mentioned above in connection with the anthologies that would preserve verses for posterity. As the
illustrated book of courtesan portraits; fig. 54). Publishers like demand for deluxe illustrated kyōka-bon grew, publishers sought
Tsutaya Jūzaburō (1748 – 1797), who were on close terms with out artists — primarily of the Ukiyo-e school — to illustrate them.
UKIYO-E 185
In a manner not unlike that which flourishes in Japanese poetry They all flourished in cultural circles,
societies today, amateur poets wishing to be included in a col- and rare is such outstanding talent.
lective anthology would contribute a fee that helped cover the Among them is one woman poet
costs of printing, remunerate the artist, and more than likely along with five other Immortals.17
supply an honorarium for the poetry master who culled the
poems and edited the volume. The other kyōka poets, and the poets of antiquity they paraphrase
Among deluxe kyōka albums, the work that established a or parody, include, from right to left, middle to lower register:
standard of technical and tasteful refinement rarely to be reached
again was the Picture Book of Crawling Creatures (Ehon mushi 1. Yomo no Utagaki Magao (1753 – 1829), who puns on the
erami), illustrated with fifteen designs of insects and other garden ancient criticism that some poems by the early Heian courtier-
creatures by Kitagawa Utamaro (see fig. 7). Published by Tsutaya, poet Ōtomo no Kuronushi too closely resembled those of
the poems were selected and introduced by a preface composed another legendary poet, Sarumaru Dayū, of the same era;
by the poet and scholar Rokujuen (Yadoya no Meshimori,
1753 – 1830), later head of the influential Go-gawa kyōka poetry 2. Wainandō III (heir to the name of a great kyōka poet of a
group. Several top kyōka poets of the day were invited to contribute, previous generation, Akera Kankō, 1738 – 1800), who puns
including the Rinpa artist Sakai Hōitsu, who at the time was still on vocabulary from various love poems by Ono no Koma-
immersed in the world of Ukiyo-e (see cat. 6 and figs. 8a – l). chi, the femme fatale of Heian poetry;
A perfect encapsulation, both visually and poetically, of how
kyōka positioned itself vis-à-vis the classical waka tradition is a 3. Sakazuki no Komendo, another prominent kyōka teacher
painting by Kubo Shunman (1757 – 1820), also a kyōka master, that of the early nineteenth century, who jests that the monk
playfully depicts the Six Poetic Immortals (fig. 55). This work, a Kisen shares a name with one variety (isshu) of tea, called
gift to the Metropolitan Museum in memory of Richard Fishbein, Kisen Sencha, and that he achieved great fame for just a
takes as its subject the six exemplary poets set forth in the preface single poem (isshu);
of the imperially commissioned Collection of Poems Ancient and
Modern. The anthology presents imaginary “group portraits” of 4. Rokujuen (Yadoya no Meshimori), a noted scholar of
Japanese poetic luminaries from the Heian period onward. What Japanese classical literature and leader of the Go-gawa
Shunman did was create cheerful depictions of the six revered kyōka group, who playfully alludes to the tenth-century
poets, then invited several of his colleagues — all major figures Ariwara no Narihira’s importance as a model poet, but also
from the popular poetry movement of the day — to attach witty to his reputation as an author who wrote with “too much
poems of their own composition that allude to court verses by feeling and insufficient words.” Rokujuen’s kyōka reads:
each of the esteemed poets of the past. That the work retains each
contributor’s handwriting once again reminds us that being able Narihira no Although the poems
to compose poems and inscribe them artfully has always been a uta o warera ga of Narihira are praised
badge of cultural refinement in Japan. homuru ni mo by all of us today,
All of Shunman’s collaborators contributed kyōka, with the kokoro amarite his feelings overflowed
exception of Shokusanjin, who instead devised a couplet of kyōshi kotoba tarawazu and diction lacked strength.
Chinese verse that formally introduces the celebrated poets:
5. Sensōsan Ichindo (1755 – 1820), who incorporates and others, which serves as a reminder of the overlapping networks
rearranges words from a famous ninth-century verse by of kyōka poets and Ukiyo-e artists.
Archbishop Henjō included in the Collection of Poems Looking back over two hundred and fifty years of interaction
Ancient and Modern; between texts and images in Ukiyo-e paintings, we can see that
at every stage artists and poets acted in brilliant and innovative
6. Shakuyakutei Nagane (1767 – 1845), who does not pun collaboration. Though not the subject of this essay, it is also
directly on a poem by Fun’ya no Yasuhide, the only one of important to remember that, in the case of more familiar ukiyo-e
the Six Poetic Immortals whose work does not appear to prints and book illustrations, images often literally emerge from
have been cited, but concludes the poetry series by praising the texts: the calligraphic line of an inscribed narrative might
all six poets of the past for being as famous as Mount Fuji unwind and stretch out to become the bold outlines of a courte-
and, like the great mountain, never diminishing in stature, san’s robes or the delicate tracing of a young woman’s face. The
even after countless generations. same may be said of paintings by Ukiyo-e artists, though the
inscriptions were often added by someone other than the painter.
Without attempting to translate and explicate all the complex Words within the inscriptions have their own visual potency;
wordplay involved, a literary scholar can see that these late Edo outlines of figures in paintings can be calligraphic: every brush-
kyōka poets held great esteem for poets of the past but were not stroke — whether pictorial or forming written characters — is
reluctant to play with tradition for fun, and to test and flatter infused with emotive potential. Ukiyo-e paintings are often semi-
the erudition of whoever commissioned the collaborative compo- otically dense, relying on sophisticated visual codes developed
sition. Shunman notes in his signature that the piece captures over centuries during the Edo period, and drawing on even ear-
both the spirit and likenesses of the poets, but adds that he tried lier precedents. As indicated here, it is often possible in “reading”
to present them in a lively, colorful fashion. This type of work, a paintings to reconstruct the process of that dynamic interaction.
sekiga (impromptu painting), would have been created sponta- Even when a work lacks inscriptions, we can train ourselves
neously by the poet-calligraphers, probably at a public gathering. to see traces of literary themes at work — either through a direct
The individual who commissioned the painting would have paid allusion to the classics or a more general pointer to a metanarra-
a fee to the artist and poets via the host of the party. tive of the demimonde. Ukiyo-e book illustrations, prints, and
Another example of this kind of collaborative painting, from paintings were part of an endlessly regenerating story of imagina-
the Fishbein-Bender Collection, is a more complex, deluxe pro- tive escape into the fabricated realms of nighttime dalliances in
duction (cat. 42). It was painted on silk and probably completed Yoshiwara or of the Kabuki stage. This land of adventure was
over the course of several months, as its owner took the work to peopled with actors and the characters they played, highly ranked
various well-known artists or poet-calligraphers to paint or courtesans, and beautiful young men and women of all classes,
inscribe. The mélange of drawings and poems ranges across spring seen chiefly from a male perspective, while nature figured as a
and summer themes and all walks of life — pictorial motifs that tamed backdrop or textile motif. All of this was overlaid on an
complement or illustrate the poems nearby. The inscribers are a elite literary tradition from the past, on the lives and work of
veritable Who’s Who of members of popular Chinese and Japa- famous poets, and on characters from such canonical tales as the
nese verse societies in Edo, including Shokusanjin, who was Tales of Ise and The Tale of Genji, brilliantly parodied by the artists
probably the initiator of the project. Among the illustrators, the of the floating world.
Ukiyo-e school is represented by Chōbunsai Eishi and several
UKIYO-E 187
Cat. 37
菱川師宣筆遊女図
Hishikawa Moronobu (ca. 1618 – 1694)
Standing Courtesan, ca. 1690
27 × 12 1 /4 in. (68.6 × 31.1 cm)
Ex-coll. Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo
Literature: Narazaki 1982a, no. 65; Nakau 1984, pp. 9 (colorpl.), 39 (fig.);
Azabu Museum of Art 1988, pl. 11; Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts 1989, pl. 11; Inagaki 1990, pl. 15;
Gluckman and Takeda 1992, p. 221, no. 185; Kobayashi 1992, p. 187; Suntory Museum of Art 1994, ref. A;
Kobayashi 1995, pl. 14; Christie’s, New York, October 27, 1998 (sale 9044), lot 17; Meech and Oliver 2008, p. 43, fig. 24
In a pose echoed in numerous paintings by Hishikawa Moronobu exactly, right down to the varieties of embroidery stitches employed
and his successors, a courtesan is captured at a moment in time and the use of the tie-dyeing method called shibori. The ink-
as she minces along with bent knees and tiny steps (perhaps on painting technique used to render the shells reflects the actual
one of the avenues of the Yoshiwara quarter), gently lifting the application of painted scenes onto cloth, using brush and ink,
hem of her gorgeous outer robe with one hand. The other hand which required virtuosity on the part of the textile producers.
is hidden in her sleeve, an affectation of elegance borrowed from This courtesan’s outer garment features a decorative motif of
traditional Japanese dance. The plumpness of the woman’s face oversized shell halves, each painted in great detail via the “white
(see detail on p. 172) is characteristic of ukiyo-e, although its drawing” (hakubyō) technique used often by both professional
pear shape and tiny features show Moronobu’s indebtedness to and amateur painters of the court to depict aristocratic narratives.
the painting style of Iwasa Matabei (1578 – 1650). She wears As such, it served as a subtle conveyance of the cultural refine-
thin sandals, indicating that she is outside the brothel to which ment of life in Yoshiwara. The shell motif itself derives from
she belongs, no doubt en route to a liaison with a male client. kai-awase, or shell-matching game, which had its origins at the
Her twilled hair is held in place by inconspicuous white cloth rib- Heian court.
bons typical of an early stage of courtesan portraiture, before a The artist’s signature, “Painted by Hishikawa Moronobu, in
complex array of ornamental hairpins became the trademark of the yamato-e style,” demonstrates that he saw himself as work-
a high-ranking courtesan. ing in a tradition of court artists of the past who created works
A distinguishing feature of ukiyo-e is the detailed depiction capturing scenes from Japanese daily life. The term is used to
of the robes worn by both female and male subjects. Artists went establish a contrast with works created in the Chinese tradition.
to great lengths to reproduce meticulously the latest fashionable His signature is followed by the seals constituting the art name
textile patterns, in all likelihood working from actual samples. by which he is best remembered, “Hishikawa” and “Moronobu.”
Occasionally they devised their own patterns, which could then The scroll dates to the late stage of Moronobu’s career, when
be copied by textile designers. Moronobu himself came from a he worked with highly skilled apprentices to keep up with the
family of fabric designers and wholesalers, and he brought this demand for labor-intensive hanging-scroll paintings, handscrolls,
expertise to bear in his work. Here, as in other deluxe paintings and large-format screens.
of the Moronobu atelier, the appearance of the fabric is rendered
189
190
Cat. 38
百川子興筆花魁図
Painting and inscription by Momokawa Shikō
(active late 18th – early 19th century)
Parading Courtesan, late 18th century
35 1 /16 × 11 5/8 in. (89 × 29.6 cm)
Literature: Kyoto Imperial Museum 1923, n.p.; Yoshida 1931, vol. 7, pl. 450;
Itabashi Art Museum 1989, no. 122; Christie’s, New York, October 31, 1995 (sale 8320), lot 337
A magnificently attired woman pauses to adjust one of the hair- Tōkaizenji Takuan Ōsho no kotoba:
pins keeping her hyōgo-mage hairstyle in place. Her array of hair Hotoke wa hō o uru,
ornaments and elaborate layers of richly colored and patterned soshi wa hotoke o uru
robes declare her to be an oiran, or a highly ranked courtesan of masse no sō wa soshi o uru,
the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters (see detail on p. 181). The inscrip- nanji wa go shaku no karada o urite
tion in the space above her was brushed by the artist himself in issai shujō no bonnō hodokosu
the highly stylized Reizei script. Characterized by extreme varia- Yanagi wa midori
tions in stroke thickness, Reizei calligraphy was popular in hana wa kurenai
courtly circles beginning in the late medieval period. The style Shiki soku ze kū
derives from the idiosyncratic handwriting of Fujiwara no Teika. Kū soku ze shiki
The source of the inscribed quotation is a sermon by the
Rinzai Zen priest Takuan Sōhō (1573 – 1645), who founded the The words of Zen Master Takuan:
Tōkaiji Temple in the Shinagawa district of Edo (an area also Buddha tried to sell religious law;
known for its brothels). It reads: Our founding patriarch [Bodhidharma]
tried to sell the Buddha;
東海禅寺沢庵大和尚語 We, priests of the Final Age of the Law,
佛は法を賣る祖師は佛を賣る末世の僧は try to sell our founding patriarch.
祖師を賣る汝は五尺の身を賣て一切衆生の And you sell your five-foot-tall body
ぼんのふをほどこす to allay the passions of mankind.
柳は緑花は紅ゐ “Form is none other than emptiness;
色即是空 emptiness is none other than form”
空即是色 “Willows are green, and flowers crimson”
UKIYO-E 191
In typical Zen fashion the message is ambiguous. Is the priest (“enlightenment,” or “five”) of the quotation. Additionally, the pop-
criticizing the courtesan or praising her? It is hard to say whether ular writer Takizawa Bakin (1767 – 1848) revealed in his Travel
he is advocating Buddhism as a means of alleviating the suffering Notebook (Kiryo manroku) of 1802 that, “In Miyako (Kyoto), I
of mankind, which, according to the tenets of the faith, arises viewed a painting with an inscription by Monk Takuan on the
from worldly passions. theme of a gijo (prostitute). This quotation is familiar to every-
Note that the quotation addresses the figure in the painting one, so I just jot it down for now here.” That is, he transcribed
directly. Nanji is a somewhat formal version of the second-person the inscription, in a form almost identical to the version in this
pronoun “you,” and thus refers to the idealized female in the painting, but since it was so well known, he did not see the need to
painting rather than a living individual. A shaku was a variable explain why it had been written on the work of art he viewed.
measurement in premodern times though usually equal to about The poem that follows the quotation, also attributed to
11 / inches (30.3 cm); thus, five shaku is approximately 5 feet
7 8 Takuan and passed down in variant versions, suggests that, like
(151.5 cm). The metaphysical statement that follows, equating the transient reflection of the moon on the surface of a pond,
form and emptiness, is borrowed directly from the Heart Sutra the male client may call on the courtesan, but his feelings of
(Hannya shingyō), generally regarded as the quintessential Zen love are not permanent. Men might be attracted to a prostitute —
scripture. In a Buddhist context the expression is used to sug- and a monk to the moon of enlightenment — but if one is truly
gest the nonduality of all worldly phenomena. In this context, enlightened, one has no permanent attachment, even to spiri-
however, the message can be interpreted in a more worldly fash- tual attainments. The poem reads:
ion. The character for “form,” or shiki (色), may also be read as
iro, which can connote either “color” or “lust.” Finally, the com- 池の面に夜々通ふ月なれど
mon Zen expression “Willows are green, and flowers crimson,” こゝろもぬれず水にあとなし
which derives from a poem by the Song-dynasty poet Su Shi,
first came into common usage in Buddhist contexts to suggest Ike no omo ni Night after night,
the order of the universe and the diversity of natural phenom- yoru yoru kayou the moon visits
ena. The phrase was later appropriated in a parodic fashion by tsuki naredo the waters of the pond,
popular writers and poets to symbolize the world of the plea- kokoro mo nurezu but its reflection does not remain,
sure quarter. mizu ni ato nashi just as lovers’ feelings dissipate.
The quotation is sometimes attributed to Ikkyū Sōjun, the
similarly iconoclastic Zen monk of a previous age, but no matter In summary, the inscription is meant to remind the reader of the
who spoke the words, they were undeniably well known in their fleeting nature of all worldly phenomena, including the pleasures
day. The same quotation appears, with slight variations, on a of the flesh. Ironically, this wisdom corresponds well with the
number of works by other Ukiyo-e artists of the late eighteenth underlying values of the floating world. Clearly, aficionados of
and early nineteenth centures, among them Miyagawa Chōshun, Ukiyo-e paintings and prints found wisdom, solace, or perhaps
Isoda Koryūsai, Katsushika Hokusai, Kuwagata Keisai, and mere sacrilegious humor in paradoxical messages such as this.
Teisai Hokuba. The familiarity of the quotation is further attested The signature reads “Painted by Momokawa Shikō,” with a
by its inclusion in a rakugo (tale narrated by a solitary performer) seal reading simply “Shikō.” The individual who signed himself
titled “Raising an Eyebrow” (Hitome agari), also known as “Praise as such has been identified in standard biographies as the ukiyo-e
for the Hanging Scroll” ( Jiku home), which jokes about the san print artist Eishōsai Chōki (active late 18th century – ca. 1808/9).
(“inscription,” or “three”), with this expression representing the go Chōki did indeed sign many of his prints “Shikō,” but never in
combination with “Momokawa,” and his career is shrouded in Since 1931, when the opinion that Momokawa Shikō and
mystery. Almost nothing is known of his life except that during Eishōsai Chōki/Shikō were one and the same was set forth with
the 1780s he worked in the studio of the book illustrator Tori- the publication of this very painting in Yoshida Teruji’s Compen-
yama Sekien. In about 1808/9, he virtually disappeared from dium of Ukiyo-e (Ukiyo-e taisei), a number of works bearing the
the art scene. Stylistically Chōki’s work is similar to that of “Momokawa Shikō” signature or seal have emerged. Among
Kitagawa Utamaro, a fellow student of Sekien’s, and today he is these are meticulous Ukiyo-e paintings on silk comparable in style
best known for three groups of okubi-e (head and upper body) por- and signature to the present example. They include Courtesan Play-
trait prints he designed for Tsutaya Jūzaburō and Tsuruya Kin- ing with a Cat in the Tokyo National Museum, and Courtesan with
suke in the mid-1790s, under Utamaro’s influence. He began Two Kamuro and The Seven Gods of Good Fortune at a Drinking
his career with the name Shikō, later renouncing it for Chōki; Party in the Roger Weston Collection, Chicago (Nagata 2015,
from about 1796 or 1797 he is said to have once again styled no. 59). Also, in a private collection in Japan, unpublished to our
himself Shikō, reverting back to Chōki about 1801. It has there- knowledge, are paintings of a hawk and a warrior with similar
fore been proposed that a small group of paintings of beauties signatures and seals, although the hawk painting features the art
signed “Momokawa Shikō” date to this time and are by the same name “Chōrakusai,” which has never been associated with the print
artist who created the prints. To complicate matters further, artist Chōki. Though the matter requires further investigation, in
Shikō’s teacher, Sekien, had another pupil (better known as a all likelihood Momokawa Shikō — who also used the name
haikai poet) who used the name Shikō, and there has been some Chōrakusai — created paintings in a range of styles, and produced
debate as to whether he and Chōki were the same individual. calligraphy in a flamboyant Reizei mode, was not the print artist.
UKIYO-E 193
Cat. 39
鳥文斎栄之筆立美人図
Painting by Chōbunsai Eishi (1756 – 1829)
Inscription by Masao (dates unknown)
Courtesan Holding a Poetry Slip, ca. 1810 – 15
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
33 1 /4 × 12 9/16 in. (84.4 × 31.9 cm)
An elegant courtesan, her coiffure embellished with crimson imagery connected with a famous poet of the past. The textile
ties and a constellation of hairpins, turns her head to glance motifs of plum and cherry blossoms supply additional seasonal
behind her while holding a tanzaku poem card. A green obi sash is references. The artist, scion of a samurai family (an unusual
loosely knotted at her waist, cascading down the front of a brilliant background for an Ukiyo-e artist), signed this work “Painted
red kimono decorated with cherry blossoms and spider- webs. A by Chōbunsai Eishi,” followed by a seal reading “Eishi.”
surcoat with a design of plum branches and kanmuri (courtier’s The inscription, signed by the otherwise unknown poet
caps) appears about to slip from her shoulders. Kanmuri, which Masao — perhaps a patron of a particular courtesan in the
had distinctive fan-shaped flaps called oikake, were part of the Yoshiwara district — contains a waka declaring his relentless
traditional costume of military officials of courtly rank and were love of the young woman, adding an additional level of amorous
also worn by performers in sacred ritual dances called kagura or suggestiveness to the portrait:
mikagura, held within Shinto shrine compounds. However, the
iconography of the surcoat may be more specific here, since this とし波はよしこゆるとも契おきし
type of cap is also featured in imaginary portraits of the Thirty- すゑのまつ山色なかへぞも
Six Poetic Immortals, the most famous court poets of ancient 正雄
and medieval Japan. Among these renowned individuals, the
ninth-century courtier Ariwara no Narihira — who had a repu- Toshinami wa After enduring the waves
tation for composing amorous poems — is especially associated yoshi koyuru to mo of time all these years,
with such ceremonial headwear in popular imagery (see fig. 55). chigiri okishi our vows remain in place,
In the most subtle way possible, the artist Eishi alludes to a Sue no Matsuyama like the pine-clad peaks of Sue,
literary theme by depicting the courtesan as she gracefully iro na kae zo mo the hue of our love never changes.
extends the elongated poem card, her garment displaying — Masao
195
Cat. 40
桃源斎栄舟筆三味線持つ美人図
Tōgensai Eishū (active late 18th – early 19th century)
Female Entertainer with a Shamisen, ca. 1800
34 5/8 × 12 1 /2 in. (88 × 31.7 cm)
Literature: Maske 2004, pp. 27, 151
A tall, slender young woman holds a shamisen in one hand and Of the two paintings by Eishū in the Tokyo National
adjusts her hairpins with the other. The dark surcoat is decorated Museum, one is a charming parody painting of the Third Prin-
with spring motifs of dandelions, butterflies, dragonflies, and cess as a courtesan with a cat (A–11493). That work, impressed
stylized cherry blossoms. Her garments have parted slightly in the with the same seal as the one seen here, was clearly based on a
front, exposing the lower portion of one delicate leg. The inclu- composition by Eishi that is now in the Freer Gallery of Art and
sion of a shamisen, a musical instrument associated with the plea- Arthur M. Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C. (F1898.117),
sure quarters and Kabuki theater, leads us to infer that the young which has among its holdings another hanging scroll by Eishi,
woman is preparing to entertain a male client. depicting a high-ranking courtesan and fireflies (F1898.93). The
We know nothing about the biography of the artist, Tōgensai courtesan in this last painting stands in a pose not unlike that of
Eishū, except that his painting style and choice of art name are the entertainer in the Fishbein-Bender painting, with her head
clearly indebted to Chōbunsai Eishi, the Ukiyo-e painter and print turned to look over her shoulder and her skirts parted in front.
artist responsible for elevating images of beautiful women to the Eishū’s signature, “Painted by Tōgensai Eishū,” and his seal
highest level of refinement (see cat. 39). The narrow, elongated reading “Eishū” were placed to the left of the figure, almost as
proportions of the figure, her girlish facial features, and her overall though they were in the courtesan’s line of sight.
impression of elegant composure are indicative of Eishi’s influence.
197
Cat. 41
歌川豊春筆蜀山人（大田南畝）賛琴に立美人図
Painting by Utagawa Toyoharu (1735 – 1814)
Inscription by Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749 – 1823)
Female Entertainer with a Koto, ca. 1785; inscription early 19th century
25 11 /16 × 13 3/8 in. (65.2 × 34 cm)
Literature: Narazaki 1982b, pp. 29 – 30, no. 2
A high-ranking courtesan is caught in a quiet moment as she in the 1780s, we can surmise that Shokusanjin was asked by its
stands before a koto (thirteen-string zither). She wears a strik- owner to add his verse some years after the painting was made,
ing black surcoat with a peacock-feather motif over a multicolor a common practice of the time (Tanaka [Den] 2015, pp. 8 – 9).
undergarment with white and blue-tinged cherry blossoms. Her It reads:
obi sash is tied in front, as was the usual practice for courtesans —
symbolic of the ability to undress without undue fuss for a client. 琴の音にみねの松葉やかよふ神
Recognized as the founder of the Utagawa school, the artist いづれのお客しらべそめけむ
Utagawa Toyoharu created both deluxe paintings, as seen here, 蜀山人
and designs for prints. In the area of woodblock prints he earned
esteem for his mastery of Western-style perspective and for plac-
Koto no ne ni Amid the sounds of a koto
ing his figures in landscape settings. By the 1780s he appears to
mine no Matsuba-ya like pine needles rustling on a peak,
have turned his focus to paintings. The ukiyo-e specialist Narazaki
Kayou-kami a courtesan of Matsubaya brothel
Muneshige suggests that this meticulously rendered composi-
izure no okyaku wonders who the god of courtesans
tion on silk dates to the peak of Toyoharu’s career, in the mid-
shirabe somekemu will bring as her first client.
1780s. The artist’s signature, “Painted by Ichiryūsai Utagawa
— Shokusanjin
Toyoharu,” and seals reading “Ichiryūsai” and “Toyoharu” appear
along the right border of the painting, just above the koto.
The poem to the left of the figure was inscribed by Ōta The verse cleverly plays off a famous waka by the tenth-
Nanpo, also known as Shokusanjin, a low-ranking samurai century poetess Saigū no Nyōgo: “The sound of the koto / melds
official who emerged as the foremost literary arbiter of his age with the wind / through the pines on the peak. / But from which
(see pp. 184 – 87). He was particularly known for his role in the string / did the melody of love begin?” (Koto no ne ni / mine no
poetry salon culture of the day, in which amateur poets created matsukaze / kayou rashi / izure no oyori / shirabe somekemu).
witty variations on traditional Japanese and Chinese verse, Shokusanjin has turned matsukaze (“wind through the pines”)
called kyōka and kyōshi, respectively. As this painting was created into Matsubaya — literally, the House of Pine Needles, but also
the name of an established brothel — and izure no oyori (“which
string?”) into izure no okyaku (“which client?”). The wordplay is com-
plex and erudite, requiring readers to be conversant in an entire
poetic tradition, both classical and popular. It was at this sophis-
ticated level that Shokusanjin and his literary confreres operated.
To fully grasp the wit of the poem, it is crucial to know
that “Kayou-kami” refers to a Shinto patron deity prayed to by,
among others, courtesans of the licensed pleasure quarter, who
were known to inscribe the deity’s name at the end of their let-
ters. Here, the young woman wonders who Kayou-kami will
select as her first man. Phrases in the poem also call to mind
an episode from The Tale of the Heike, in which Nakakuni, a
retainer at the court of Emperor Takakura, is summoned to
find the whereabouts of Takakura’s beloved mistress, Lady Kogō.
Nakakuni mounts a horse from the imperial stables to go search-
ing for Kogō among residences and temple complexes in the Saga
district. At one point he pauses to listen, wondering if he is hear-
ing the sound of a gale coursing through peaks, wind soughing
through pines, or Kogō playing the koto. He discovers the lady
in hiding and returns her to the palace. All of the amorous con-
notations in these ancient verses and tales are embedded in the
poem by Shokusanjin.
UKIYO-E 199
Cat. 42
諸家書画寄書
Drawings and Poems by Various Artists, ca. 1814
60 × 18 1 /2 in. (152.4 × 47 cm)
Perhaps nothing better symbolizes the rapport between poets painted a cuckoo (hototogisu). Tani Bunchō, already famous as an
and artists who habituated the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters than Edo-based artist by the early 1800s, added a simple drawing of
the collaborative works called yosegaki, or “gathered writings,” chestnuts, and his pupil Okada Kanrin drew prawns and clams.
for which prominent poets and painters of the day would each Chō Gesshō, a pupil of Matsumura Goshun, drew the image
contribute a poem in Chinese or Japanese, or a little drawing on of an old fisherman. Yamazaki Tōretsu has the most prominent
a seasonal or poetic theme. Random in arrangement and dis- picture, of Mount Fuji. As Tōretsu was a rather obscure artist,
junctive in perspectival and spatial relationships, the images are it is possible that he arranged for the poems on Fuji to be placed
a cornucopia of pictorial elements representing sundry aspects first; the rest of the composition then unfolded, free-association
of life in Edo during the early nineteenth century. Clearly, each style, with authors and artists moving from topic to topic.
artist and poet was allowed to add whatever struck his fancy at Once again we find Shokusanjin at the center of things,
the moment. The inscribers all belonged to popular Chinese whose poems are featured on so many paintings of courtesans
and Japanese verse societies of Edo, and a delightful range of of the day (see fig. 55 and cat. 41). Here, in the upper right
drawings by artists both famous and less so complement or corner, he has provided the “opening” inscription of both a
illustrate the inscribed verses. Sometimes such yosegaki were kyōshi and a kyōka in praise of Mount Fuji. The kyōka reads:
impromptu creations, made on a single occasion, often at a
shogakai, or “calligraphy-painting gathering.” This particular 唐人もここまでござれ天の原
work, on silk, is a more deluxe example and brings together 三国一の富士が見たくば
such an impressive array of contributors that we must assume it
was compiled over the course of several months, perhaps with Karabito mo Even Chinese people
certain poets and artists collaborating on particular sections. koko made gozare come all the way here
The inscription by the noted writer, poet, and Kabuki fan Utei Amanohara if they want to see
Enba comments that he was seventy-two when he inscribed his Sangoku ichi no heavenly Mount Fuji,
poem, which allows us to date the work to approximately 1814. Fuji ga mitakuba the finest peak in all of Asia.
Among the artists who contributed drawings, the Ukiyo-e
school is represented by Chōbunsai Eishi (the pine tree) and his Shikitei Sanba (1766 – 1822), a popular writer and poet of the
pupil Eiju (a pair of sparrows), while Katsushika Hokusai’s pupils era, did not compose an original poem but contributed a well-
are represented by Teisai Hokuba, who created the picture of a known, humorous kyōka he had written previously on the sub-
samurai and courtier conversing, and Ryūryūsai Shinsai, who ject of Japan’s most revered mountain:
唐土へ見ゆると聞けば富士の山
我が日の本の鼻の高さよ
Morokoshi e If you say it can be seen

miyuru to kikeba from as far away as China,
Fuji no yama the mountain Fuji
waga hi no moto no turns up its nose snobbishly
hana no takasa yo from the Land of the Rising Sun.
The popular novelist, poet, artist, and tobacco accessories shop

owner Santō Kyōden, mentioned earlier in this chapter (see
fig. 54), contributed a haikai (seventeen-syllable seasonal verse)
just to the left of the sketch of morning glories (asagao) by the
unknown artist who signed himself Gyokkai:
朝がほやあらしの庭のやぶれ傘
Asagao ya Morning glories —

arashi no niwa no like torn umbrellas
yabure-gasa in a windswept garden.
The noted calligrapher and expert in kanshi Kikuchi Gozan

(1769 – 1849) chose to inscribe a Chinese verse about Mount Fuji,
punning on the line from Confucius, “Within the Four Seas,
all men are brothers.” He wrote: “Within the Four Seas / it has no
brothers, / beneath its towering peak, / all are little children.”
Signatures and Seals
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Signatures and Seals
Please note that artists often changed their art names at different stages
of their careers, so names appearing in signatures and seals may differ
from those by which these artists are best known. Artists’ names and
titles of works are given in modern Japanese. For transcriptions, we
have attempted to use the forms of Chinese characters closest to the
way they appear, even if archaic.
Cat. 4
土佐光起筆芙蓉白鷺図
Tosa Mitsuoki, Egrets and Cotton Roses,
mid- to late 17th century
Signature: Tosa Sakon no Shōgen Mitsuoki
kore [o] zu [su] 土佐左近将監光起圖之
Cat. 1 (Painted by Mitsuoki, of the Tosa painting
狩野松栄筆梅にヒヨドリ図 studio, with the honorary court rank Lieu-
Kano Shōei, Brown-Eared Bulbul (Hiyodori) on tenant of the Left Division of the Inner
a Branch of Plum, mid- to late 16th century Palace Guards)
Seal: Naonobu 直信 Seal: Fujiwara 藤原
Cat. 2
狩野探幽筆漁村夕照図 Cat. 6
Kano Tan’yū, Landscape with Fisherman, 酒井抱一筆雪中縁先美人図
1638 – 62 Sakai Hōitsu, Beauty on Veranda
Signature: Tan’yū hōgen hitsu 探幽法眼筆 in Snow, ca. 1794 – 95
(Painted by Tan’yū, of the court rank Hōgen, Signature: Toryō giga 屠龍戯畫
“Eye of the Buddhist Law”) (Playfully painted by Toryō)
Seal: Morinobu 守信 Seal: Teihakushi 庭柏子
Cat. 7
酒井抱一筆楊柳観音図
Cat. 3 Sakai Hōitsu, Willow Kannon (Yōryū
清原雪信筆緋連雀桜竹図 Kannon), probably 1810s
Kiyohara Yukinobu, Waxwings, Cherry Signature: Mo Godōshi zu /Tōgakuin Monsen
Blossoms, and Bamboo, late 17th century Hōitsu haiga 呉道子図・等覚院文詮抱一拝畫
Signature: Kiyohara ujime Yukinobu hitsu (Reverently painted by Tōgakuin Monsen
清原氏女雪信筆 (Painted by Yukinobu, Hōitsu, copied from a picture by Wu Daozi)
a daughter of the Kiyohara family) Seals: Shaku Hōitsu rinmo 釋抱一臨摹
Seal: Kiyohara jo 清原女 (Daughter [or (Copied following a model by Hōitsu, disci-
woman] of the Kiyohara family) ple of Shakyamuni Buddha); Monsen 文詮
203
Cat. 8 Cat. 11
酒井抱一筆四季画賛図中村芳中筆牡丹図扇面
Sakai Hōitsu, Scenes and Poems of the Four Nakamura Hōchū, Peonies, early 19th
Seasons, after 1817 century
Signature: Ōson Hōitsu ga narabi ni dai 鶯邨 Signature: Hōchū kore o egaku 芳中画之
抱一畫併題 (Painted and inscribed by Ōson (Hōchū painted this)
Hōitsu) Seal: Illegible, though appearing on
Seal: Ōson 鶯村 many other works by the artist
Cat. 12
鈴木其一筆蜀山人
Cat. 9 (大田南畝）賛蓮に蛙図
酒井抱一筆外山光實賛月に葛花図 Painting by Suzuki Kiitsu; inscrip-
Painting by Sakai Hōitsu; inscription by tion by Shokusanjin, Frog on a Lotus
Toyama Mitsuzane, Moon and Kudzu Vine, Leaf, early 1820s
probably ca. 1820 Artist’s signature: Teihakushi 庭柏子
Artist’s signature: Hōitsu hitsu 抱一筆 Artist’s seal: Hitsuan 必庵
(Painted by Hōitsu) Calligrapher’s signature:
Artist’s seal: Monsen 文詮 Shokusanjin sho 蜀山人書
Calligrapher’s signature: Mitsuzane 光實 (Calligraphy by Shokusanjin)
Cat. 10
酒井鶯蒲（鶯浦）筆寿老人図 Cat. 13
Sakai Ōho, The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin, 鈴木其一筆旭日松鶴図
probably 1830s Suzuki Kiitsu, Crane and Pine Tree
Signature: Shigen Ōho hitsu 獅現鶯蒲筆 with Rising Sun, early 19th century
(Painted by Shigen Ōho) Signature: Seisei Kiitsu 菁々其一
Seal: Bansei 伴清 Seal: Shukurin 祝琳
Cat. 14
池大雅筆「春水満四澤」
Ike Taiga, The River in Spring Overflows Cat. 17
Four Marshes, 1750s 与謝蕪村筆月下孤鹿図
Signature: Sangaku 山岳 Yosa Buson, Deer in Moonlight, ca. 1780
Seals: Higashiyama [Tōzan] Issō 東山逸叟; Signature: Shainsha 謝寅写
Ike Mumei in (Seal of Ike Mumei) 池無名印 Seals: Shain Chōkō 謝寅長黄; Shunsei 春星
Cat. 15
池大雅筆「春雲出岫」
Ike Taiga, Spring Clouds Arising from
the Gorge, 1770 Cat. 18
Signature: Kanoe-tora haru nigatsu utsusu / 与謝蕪村筆谿山探薬図
Mumei 庚寅春二月寫・無名 (Painted by Yosa Buson, Herb Gatherers in the Mountains,
Mumei, in the second month ca. 1780
of the kanoe-tora Year of the Tiger [1770]) Signature: Shashunsei sha Shikoan ni oite
Seals: Junsei 遵生; Ike Mumei Taisei in 池無名謝春星寫於紫狐庵 (Painted by Shashunsei
戴成印 (Seal of Ike Mumei Taisei); Kyūka at Shikoan)
Shōja 九霞樵者 Seals: Shachō kō 謝長庚; Shunsei 春星
Cat. 19
浦上玉堂筆「青山欲雪」
Cat. 16 Uragami Gyokudō, In Verdant Mountains
池（徳山）玉瀾筆梅に鶯図 Hoping for Snow, ca. 1794
Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran, Warbler in Signature: Gyokudō 玉堂
a Plum Tree, mid- to late 18th century Seals: Gyokudō Ki Tasuku (or Hitsu)「玉堂・
Signature: Gyokuran 玉欄紀弼」; Yū bunbō jūhachi-ya 「有文房十八
Seals: Gyokuran 玉欄; Shōfū 松風友」(Eighteen friends of the scholar’s study)
S I G N AT U R E S A N D S E A L S 205
Cat. 23
山本梅逸筆蓮池白鷺図
Cat. 20 Yamamoto Baiitsu, Egrets in a Lotus Pond, 1852
田能村竹田筆高士と鶴山水図 Signature: Mizunoe-ne sanyōgetsu, Chikugan
Tanomura Chikuden, Scholars and Cranes Shoin no minami noki no shita ni utsusu /Baiitsu
in a Landscape, 1822 Yamamoto Ryō ji nen shichijū 壬子三陽月写于竹
Signature: Chikuden sonnōu Ken 竹田邨農巌書院之南簷下 / 梅逸山本亮時年七十
迂憲 (Chikuden, the humble peasant Ken) (Painted under the southern eaves of the
Seals: Denshaji 田舎児 (Farmhouse boy); Chikugan Studio, in the first month of the
Jinsei gyōrakuji mizunoe-ne Year of the Rat, by Baiitsu Yama-
人生行楽耳 (The only thing to do in life is moto Ryō at age 70)
to enjoy oneself); Chikuden 竹田 Seals: Ryō in 亮印 (Seal of Ryō); Baiitsu 梅逸
Cat. 21
田能村竹田筆西園雅集図 Cat. 24
Tanomura Chikuden, Elegant Gathering in 風外慧薫筆指月布袋図賛
the Western Garden, 1826 Fūgai Ekun, Hotei Pointing at the Moon, 1650
Signature: Ji hinoe-inu chūshū-zen ichijitsu / Signature: San narabi [ni] Fūgai hachijū-san
Den Ken 時丙戌中秋前一日 / 田憲 (By [Chiku] sai [no] toki kore [o] zu [su] 賛共風外八十三歳時圖之
Den Ken, on the day before mid-Autumn; see (Fūgai drew and inscribed this painting when an
pp. 112–13 for full inscription) old man of 83 years)
Seals: Ken in 憲印 (Seal of Ken); Chikuden 竹田 Seal: Fūgai 風外
Cat. 22
椿椿山筆「香垂潭影」
Tsubaki Chinzan, The Reflection of Fragrant Flowers
Dangling over a Pond, 1840
Signature: Kanoe-ne Chōyō sha / Hitsu 庚子重陽寫・弼
(Painted for the ninth day of the ninth month [the
chrysanthemum festival] of the kanoe-ne Year of the
Rat [1840]) Cat. 25
Seals: Shinyū Heihitsu 辛酉平弼; Jinsei mikyō zen buji 白隠慧鶴筆大字「悳」
人生未許全無事 (All that is still unattained in life Hakuin Ekaku, Virtue, mid-18th century
will work out fine) Seals: Kokan’i 顧鑑; Hakuin 白隠; Ekaku 慧鶴
Cat. 26
伊藤若冲筆無染浄善（丹崖）賛
豌豆豆図
Painting by Itō Jakuchū; inscription
by Musen Jōzen, Peapods on a Branch,
late 1750s – before 1764
Artist’s signature: Jakuchū saku 若冲作
(Created by Jakuchū)
Artist’s seals: Jokin 汝鈞; Jakuchū Koji Cat. 29
若冲居士 (Lay Buddhist devotee Jakuchū) 曽我蕭白筆寿老人図
Calligrapher’s seals: Kūchū chōseki 空中鳥跡 Soga Shōhaku, The God of Good Fortune
(Tracks of birds in the sky); Jōzen no in 浄善 Jurōjin, late 18th century
之印 (Seal of Jōzen); Shōsō shigo-hen kan’un Signature: Shōhaku ga 蕭白画
松窗四五片閒雲 (A few gently drifting clouds, (Painted by Shōhaku)
seen from a window with a view of pines) Seal: Kiitsu 輝一
Cat. 27
伊藤若冲筆鎌田鵬賛亀図
Painting by Itō Jakuchū; inscription by
Kamata Hō, Turtles, 1789 Cat. 30
Artist’s signature: Beito ō gyōnen shichi- 円山応挙筆紅葉鹿図
jū-roku sai ga 米斗翁行年七十［五］六歲画 Maruyama Ōkyo, Two Deer beneath Maple
(Painted by Old Man Beito at the age of 76) Trees, 1787
Artists’s seals: Tō Jokin in 藤女鈞印 ( Seal Signature: Tenmei hinoto-hitsuji shotō
of Tō Jokin); Jakuchū koji 若冲居士 utsusu / Heian / Ōkyo
Calligrapher’s signature: Kamata Hō dai 天明丁未初冬冩・平安・應擧 (Painted by
鎌田鵬題 ( Inscription by Kamada Hō) Ōkyo, in Kyoto, in early winter, tenth
Calligrapher’s seals: Genshi 言志 (Confu- month of the hinoto-hitsuji Year of the
cian concept of “Expressing one’s aspira- Ram of the Tenmei era [1787])
tions”); Kamada Hō in 鎌田鵬印 (Seal of Seals: Ōkyo no in 應擧之印 (Seal of Ōkyo);
Kamada Hō); Tonan 圖南 Chūsen 仲選
Cat. 28
曽我蕭白筆富嶽清見寺図 Cat. 31
Soga Shōhaku, Mount Fuji and Seikenji 松村呉春筆雪中松に鴨図
Temple, 1770s Matsumura Goshun, Winter Scene with
Signature: Soga Shōhaku Kiō [Terutaka?] zu Ducks and Pine Trees, late 1790s
曽我蕭白輝鷹圖 Signature: Goshun 呉春
Seals: Yūten 祐邨; Shiryū 師龍 Seal: Goshun 呉春
Cat. 35
Cat. 32 長沢芦雪筆梅に群雀図
森祖仙筆秋草に鹿図 Nagasawa Rosetsu, Sparrows on a Plum Tree,
Mori Sosen, Stag amid Autumn Flowers, ca. 1795 – 99
before 1807 Signature: Rosetsu sha shai 蘆雪写寫意 (Cap-
Signature: Sosen 祖仙 turing the essence of the subject, by Rosetsu)
Seals: Mori Shushō 杜守象; Sosen 祖仙 Seals: Nagasawa 長沢; Gyo 魚
Cat. 36
柴田是真筆烏鷺図屏風
Cat. 33 Shibata Zeshin, Egrets and Crows, late 19th
森祖仙筆烏骨鶏図 century
Mori Sosen, Silkies, before 1807 Signature (each panel): Zeshin 是真
Signature: Sosen 祖仙 Seals: (right panel) Tairyūkyo 対柳居 (Resi-
Seals: Mori Shushō 杜守象; Sosen 祖仙 dence facing willow trees); (left panel) Shin 真
Cat. 37
Cat. 34 菱川師宣筆遊女図
長沢芦雪筆鶴図 Hishikawa Moronobu, Standing Courtesan,
Nagasawa Rosetsu, Cranes, 1780s ca. 1690
Signature: Rosetsu sha 蘆雪寫 (Painted by Signature: Yamato-e Hishikawa Moronobu zu
Rosetsu) 日本繪菱川師宣圖 (Painted by Hishikawa
Seals: Nagasawa Gyo in 長沢魚印 (Seal of Moronobu, in the yamato-e style)
Nagasawa Gyo); Rosetsu 蘆雪 Seals: Hishikawa 菱川; Moronobu 師宣
Cat. 38 Cat. 40
百川子興筆花魁図桃源斎栄舟筆三味線持つ美人図
Momokawa Shikō, Parading Courtesan, Tōgensai Eishū, Female Entertainer with a
late 18th century Shamisen, ca. 1800
Signature: Momokawa Shikō ga 百川子興画 Signature: Tōgensai Eishū hitsu 桃源斎栄舟筆
(Painted by Momokawa Shikō) (Painted by Tōgensai Eishū)
Seal: Shikō 子興 Seal: Eishū 栄舟
Cat. 41
歌川豊春筆蜀山人（大田南畝）賛
Cat. 39 琴に立美人図
鳥文斎栄之筆立美人図 Painting by Utagawa Toyoharu; inscription by
Painting by Chōbunsai Eishi; inscription by Shokusanjin, Female Entertainer with a Koto,
Masao, Courtesan Holding a Poetry Slip, ca. 1785; inscription early 19th century
ca. 1810 – 15 Signature: Ichiryūsai Utagawa Toyoharu ga
Signature: Chōbunsai Eishi hitsu 鳥文斎栄之筆一龍斎歌川豊春画 (Painted by Ichiryūsai
(Painted by Chōbunsai Eishi) Utagawa Toyoharu)
Seal: Eishi 栄之 Seals: Ichiryūsai 一龍斎; Toyoharu 豊春
Notes
1. Kano and Tosa 3 See Kyoto National Museum 2015, no. 137. peng and diao herbs, he urged his pageboy to take care.”
1 The Kano school has been treated extensively in exhibi- 4 See Wilson 2001 and Feltens 2016. I am indebted to Patricia Graham, an independent scholar
tions in Japan and the West, most recently in “Ink and 5 Records of Craftspeople for the City of Kyoto (Kyōto oyakusho- who writes on Japanese art, for her comments on this set,
Gold: Art of the Kano” at the Philadelphia Museum of muki taigai oboegaki; ca. 1717) includes records of the major as well as for introducing me to her research assistant
Art (February 16, 2015 – May 10, 2016), which traced the types of ceramic wares produced in Kyoto, including Raku, Janet Chiaan Chen, a PhD graduate from the University
school’s history from its origins in the fifteenth century Awataguchi, Kiyomizu, Otowa, and Kenzan wares. See of Kansas. Dr. Chen kindly tracked down the sources
through modern times; see Fischer and Kinoshita 2015. also Oka 2005, p. 180. of both of the poems on Hōitsu’s paintings and provided
Preceding that show by a decade was “The Kano School: 6 My translations of the entire Insect Book, created for a draft translation of this poem, on which my own was
Orthodoxy and Iconoclasm” at The Metropolitan Museum an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge based. Shi-yee Liu, Assistant Research Curator, Depart-
of Art (December 18, 2004 – June 5, 2005). Many of the University, are available at www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk ment of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
gallery labels for this groundbreaking exhibition can /gallery/utamaro (accessed June 26, 2017). provided further advice.
be accessed at www.metmuseum.org by searching by 7 Characteristic of such kyōka, complex wordplay and 14 Kinoshita Asuka identifies thirteen examples of Buddhist
an artist’s name or subject keyword; see also www literary allusion are at work. For instance, ana is a pivot paintings in her 2009 essay, but several others have been
.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kano/hd_kano.htm (October word (kakekotoba), first as the last word of the phrase published in the meantime, and certainly more will come
2003). Similarly, high-resolution images and descrip- hachi no su no ana, “opening of a beehive,” and then as to light in the future.
tions of all recently accessioned works from the Mary part of ananieya, an exclamatory form of praise for a 15 The work closely resembles White-Robed Bodhisattva of
Griggs Burke Collection mentioned in these pages can beautiful young woman. Umashi otome (lovely maiden) Compassion, a painting attributed to Kano Motonobu in
be found there, including digital versions of entries alludes to the legend of the male and female deities the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (11.4267).
from the Bridge of Dreams catalogue; see Murase 2000. Izanagi and Izanami as recounted in Japanese creation 16 See Matsuo and Okano 2011, no. 145, pp. 148, 423. Accord-
2 See the helpful “genealogical chart” of the Kano lineage myths. Mitsu is first used as the verb “to see” and then as ing to an inscription on the inside of the box lid, this
and the essay by Yukio Lippit in Fischer and Kinoshita the noun “honey.” painting was formerly in the collection of Hōitsu’s disci-
2015, pp. xv, 1 – 11. 8 See Matsuo and Okano 2011 and McKelway 2012. ple Tanaka Hōji (1813 – 1885). See also Yamato Bunkakan
3 The work has been published extensively in both Japanese 9 The “Teihakushi” seal beneath Hōitsu’s signature suggests 2014, pp. 78, 140 – 41, no. 42.
and English, including Murase 2000, no. 71. On matters that this work was created in the mid-1790s, when he 17 I am indebted to Frank Feltens for these observations.
of attribution, see Kokka 1937, p. 74; Takeuchi (Shōji) began to use this name, but before 1797, when he took the See also Feltens 2015.
1972, pp. 87 – 88, pls. 81, 82; Shimizu and Wheelwright vows of a Buddhist priest. See Matsuo and Okano 2011, 18 In Japan, there is a rubbing “after Wu Daozi” in
1976, no. 28; Shimada 1979, no. 98; and Ford 1985, pp. 114 – no. 34. Kōtō’in, a subtemple of Daitokuji. It must have been
19, fig. 10. 10 Richard Fishbein acquired the courtesan painting (cat. 6) familiar to painters during the Edo period, as Tani
4 In the West, Carolyn Wheelwright opened up the field from a dealer in Japan, and the other eleven came up for Bunchō, for example, includes a rendering of it in Col-
with her PhD dissertation on Kano Shōei (Wheelwright sale at auction at Christie’s, New York, March 20, 2013 lected Antiquities in Ten Categories (Shūko jisshu), the
1981a) and an article on Kano Motonobu (Wheelwright (sale 2688), lot 518. The group of eleven works, represent- eighty-five-volume set of woodblock-printed books
1981b). ing the first through eleventh months, was recently commissioned by Matsudaira Sadanobu, chief counselor
5 For discussions of the visual culture of Jukōin, see Levine gifted by the Oni Zazen Collection to the Metropoli- to the shogun Tokugawa Ienari, first published in 1800.
1997 and 2005. tan Museum (see figs. 8 – k). From 1792 Bunchō was in service to Sadanobu; in 1796,
6 See Lippit 2012. 11 Each of the eleven paintings, except for the eighth-month with Bunchō as their leader, Hakuun, Kita Busei, and
7 For a study of the Eight Views theme in the original scroll, bears Hōitsu signatures reading either “Teihakushi” other painters were sent throughout Japan to conduct a
Chinese contexts, see Murck 1984 and 2000; see also or “Teihakushi Toryō.” The seals that appear on these survey of what were considered to be antiquities and
Barnhart 1992. works — “Toryō,” “Meimeikyo,” and “Meimei” — were then compiled into the eighty-five volumes.
8 The transformation of the Eight Views theme in Japan is used by the artist from the mid- to late Kansei era (1789 – 19 Referred to in Rosenfield and Cranston 1999, vol. 3, p. 82.
discussed in Stubbs 1993. 1801). In particular, the “Meimeikyo” seal impression does 20 See Feltens 2016, pp. 94 – 108. References to Japanese
9 See Hickman et al. 1996, p. 40; for Eitoku, see ibid., pp. 96 not exhibit much wear, indicating that these paintings scholarship are included there. The discussion of
fig. 55, 156 no. 46. For an example of Takanobu’s poly- were created during Hōitsu’s early period, immediately whether The Met’s version or another was used as a
chrome and gold sliding-door screen paintings, see following the years during which he experimented with model is found in Noguchi 2012, pp. xii – xiv.
Kawai, Nishioka, and Shirahara 2009, no. 44. the Ukiyo-e painting style. 21 The Nezu and Metropolitan Kōrin screens are published
10 See Fischer and Kinoshita 2015, p. 279, no. 96. 12 The poem reads: “The waterside city stands as in a pic- in Nezu Art Museum 2012 and Matsuo and Okano 2011,
11 Ibid., p. 279, no. 97. ture scroll. / The sky is lucid above the mountain no. 78. See also Yamane, Naitō, and Clark 1998, cat. 41
12 See Bartholomew 2006, p. 245, no. 8.22.2, and Sung 2009, shrouded in evening gloom. / While the waters on either (Idemitsu screens), and pp. 64 – 65, figs. 50, 51 (Metropoli-
which has a section on birds, though not specifically on hand shine like mirrors, / Two painted bridges span tan screens).
quail. Quail and millet paintings were produced by the them like rainbows dropt from the sky. / The smoke from 22 Feltens 2016, chap. 2.
Piling school in Changzhou, which flourished from the the cottage curls up around the citron trees, / And the 23 Carpenter 2012, p. 24; see also http://metmuseum.org
Southern Song through Ming. Piling paintings, mostly hues of late autumn are on the green paulownias. / Who- /art/collection/search/39664.
polychrome bird-and-flower compositions, were exported ever dreamed of my coming hither to the North Tower, / 24 For Maruyama Ōkyo’s Wisteria screens, which use the
to Japan in great numbers from Ningbo. They have been To brood over the memory of Prince Xie, while the same technique, see Nezu Art Museum 2016, pp. 56 – 61,
preserved in Japan in Zen Buddhist temples, and other wind blows in my face?” Translation from Obata 1923, 167, no. 18.
temples like the Chion’in. One of Kano Shōei’s sons p. 42. 25 See McKelway 2012, no. 40, for a fuller description.
painted a hanging scroll of quail and millet that reflects 13 The poem reads: “Those on the path of poetry conceive 26 See Carpenter 2012, no. 30. Very similar images of Jurōjin
strong Chinese influence. See also Murase 1993, pp. 61 – 63. marvelous thoughts, / Such as likening fragrant grasses can be found in Matsuo and Okano 2011, no. 169 (part
to virtuous gentlemen. / The chrysanthemum remains of a triptych); a virtually identical example is also found
2. Rinpa upright, even when covered with frost. / It’s more fragrant in the collection of Ackland Art Museum, University of
1 For an overview, see Carpenter 2012; on Kōetsu, see than orchids, or even chen grasses. / Perfectly virtuous, it North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gift of Ruth and Sherman
Fischer 2000; on Sōtatsu, see Lippit and Ulak 2015. outshines in beauty all other golden-yellow flowers. / Lee (2003.35.12).
2 Carpenter 2012, p. 48; see also http://metmuseum.org In the past, a grey-haired man dined on its fallen petals 27 Other examples are found in Matsuo and Okano 2011,
/art/collection/search/52988. and drank its dew. / Fretting about harming the rare nos. 287, 288.
28 The scrolls are discussed in Murase 2000, no. 138, and Washington, D.C.: Clear Evening on a Willow Bank and 10 In 1749 Hakuin wrote about the composition of the char-
Murase 1995, pp. 94 – 100; the mention of the Hiroshige Fishing on a River after Rain (F1961.4, .5). acter for toku 悳: “Look at the ideogram for ‘Virtue.’ It is
set as a reference is in Murase 2000, pp. 370 – 71. 27 For images of the Landscape Screen, see www.kyohaku compounded of two parts, one part means ‘straight’ (直)
29 I discussed this painting in my essay for the Suntory .go.jp/eng/syuzou/meihin/butsuga/item02.html. and the other ‘heart’ or ‘mind’ (心). The straight heart
Museum of Art’s Kiitsu exhibition; see Carpenter 2016. 28 Fujita Shin’ichi gives the more precise date of 1766/69 for or mind is the truth of heaven and it is called integrity.”
30 Yasuko Betchaku, “Asagao-zu byōbu,” in Murashige 1990, Buson’s journey to Sanuki. See “Osozaki no isai: Gahai Cited in Seo and Addiss 2010, p. 181. There are several
p. 322; see also McKelway 2012, no. 56. futatsu no michi o iku,” in Fujita 2012, pp. 26 – 27. other renditions of the character toku by Hakuin in private
29 Various poems by Buson on the subject of deer, with collections in Japan and the United States; see Hanazono
3. Nanga romanized texts and translations, can be easily searched University 2009, vol. 2, nos. 124 – 27. For discussions in
1 The division of Northern and Southern schools was also in the online document “Haiku of Yosa Buson, translated English of another strongly brushed example from the
advanced in Japanese treatises by Kuwayama Gyokushū into English, French, Spanish,” Terebess Asia Online Gitter-Yelen Collection, see Stevens and Yelen 1990, p. 174,
and Nakabayashi Chikutō; for an overview in English, (TAO): https://terebess.hu/english/haiku/buson.html. no. 61, or New Orleans Museum of Art 2002, p. 123, pl. 66,
see Cahill 1972, pp. 11, 44 – 48, 120, and the introductory 30 For a detailed biography of Gyokudō in English, see no. 119.
essay by Calvin French in French et al. 1974. Addiss 1987, pp. 1 – 28. 11 The Eisei Bunko Daruma painting is reproduced in Hana-
2 Adapted from a translation by Shi-yee Liu, Assistant 31 See Moriyasu et al. 2016, p. 64. Birgitta Augustin (2014, zono University 2009, vol. 1, no. 30. This compendious
Research Curator, Department of Asian Art, The Met- pp. 96, 100) observes that these early paintings were compilation of Hakuin paintings includes a wide range
ropolitan Museum of Art. frequently rendered in the style associated with Mi Fu of inscribed Daruma portraits.
3 Ibid. (1052 – 1107) or Mi Youren (1086 – 1165), and compares 12 Japanese & Korean Art, Christie’s, New York, September 11,
4 Yoshizawa Chū (1982) dates the work to when Taiga was the Fishbein-Bender painting to one by Mi Youren in 2012 (sale 2579), lot 8.
in his thirties, based on the signature and execution of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts (illustrated 13 For instance, compare two nearly identical Jakuchū paint-
the trees in the foreground. Similarly, Melinda Takeuchi in Augustin’s article). ings, one from the Museum of the Imperial Collections,
(1992, p. 162, no. 19) dates the seal “Higashiyama Issō” to 32 Addiss 1987, p. 137. Imperial Household Agency, and the one from the Burke
Taiga’s early thirties. A painting by Taiga in The Metro- 33 Berry 1985, p. 392. Collection, both illustrated in Tokyo Metropolitan Art
politan Museum of Art (1975.268.93), which is signed in 34 Tanaka (Den) 2015, pp. 8 – 9. One must remember, how- Museum 2016, nos. 2 – 5 and 40. The related catalogue
the same unusual running script, bears this same seal ever, that he could not possibly have seen actual works entries note that the works must have been created
(among others), as well. The Met’s painting is a finger by these major Chinese masters, a fact confirmed in one from the same preliminary drawings.
painting, a technique that Taiga enjoyed. In addition, he of the artist’s journal entries. Tanaka Den speculates 14 Takeuchi (Melinda) 2012.
employs the tarashikomi ink-mottling technique more that Chikuden saw pages from the Mustard Seed Garden 15 Another painting, of a gourd vine, from the same set is
often associated with the Rinpa school. See also Fischer Painting Manual. in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
and Kinoshita 2007, no. 10. 35 Berry 1985, p. 136. (1986.748).
5 See Murase 2000, pp. 388 – 90, no. 159. 36 Ibid., p. 394. Chikuden had, in fact, visited Muken in 16 See Shimizu 1992.
6 Ibid., pp. 388 – 89. Onomichi, a port city in Hiroshima prefecture, on the way 17 Yoshizawa Memorial Museum of Art, Tochigi. See
7 Translation adapted from Stephen D. Allee, originally to Nagasaki on the fourteenth day of the eighth month McKelway 2005, cat. 61.
published in Murase 2000, p. 390. of 1826; ibid., p. 84. 18 Translated by Stephen Owen (1996, p. 307).
8 Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, no. 139. 37 For a fine study of Watanabe Kazan (1793 – 1841), see 19 See Lippit et al. 2012.
9 Takeuchi (Melinda) 1992, p. 144. Keene 2006. 20 The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has one of the stron-
10 Bush 1971, p. 66. 38 Morland 1989, p. 472. gest collections of the artist’s works anywhere.
11 See the examples and discussion in Hamasumi 2010. 39 See http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53463; 21 Translation adapted from Stephen D. Allee in Murase
12 Jin 2008, p. 539. Murase 2000, no. 165. 2000, pp. 290 – 91, no. 121.
13 Specifically, “the relationship between topography and the
language of visual symbols a painter manipulates, or must 4. Zen Monks and Eccentrics 5. Maruyama-Shijō
invent, to suggest specific places.” Takeuchi (Melinda) 1 See Rosenfield and Cranston 1999 and Salel 2006. 1 Kimura 2016, p. 7. Kimura Shigekazu notes that the writer
1992, p. xiii. 2 See Tsuji (1970) 2012. and scholar Ueda Akinari (1734 – 1809) used the term
14 Fister 1988, pp. 72 – 73. 3 See Richard Fishbein’s comments (2012, pp. 111, 1 12), where shasei to characterize Ōkyo’s paintings.
15 Kinoshita (Kyoko) 2007, pp. 36 – 37. he mentioned: “In nearly thirty years of collecting Japanese 2 Ibid., p. 8. Also, according to monk Yūjō’s essay in
16 Okada 2015, p. 31. There exist more than five hundred paintings, I never once considered acquiring a Hakuin. Journal of Ten Thousand Things (Banshi), Ōkyo studied
letters penned by Buson. I was simply not interested in what he did and knew very first with Ishida Yūtei and then on his own (entry for
17 Addiss 1995, p. 15. little about him, except that he had done thousands of Meiwa 4 [1767]).
18 Itakura 2015, pp. 278, 384. paintings and calligraphies, and they often seemed squiggly 3 Perhaps the best-known poem on the subject, attributed
19 Also listed that year are Maruyama Ōkyo and Itō Jakuchū. to me.” Richard concluded the essay by saying that he to Sarumaru Dayū (active late 8th century), is of that era,
See Okada 2015, p. 31. acquired this example, and that “I am extremely happy and was made famous through its inclusion in the popu-
20 For a discussion of Kenkadō’s pivotal role in creating that I did. And one day, I sincerely hope a museum will lar anthology One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
literati networks, see Nakamura 2000. own it, extending this trail of ink to future generations.” (Hyakunin isshu). The poem, accompanying a painting of a
21 Fischer and Kinoshita 2007, pp. 370 – 74, no. 208. Richard and Estelle presented the work to The Met in 2014. courtesan by Kaigetsudō Ando, is translated in this vol-
22 Sasaki Jōhei suggests that the Kano style continued to 4 See, for instance, Westgeest 1996. ume in Chapter 6, p. 179.
have some traction in Buson’s work of the 1740s, especially 5 These basic tenets of Zen are summarized in Brinker 4 Sasaki 1996 and Sasaki and Sasaki 1996. Sasaki Jōhei also
while he was in Yuki and Shimodate. See his Nihon no and Kanazawa 1996, pp. 12 – 13. proposes that the artist originally created his Peacock panels
bijutsu volume, Sasaki 1975, pp. 30 – 49. 6 See Addiss 1976; Brinker 1987; Addiss 1989; Stevens and for Daijōji at about the same time, though they were
23 For examples by Shen Quan (Nanpin) in The Met’s collec- Yelen 1990; and Levine 2005. destroyed in a fire of 1788 and repainted seven years later.
tion, see accession nos. 1975.268.81 and 1975.268.82, both 7 Some of the ideas that follow on Fūgai Ekun and Hakuin 5 See the Journal of Imperial Prince Shinnin of Myōhōin Tem-
part of the Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Ekaku are adapted from Carpenter 2015. ple (Myōhōin Shinnin Shinnō onjiki nikki), entries for the
acquired in 1975. 8 I am indebted to Aaron Rio, Shi-yee Liu, and to earlier tran- second month, twenty-ninth day, and the fourth month,
24 McKelway 2005, pp. 72 – 73, and Yasunaga 2008, p. 275. scriptions and translations by John Stevens and others for third and fourth days, of 1787. The entries for these spe-
25 Okamura 2002, pp. 10 – 11. deciphering this somewhat cryptic inscription. Stevens’s cific dates are reprinted in Imanaka 1975, pp. 24 – 25.
26 Another fine example of a pair of screens on satin- translation appears in Stevens and Yelen 1990, p. 54, no. 4. 6 See Katō (Hiroko) 2016, pp. 148 – 54.
weave silk by Buson is in the Freer Gallery of Art and 9 The Bunkamura exhibition catalogue (Hirose [Asami], 7 Kōno 1989, pp. 387 – 427.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Inoue, and Tomimasu 2013) talks about his strategies 8 Translated by Thomas Looser; see Shiba Kōkan 1994,
for engaging with his lay followers. p. 175.
NOTES 211
9 Imahashi 2016, p. 190. accuracy of Sosen’s depiction. Kōno even noted that males Calza and Carpenter 1994; and for Ukiyo-e paintings, see
10 See Suntory Museum of Art 2016a, which accompanied of the species are shorter than females by about 1.5 centi- Allen 2015 and Nagata 2015.
the first exhibition on the Akita Ranga school in recent meters ( 5/8 in.), but in traditional Japanese paintings of 4 Useful introductory works on the subject of shunga include
years. fowl, males are always drawn larger. Screech 2009, Clark et al. 2013, and Calza 2016.
11 A thorough sampling of these megane-e can be found in 27 Katz 2003, p. 104. 5 For a discussion of the Amusements in a Mansion screens,
the exhibition catalogue Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of 28 The composition on the reverse features cranes in a see Carpenter 2002b.
History 1994, nos. 1 – 18. springtime setting. 6 See Hall 1910, pp. 286 – 319.
12 See Katō (Hiroko) 2016, pp. 148 – 54. Katō mentions that 29 Along with Tetsuzan, Goshun, and Rosetsu, Ōkyo’s “top 7 Shively 1968, p. 246.
Ōkyo’s methodologies included not only sketching based ten students” were Komai Genki (1747 – 1797), Watanabe 8 The Kaihō Yushō screen is discussed in Hickman et al.
on actual viewing (dai ichi jigen shasei hō) but also the Nangaku (1767 – 1813), Nishimura Nantei (1775 – 1834), 1996, pp. 172 – 73, no. 61; see also Kyoto National Museum
secondary sketching of funpon (dai ni jigen shasei hō). Yamaguchi Soken (1759 – 1818), Oku Bunmei (d. 1813), 2017, pp. 174 – 77, 293, no. 43.
13 Sasaki and Sasaki 1996, p. 257. Gessen (1721 – 1809), and Yamaato Kakurei (active 9 For a discussion of the Hikone Screen, see Carpenter 1998,
14 Yoko Woodson, in her introductory essay to Traditions 1804 – 17). pp. 37 – 79, and the related entry in Singer et al. 1998, p. 421,
Unbound (McKelway 2005, pp. 15 – 19), describes the social 30 These paintings for sliding door panels (fusuma-e), which no. 233.
climate of Kyoto at the time. are now hinged together to form a pair of two-paneled 10 Moronobu’s woodblock-printed illustrated books are chron-
15 Itakura 2016, pp. 143 – 47. screens, were originally the reverse sides of panels that icled in Chiba City Museum of Art 2000, nos. 100 – 152.
16 Shirane 2012, pp. 116 – 17. depicted seven puppies in a bamboo grove, now in the Refer also to the websites of The Metropolitan Museum
17 Translation by Haruo Shirane (ibid., p. 41). collection of the Brooklyn Museum, New York (77.202a-b). of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Freer
18 For a comparable work, see Minamoto 1999, no. 55. A 31 For illustrations of the fusuma-e of cranes and pine Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smith-
four-panel screen (originally fusuma-e), Geese over a Beach, is saplings by Ōkyo at Kotohiragū Shrine, see Osaka sonian Institution, Washington, D.C., to peruse repre-
in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Municipal Museum of Art 2003, pp. 162 – 63, no. 90, sentative works from his corpus.
Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and for Waves and Cranes of Kongōji Temple, Kameoka, 11 For a discussion of Moronobu’s handscroll of Yoshiwara,
D.C. (F1898.143). see ibid., pp. 164 – 73, no. 88. Both are also reproduced see Allen 2015, pp. 96 – 108.
19 This point is made in Higuchi 2010, pp. 6 – 9. in Kyoto National Museum 1995, pp. 48 – 49, fig. 2 (for 12 In 1679 Moronobu had, in fact, published The Annotated
20 Sasaki Jōhei, “Ōkyo and the Maruyama Shijō School,” Kotohiragū), and pp. 50 – 65, no. 10 (for Kongōji). Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari tōsho shō) and created his own
in Rathbun and Sasaki 1980, p. 56, and McKelway 2005, 32 See the paintings of tigers in the Etsuko and Joe Price interpretations of illustrations for each episode based on
p. 92. Collection; Tsuji et al. 2007. earlier precedents.
21 Higuchi 2005, p. 27. Higuchi Kazutaka explains that the 33 See Hatayama 2016. 13 The poem was originally included in the Collection of
artists were not necessarily listed in an order corresponding Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū; Autumn
to merit but, rather, as the author became aware of them. 6. Ukiyo-e 4:215) as an anonymous poem, purportedly composed for
22 Murase 2000, p. 283. 1 See Seigle 1993, especially pp. 9 – 10. a palace poetry contest of 893, hosted by Prince Koresada.
23 Yamakawa 1977, p. 116. 2 Some of these introductory comments were adapted from 14 Momokawa Shikō is considered by some scholars to be
24 There is a painting of a black bear by Shūhō in an album in an essay on genre and Ukiyo-e paintings I wrote for the the same artist as the print designer and book illustrator
the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Katz New Orleans Museum of Art exhibition catalogue An Eishōsai Chōki (active late 18th century – ca. 1808/9),
2003, p. 109, no. 29). Janice Katz (ibid., p. 110) writes, Enduring Vision; see Carpenter 2002a. though this author has his doubts. See the discussion on
“Shūhō was a respected and prolific artist in his home- 3 The Chicago collector Roger Weston has built a partic- pp. 192 – 93 of the present volume.
town of Osaka.” He received the ranks of both hokkyō ularly impressive collection of more than one hundred 15 The story is retold in English in Hirose (Nobuko) 1992.
(Bridge of the Law) and hōin (Seal of the Law). examples of deluxe Ukiyo-e paintings, which recently See also Carpenter 2005, pp. 55 – 56, and Screech 2012,
25 For examples of Sosen’s monkey paintings in The Met’s toured Japan; see Nagata 2015. In Japan, there was a flour- p. 295.
collection, see http://metmuseum.org/art/collection ishing of attention on the subject in the 1960s and 1970s; 16 See Ikegami 2005.
/search/49058 and /49059. Timothy Clark (1992) created a seminal study of Ukiyo-e 17 Shokusanjin recorded this poem in his personal anthology
26 In a detailed study of this painting, the scholar Kōno paintings in the British Museum; and matters of authen- Hajinshū as an “Inscription on a painting of the Six Poetic
Motoaki (2011, pp. 31 – 32) revealed that he actually went ticity for Hokusai paintings set the stage for the more seri- Immortals,” so it not unreasonable to conclude that he
to observe this breed of fowl in person to confirm the ous look at authenticity issues in other paintings, see was referring to this very painting by Kubo Shunman.
Bibliography
Addiss 1976. Stephen Addiss. Zenga and Nanga: Paintings by Berry 1985. Paul Allan Berry. “Tanomura Chikuden, 1777 – 1835: Carpenter 2015. John T. Carpenter. “A Transmission outside the
Japanese Monks and Scholars; Selections from the Kurt and Man amidst the Mountains.” PhD diss., University of Scriptures: Calligraphy and Portraits of Zen Monks.” Arts of
Millie Gitter Collection. Exh. cat., New Orleans Museum of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1985. Asia 45, no. 6 (November – December 2015), pp. 128 – 36.
Art; Cincinnati Art Museum; Honolulu Academy of Arts. Berry and Morioka 2008. Paul Berry and Michiyo Morioka. Carpenter 2016. John T. Carpenter. “Shiika kara hakubutsugaku e:
New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1976. Literati Modern: Bunjinga from Late Edo to Twentieth-Century Metoroporitan Bijutsukan no Rinpa sakuhin / From Poetry
Addiss 1978. Stephen Addiss. Obaku: Zen Painting and Cal- Japan. The Terry Welch Collection at the Honolulu Academy of to Botany: Rinpa Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum
ligraphy. Exh. cat., Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Arts. Exh. cat. Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2008. of Art,” translated by Ogawa Kikuko. In Suntory Museum
Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence; New Orleans Brinker 1987. Helmut Brinker. Zen in the Art of Painting. of Art 2016b, pp. 12 – 15, iv – vi.
Museum of Art. Lawrence: Helen Foresman Spencer Translated by George Campbell. London: Arkana, 1987. Chiba City Museum of Art 2000. Chiba City Museum of
Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1978. Brinker and Kanazawa 1996. Helmut Brinker and Hiroshi Art. Hishikawa Moronobu ten: Chibashi Bijutsukan kaikan
Addiss 1986. Stephen Addiss, ed. Japanese Quest for a New Kanazawa. Zen: Masters of Meditation in Images and Writings. goshūnen kinen (Hishikawa Moronobu exhibition). Exh.
Vision: The Impact of Visiting Chinese Painters, 1600 – 1900. Translated by Andreas Leisinger. Zurich: Artibus Asiae, cat. Chiba: Chiba-shi Bijutsukan, 2000.
Selections from the Hutchinson Collection at the Spencer 1996. Chiba City Museum of Art 2012. Chiba City Museum of Art.
Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Lawrence: Spencer Museum of Brown 1997. Kendall H. Brown. The Politics of Reclusion: Paint- Shōhaku Shokku!!: Soga Shōhaku to Kyō no gaka tachi / Shōhaku
Art, University of Kansas, 1986. ing and Power in Momoyama Japan. Honolulu: University Shock!!: Soga Shōhaku and the Painters in Kyoto. Edited by Itō
Addiss 1987. Stephen Addiss. Tall Mountains and Flowing of Hawai‘i Press, 1997. Shiori and Michida Miki. Exh. cat., Chiba City Museum
Waters: The Arts of Uragami Gyokudō. Honolulu: University Bush 1971. Susan Bush. The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su of Art; Mie Prefectural Art Museum. Tokyo: Yomiuri
of Hawai‘i Press, 1987. Shih (1037 – 1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555 – 1636). Harvard- Shinbunsha, 2012.
Addiss 1989. Stephen Addiss. The Art of Zen: Paintings and Yenching Institute Studies 27. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Clark 1992. Timothy Clark. Ukiyo-e Paintings in the British
Calligraphy by Japanese Monks, 1600 – 1925. New York: University Press, 1971. Museum. London: British Museum Press, 1992.
Harry N. Abrams, 1989. Clark 2001. Timothy Clark. 100 Views of Mount Fuji. Exh.
Addiss 1995. Stephen Addiss. Haiga: Takebe Sōchō and the Haiku- Cahill 1972. James Cahill. Scholar Painters of Japan: The Nanga cat. London: British Museum, 2001.
Painting Tradition. Exh. cat., Marsh Art Gallery, Honolulu, School. Exh. cat., Asia House Gallery, New York; University Clark et al. 2013. Timothy Clark, C. Andrew Gerstle, Aki
and four other venues. Honolulu: Marsh Art Gallery, Uni- Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley. New York: Ishigami, and Akiko Yano, eds. Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in
versity of Richmond, in association with University of Asia Society, 1972. Japanese Art. Exh. cat. London: British Museum, 2013.
Hawai‘i Press, 1995. Cahill 1983. James Cahill. Sakaki Hyakusen and Early Nanga
Addiss 2006. Stephen Addiss. 77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy Painting. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, Univer- Edwards 1991. Richard Edwards. “Painting and Poetry in the
by Poets, Monks, and Scholars, 1568 – 1868. Boston: Weather- sity of California, Center for Japanese Studies, 1983. Late Sung.” In Murck and Fong 1991, pp. 405 – 30.
hill, 2006. Cahill 1996. James Cahill. The Lyric Journey: Poetic Painting in
Addiss 2012. Stephen Addiss. The Art of Haiku: Its History China and Japan. The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures, 1993. Feltens 2015. Frank Feltens. “Shinshutsu Sensōji-zō Sakai Hōitsu
through Poems and Paintings by Japanese Masters. Boston: Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, shita-e Namu Butsuan honzon tenjiku butsuzō-ki ni tsuite”
Shambhala Publications, 2012. 1996. (A newly discovered handscroll at Sensōji with underpaint-
Allen 2015. Laura W. Allen. Seduction: Japan’s Floating World; Calza 2016. Gian Carlo Calza. Poem of the Pillow. Oxford: ings by Sakai Hōitsu). Kokka, no. 1440 (October 2015),
The John C. Weber Collection. Essays by Julia Meech, Eric C. Phaidon Press, 2016. pp. 30 – 39.
Rath, and Melinda Takeuchi. Exh. cat. San Francisco: Calza et al. 2005. Gian Carlo Calza, with essays by Mutō Junko, Feltens 2016. Frank Feltens. “Ogata Kōrin (1658 – 1716) and
Asian Art Museum, 2015. Kobayashi Tadashi, John T. Carpenter, Timon Screech, the Possibilities of Painting in Early Modern Japan.” PhD
Augustin 2014. Birgitta Augustin. “Nanga: Idealist Painting and Naitō Masato, and Asano Shūgo. Ukiyo-e. London: Phaidon diss., Columbia University, New York, 2016.
the Samurai.” In “Japanese Art at the Time of the Samurai,” Press, 2005. Fischer 2000. Felice Fischer, ed. The Arts of Hon’ami Kōetsu:
Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 88 (2014), pp. 96 – 100. Calza and Carpenter 1994. Gian Carlo Calza and John T. Japanese Renaissance Master. Exh. cat. Philadelphia: Phila-
Azabu Museum of Art 1988. Azabu Museum of Art, Tokyo. Carpenter, eds. Hokusai Paintings: Selected Essays. Venice: delphia Museum of Art, 2000.
Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu Bijutsukan shozō (Ukiyo-e International Hokusai Research Centre, University of Fischer and Kinoshita 2007. Felice Fischer and Kyoko
painting masterpieces in the collection of the Azabu Venice, 1994. Kinoshita. Ike Taiga and Tokuyama Gyokuran: Masters of
Museum of Art). Exh. cat., Sendai City Museum; Osaka Carpenter 1998. John T. Carpenter. “The Human Figure in the Brush. Essays by Jonathan Chaves, Sadako Ohki, and
Municipal Museum of Art; Sogo Museum of Art. Tokyo: the Playground of Edo Artistic Imagination.” In Singer et Shimatani Hiroyuki. Exh. cat. Philadelphia: Philadelphia
Azabu Museum of Art, 1988. al. 1998, pp. 369 – 97. Museum of Art, 2007.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts 1989. Azabu Museum of Carpenter 2002a. John T. Carpenter. “The Fictive Realms of Fischer and Kinoshita 2015. Felice Fischer and Kyoko Kinoshita.
Arts and Crafts, Tokyo. Edo no fasshon: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e Painting.” In New Orleans Museum of Art 2002, Ink and Gold: Art of the Kano. Essays by Felice Fischer, Kyoko
ni miru onnatachi no yoso-oi (Fashion of Edo 1: Women’s pp. 165 – 83, 277. Kinoshita, Yukio Lippit, Masato Matsushima, Shunroku
dress in Ukiyo-e paintings). Kaikan kinen ten, 1. Exh. cat., Carpenter 2002b. John T. Carpenter. “Twisted Poses: The Okudaira, and Aya Ōta. Exh. cat. Philadelphia: Philadelphia
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tokyo; Japan Institute of Kabuku Aesthetic in Early Edo Genre Painting.” In Rous- Museum of Art, 2015.
Arts and Crafts. Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, maniere et al. 2002, pp. 42 – 49. Fishbein 2012. Richard Fishbein. “Collecting Hakuin.” Impres-
1989. Carpenter 2005. John T. Carpenter. “Painting and Calligraphy sions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America, no. 33
of the Pleasure Quarters: Interaction of Image and Text in (2012), pp. 110 – 12.
Barnhart 1992. Richard Barnhart. “Shining Rivers: Eight Views Hokusai’s Early Bijinga.” In Hokusai and His Age: Ukiyo-e Fishbein 2014. Richard Fishbein. “Collecting Kannon.” Impres-
of the Hsiao and Hsiang in Sung Painting.” In Zhonghua Painting, Printmaking and Book Illustration in Late Edo Japan, sions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America, no. 35
Minguo jian guo ba shi nian Zhongguo yishu wenwu taolunhui edited by John T. Carpenter, pp. 31 – 61. Amsterdam: KIT (2014), pp. 176 – 79.
lunwen ji / International Colloquium on Chinese Art History, [Royal Tropical Institute]; Hotei Publishing, 2005. Fister 1988. Patricia Fister. Japanese Women Artists, 1600 – 1900.
1991, Proceedings, Part 1, Shu hua / Painting and Calligra- Carpenter 2012. John T. Carpenter. Designing Nature: The Rinpa Exh. cat., Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas,
phy, pp. 45 – 95. Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1992. Aesthetic in Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropol- Lawrence; Honolulu Academy of Arts. Lawrence: Spen-
Bartholomew 2006. Terese Tse Bartholomew. Hidden Meanings itan Museum of Art, 2012. cer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1988.
in Chinese Art / Zhongguo jixiang tuan. Exh. cat. San Fran- Fong et al. 1984. Wen C. Fong, Alfreda Murck, Shou-chien
cisco: Asian Art Museum, 2006. Shih, Pao-chen Ch’en, and Jan Stuart. Images of the Mind:
213
Selections from the Edward L. Elliott Family and John B. Elliott Higuchi 2010. Higuchi Kazutaka. “Kūkan no gaka Maruyama Itakura 2016. Itakura Masaaki. “Maruyama Ōkyo to
Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at The Art Ōkyo” (Maruyama Ōkyo: Painter of compositional space). Chūgoku kaiga: ‘Shasei zatsurokuchō’ kara ukagaeru
Museum, Princeton University. Exh. cat., The Art Museum, In Mitsui Memorial Museum 2010, pp. 6 – 9. mono” (Maruyama Ōkyo and Chinese paintings: Obser-
Princeton University; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hillier 1974. Jack Ronald Hillier. The Uninhibited Brush: Japa- vations from viewing his album of sketches from life). In
New York. Princeton: The Art Museum, Princeton Univer- nese Art in the Shijō Style. London: Hugh M. Moss, 1974. Nezu Art Museum 2016, pp. 143 – 47.
sity, 1984. Hirose (Asami), Inoue, and Tomimasu 2013. Hirose Asami,
Ford 1985. Barbara Brennan Ford. “Muromachi Ink Painting.” Inoue Mariko, and Tomimasu Kentarō. Hakuin ten: Zenga Jin 2008. Jin Jingzhi. “Edo jidai no kaiga ni okeru ‘shai’ no
Apollo 121, no. 276 (February 1985), pp. 114 – 19. ni kometa messeji / Hakuin: The Hidden Messages of Zen Art. mondai: Ike Taiga sansuizu o chūshin ni” (The issue of “shai”
French et al. 1974. Calvin L. French, with contributions by Contributions by Yoshizawa Katsuhiro, Yamashita Yūji, and in Edo-period painting, centered on landscapes by Ike Taiga).
Stephen Addiss, Joan Hertzog, Sadako Ohki, Grace Vlam, Takahashi Toshirō. Translated by Thomas Yuho Kirchner and Kajima bijutsu kenkyū (Research report of the Kajima Foun-
and Gail Weigl. The Poet-Painters: Buson and His Followers. Aaron M. Rio. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Bunkamura, 2013. dation for the Arts), no. 26 (2008), pp. 532–43.
Exh. cat., University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Hirose (Nobuko) 1992. Nobuko Hirose, comp. and trans.
Arbor; Seattle Art Museum; Asia House Gallery, New York. Immovable Wisdom: The Art of Zen Strategy; The Teachings of Kaikodo Journal 2011. “Asian Journeys.” Exh. cat., Kaikodo
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1974. Takuan Soho. Longmead, Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Gallery, New York. Kaikodo Journal 27 (2011).
Fujita 2012. Fujita Shin’ichi. Yosa Buson: Gahai futatsu no michi Books, 1992. Kano 1997. Kano Hiroyuki. Soga Shōhaku. Shinchō Nihon
no tatsujin (Yosa Buson: Master of the dual path of paint- Hishikawa Moronobu (1678) 1978. “Yoshiwara koi no michibiki: Bijutsu Bunko (Shinchōsha library of Japanese art) 12. Tokyo:
ing and haiku). Special issue of Bessatsu Taiyō 202. Tokyo: Hishikawa Moronobu, 1678” (A Guide to Love in the Yoshi- Shinchōsha, 1997.
Heibonsha, 2012. wara: Hishikawa Moronobu, 1678). Kinsei bungaku shiryō Kano 2007. Kano Hiroyuki. Araburu Miyako no eshi: Soga
ruijū (A collection of documents for literature of the early Shōhaku (Artist of the capital: Soga Shōhaku). Exh. cat.,
Gluckman and Takeda 1992. Dale Carolyn Gluckman and modern era), vol. 34. Tokyo: Benseisha, 1978. Kyoto National Museum. Kyoto: Rinsen Shoten, 2007.
Sharon Sadako Takeda; with contributions by Monica Bethe Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of History 1994. Hyōgo Prefectural Kano 2008. Kano Hiroyuki. Motto shiritai: Soga Shōhaku
et al. When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan. Museum of History. Maruyama Ōkyo ten: Botsugo nihyakunen shōgai to sakuhin (Let’s learn more! [series title]: Life and
Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of kinen (Exhibition of Maruyama Ōkyo: Commemorating the works of Soga Shōhaku). Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 2008.
Art, 1992. two-hundredth anniversary of his death). Exh. cat., Hyōgo Katō (Hiroko) 2016. Katō Hiroko. “Maruyama Ōkyo no shasei
Gōke 1981. Gōke Tadaomi, ed. Shibata Zeshin meihin shū (Col- Prefectural Museum of History; Tobu Museum of Art. zu: Funpon ka no igi” (Maruyama Ōkyo’s drawings from
lection of masterpieces of Shibata Zeshin). 2 vols. Tokyo: Himeji: Maruyama Ōkyo Ten Zenkoku Jikkō Iinkai, 1994. life: The significance of artist’s copy books [ funpon]). In Nezu
Gakken, 1981. Art Museum 2016, pp. 148 – 54.
Guth 1996. Christine Guth. Japanese Art of the Edo Period. Idemitsu Art Museum 2015. Idemitsu Art Museum, Tokyo. Katō (Shūichi) 1971. Shūichi Katō. “Notes on Sōtatsu.” In Form,
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1996. Tanomura Chikuden: Botsugo 180nen / Commemorating the Style, Tradition: Reflections on Japanese Art and Society, edited
Guth 2010. Christine Guth. Art of Edo Japan: The Artist and the 180th Year of the Death of the Artist Tanomura Chikuden. Exh. by Shūichi Katō. Translated by John Bester. Tokyo: Kodan-
City, 1615 – 1868. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. cat. Tokyo: Idemitsu Art Museum, 2015. sha International, 1971.
Iijima 1980. Iijima Isamu. Tanomura Chikuden. Nihon no Katz 2003. Janice Katz. Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean
Hall 1910. John Carey Hall. The Tokugawa Legislation. Yoko- bijutsu (Arts of Japan), no. 165. Tokyo: Shibundō, 1980. Museum, Oxford. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003.
hama, 1910. Iijima and Suzuki 1973. Iijima Isamu and Suzuki Susumu. Kawai, Nishioka, and Shirahara 2009. Kawai Masatomo,
Hamasumi 2010. Hamasumi Mayū. “Edo jidai ni okeru Suiboku bijutsu taikei. Vol. 12, Taiga, Buson. Tokyo: Kōdan- Nishioka Yasuhiro, and Shirahara Yukiko, eds. Utsukushiki
Chūgoku kaiga juyō no mondai: Ike Taiga no rakki ni sha, 1973. Ajia no tamatebako: Shiatoru bijutsukan shozō Nihon Tōyō
mirareru ‘shai’ o megutte” (Issues concerning the reception Ikegami 2005. Eiko Ikegami. Bonds of Civility: Aesthetic Net- bijutsu meihin ten (Luminous jewels: Masterpieces of Asian
of Chinese painting in the Edo period: The use of “shai” in works and the Political Origins of Japanese Culture. Cam- art from the Seattle Art Museum). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Yomi-
Ike Taiga’s signatures). Machikaneyama Ronsō, Bigaku hen bridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. uri Shinbunsha, 2009.
(Ōsaka Daigaku Bungakubu) 44, no. 12 (2010), pp. 1 – 27. Imahashi 2016. Riko Imahashi. The Akita Ranga School and the Keene 2006. Donald Keene. Frog in the Well: Portraits of Japan
Hanazono University 2009. Hanazono University International Cultural Context in Edo Japan. Translated by Ruth S. by Watanabe Kazan, 1793 – 1841. New York: Columbia Uni-
Research Institute for Zen Buddhism. Hakuin zenga bokuseki McCreery. Tokyo: International House of Japan, 2016. versity Press, 2006.
(1050 paintings and calligraphies by the Zen master Hakuin), Imanaka 1975. Imanaka Kanji. “ ‘Myōhōin Shinnin Shinnō Kimura 2016. Kimura Shigekazu. “Ōkyo no shasei e no ichi
supervised by Yoshizawa Katsuhiro. 3 vols. Tokyo: Nigen- onjiki nikki’ ni arawareta shasei-ha eshi-tachi” (Painters of dansō: Shoki gagyō no nendai settei o majiete” (Thoughts on
sha; Hanazono Daigaku Kokusai Zengaku Kenkyūjo, 2009. the Naturalist School who appear in the Journal of Imperial Ōkyo’s pictures sketched from life: Including establishing
Hatayama 2016. Mami Hatayama. “Shibata Zeshin (1807 – 1891): Prince Shinnin of Myōhōin Temple). Bunkagaku nenpō (Cultural the dating of of his early works). In Nezu Art Museum 2016,
His Sources of Inspiration and the Cultural Milieu of Late Studies Annual Report) 23/24 (1975), pp. 1 – 31. pp. 7 – 12.
Edo to Early Meiji Japan.” PhD diss., University of London, Inagaki 1990. Inagaki Shin’ichi, ed. Zusetsu ukiyo-e nyūmon Kinoshita (Asuka) 2009. Kinoshita Asuka. “Sakai Hōitsu
School of Oriental and African Studies, 2016. (Illustrated Ukiyo-e primer). Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shin- hitsu ‘Byakuren-zu’ (Hosomi Bijtsukan shozō) ni kansuru
Hickman et al. 1996. Money L. Hickman, with John T. Car- sha, 1990. ichi shiron – Butsuga to kachōga no kankei ni chūmoku
penter, Bruce A. Coats, Christine Guth, Andrew J. Pekarik, Indianapolis Museum of Art 2004. Indianapolis Museum of shite” (A study of Sakai Hōitsu’s “White Lotus” painting
John M. Rosenfield, and Nicole C. Rousmaniere. Japan’s Art. Edo kaiga e no atsui manazashi: Indianaporisu Bijutsu- [Hosomi Art Museum collection]: Focusing on the rela-
Golden Age: Momoyama. Exh. cat., Dallas Museum of Art. kan meihinten / Japanese Masterworks: Paintings from the Indi- tionship between Buddhist painting and bird-and-flower
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. anapolis Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, Ehime; painting). Bijutsushi ronshū (Kobe review of art history) 9
Hickman and Satō 1989. Money L. Hickman and Yasuhiro Museum of Modern Art, Shiga; Tochigi Prefectural Museum (February 2009), pp. 34 – 54.
Satō. The Paintings of Jakuchū. Exh. cat., Asia Society Gal- of Fine Arts; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art. Osaka: Kinoshita (Kyoko) 2007. Kyoko Kinoshita. “The Life and Art
leries, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Yomiuri Shinbun Ōsaka Honsha, [2004]. of Tokuyama Gyokuran.” In Fischer and Kinoshita 2007,
New York: Asia Society Galleries, 1989. Itabashi Art Museum 1989. Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo. pp. 33 – 51.
Higuchi 2003. Higuchi Kazutaka. “Maruyama Ōkyo iin ken- Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten (Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e Kobayashi 1990. Kobayashi Tadashi, ed. Rinpa. Vol. 2, Kachō II
kyū” (A study of extant Ōkyo seals). In Nihon bijutsu no paintings). Edo bunka shiirizu (Series on Edo culture) 7. (Seasonal flowering plants and birds). Kyoto: Shikōsha, 1990.
kūkan to keishiki: Kawai Masatomo kyōju kanreki kinen ron- Exh. cat. Tokyo: Itabashi Art Museum, 1989. Kobayashi 1991. Kobayashi Tadashi, ed. Rinpa. Vol. 3,
bunshū (The spaces and forms of Japanese art history: Essays Itabashi Art Museum 1993. Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo. Edo Fūgetsu chōjū (Landscapes, birds, and animals). Kyoto: Shikō-
in honor of the 60th birthday of Professor Masatomo Kawai), Rinpa no kisai: Suzuki Kiitsu ten (Genius of Edo Rinpa: sha, 1991.
pp. 295 – 315. Kyoto: Nigensha, 2003. Suzuki Kiitsu exhibition). Edo bunka shiirizu (Series on Kobayashi 1992. Kobayashi Tadashi. Ukiyo-e no miryoku: Edo
Higuchi 2005. Higuchi Kazutaka. “Maruyama Ōkyo and His Edo culture) 12. Tokyo: Itabashi Art Museum, 1993. no shōmin bunka (The charm of Ukiyo-e: Edo popular cul-
Patrons in the Mitsui Family.” In McKelway 2005, pp. 27 – 35. Itakura 2015. Itakura Masaaki. “Jakuchū, Buson to higashi Ajia” ture). Tokyo: Bijinesu Kyōiku Shuppansha, 1992.
(Jakuchū, Buson, and East Asia). In Tsuji 2015a, pp. 276 – 81.
Kobayashi 1995. Kobayashi Tadashi, ed. Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan Lippit and Ulak 2015. Yukio Lippit and James T. Ulak. Sons, Shunkin and Shukin. Exh. cat. Okayama: Okayama
(Ukiyo-e painting in Japanese collections). Vol. 6, Azabu Sōtatsu. Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art Prefectural Museum of Art; Chiba: Chiba City Museum of
bijutsu kōgeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts). Tokyo: and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Art, 2016.
Kodansha, 1995. 2015. Morland 1989. Margaret Carol Morland. “Watanabe Kazan,
Kokka 1937. “Ko Kano hitsu Hakuga dankin zu kai” (Boya 1793 – 1841: Tradition and Innovation in Japanese Painting.”
playing the koto, attributed to Motonobu Kano). Kokka, Manno Art Museum 1988. Manno Art Museum, Osaka. Manno PhD diss., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1989.
no. 556 (March 1937), p. 74, pl. IV. korekushon senshū (Selected masterpieces of the Manno col- Mostow 2014. Joshua S. Mostow. Courtly Visions: The Ise Stories
Kokon Biannual 2010. Kokon Biannual. 2 vols. Exh. cat., New lection). Osaka: Manno Memorial Cultural Foundation, 1988. and the Politics of Cultural Appropriation. Leiden: Brill, 2014.
York: Koichi Yanagi, Oriental Fine Arts, 2010. Maske 2004. Andrew Maske. Geisha: Beyond the Painted Murase 1993. Miyeko Murase, with Gratia Williams Nakahashi
Kōno 1974. Kōno Motoaki. “Watanabe Shikō hitsu Shinsha Smile. Exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.; and Stephanie Wada. Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from the
chōrui zukan ni tsuite” (The Scroll of “Real Forms of Birds” Asian Art Museum — Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Burke Collection. Exh. cat., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,
by Watanabe Shikō), parts 1 and 2. Bijutsu kenkyū (Journal Art and Culture, San Francisco. New York: George Bra- Richmond; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Minneapolis
of art studies), no. 290 (November 1973), pp. 119 – 36; no. 291 ziller; Salem, Mass.: Peabody Essex Museum, 2004. Institute of Arts. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine
(January 1974), pp. 176 – 85. Matsuo and Okano 2011. Matsuo Tomoko and Okano Tomoko. Arts, and the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 1993.
Kōno 1989. Kōno Motoaki. “Edo jidai ‘shasei’ kō” (The idea of Sakai Hōitsu to Edo Rinpa no zenbō (Overview of Sakai Murase 1995. Miyeko Murase. “The Evolution of Meisho-e and
drawing from life in the Edo period). In Nihon kaigashi no Hōitsu and Edo Rinpa). Exh. cat., Himeji City Museum of the Case of Mu Tamagawa.” Orientations 26, no. 1 ( January
kenkyū: Yamane Yūzō sensei koki kinenkai hen (Research on Art; Chiba City Art Museum; Hosomi Museum, Kyoto. 1995), pp. 94 – 100.
Japanese painting: Commemorating Professor Yamane Tokyo: Kyuryūdō, 2011. Murase 2000. Miyeko Murase. Bridge of Dreams: The Mary
Yūzō’s seventieth birthday), pp. 387–427. Tokyo: Yoshikawa McKelway 2005. Matthew P. McKelway. Traditions Unbound: Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York:
Kōbunkan, 1989. Groundbreaking Painters of Eighteenth-Century Kyoto. Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
Kōno 2011. Kōno Motoaki. “Ukokkei zu.” (A painting of silkies). San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2005. Murase et al. 2002. Miyeko Murase et al. The Written Image:
Kokka, no. 1392 (October 2011), pp. 31 – 32. McKelway 2012. Matthew P. McKelway. Silver Wind: The Arts of Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and
Kurimoto 1960. Kurimoto Kazuo. Ike no Taiga sakuhin shū Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828). Exh. cat. New York: Japan Society William Burto Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metro-
(Collection of works by Ike Taiga). 2 vols. Tokyo: Chūō Gallery, 2012. politan Museum of Art, 2002.
Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1960. Meech-Pekarik 1979. Julia Meech-Pekarik. “Twelve Japanese Murashige 1990. Murashige Yasushi, ed. Rinpa daikkan:
Kyoto Imperial Museum 1923. Kyoto Imperial Museum. Screens.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37, no. 2 Kachō ni (Rinpa, vol. 1, part 2: Bird and flower paintings).
Tokubetsu tenran: Ukiyo-e shūei (Special exhibition: A com- (Fall 1979). Kyoto: Shikōsha, 1990.
pendium of Ukiyo-e). Exh. cat. Kyoto: Benridō, 1923. Meech and Oliver 2008. Julia Meech and Jane Oliver, eds. Murayama 1911. Murayama Jungo. Maruyama Shijō gakan
Kyoto National Museum 1995. Kyoto National Museum. Designed for Pleasure: The World of Edo Japan in Prints and (Paintings of the Maruyama-Shijō school). Tokyo: Dai
Maruyama Ōkyo: Jojō to kakushin. Exh. cat. Kyoto: Kyoto Paintings, 1680 – 1860. Exh. cat. New York: Asia Society, Nihon Kokkasha, 1911. Unpaginated.
Shinbunsha, 1995. 2008. Murck 1984. Alfreda Murck. “Eight Views of the Hsiao and
Kyoto National Museum 2000. Kyoto National Museum. Metropolitan Museum 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hsiang Rivers by Wang Hung.” In Fong et al. 1984,
Jakuchū: Tokubetsu tenrankai botsugo 200-nen (Jakuchū! Spe- New York. “Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2010 – 2012.” pp. 214 – 35.
cial exhibition, 200th anniversary of Jakuchū’s death). Exh. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 70, no. 2 (Fall 2012). Murck 2000. Alfreda Murck. Poetry and Painting in Song
cat. Kyoto: Kyoto National Museum, 2000. Minamoto 1999. Minamoto Toyomune, ed. Maruyama Ōkyo China: The Subtle Art of Dissent. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
Kyoto National Museum 2002. Kyoto National Museum. Itō gashū (Collected paintings of Maruyama Ōkyo). 2 vols. University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute,
Jakuchū taizen (Compendium of paintings of Itō Jakuchū). Kyoto: Kyoto Shinbunsha, 1999. 2000.
2 vols. Tokyo: Shōgakukan, 2002. Mitsui Memorial Museum 2010. Mitsui Memorial Museum, Murck and Fong 1991. Alfreda Murck and Wen C. Fong, eds.
Kyoto National Museum 2005. Kyoto National Museum. Tokyo. Maruyama Ōkyo — Kūkan no sōzō: Mitsui Kinen Words and Images: Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting.
Tokubetsu tenrankai: Soga Shōhaku burai to iu yuetsu (Special Bijutsukan kaikan goshūnen kinen tokubetsuten (Maruyama New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991.
exhibition: Soga Shōhaku). Exh. cat. Kyoto: Kyoto National Ōkyo: Revealing painting’s depths). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Mitsui
Museum, 2005. Memorial Museum, 2010. Nagata 2015. Nagata Seiji. Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e, bi no kyōen: Shi-
Kyoto National Museum 2015. Kyoto National Museum. Rinpa: Mitsukoshi Department Store 2004. Mitsukoshi Department kago Uesuton korekushon (Seductive smiles: Masterpieces of
Miyako o irodoru / Rinpa: The Aesthetics of the Capital. Exh. Store, Tokyo. Nihon no bi: Rinpa ten (Beauty of Japan: Rinpa Ukiyo-e Paintings from the Weston Collection). Exh. cat.,
cat. Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2015. exhibition). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Mitsukoshi Department Osaka Municipal Museum of Art; Osaka City Art Museum.
Kyoto National Museum 2017. Kyoto National Museum. Kaihō Store, 2004. Tokyo: Shōgakukan Sukuuea, 2015.
Yūshō: Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan kaikan 120 shunen kinen Miyajima, Satō, and Kuwayama 1985. Miyajima Shin’ichi, Nakagawa 1803. Nakagawa Tenju. Ike Taiga gafu (Compen-
tokubetsu tenrankai (Kaihō Yūshō: Kyoto National Museum Satō Yasuhiro, and George Kuwayama. Japanese Ink Painting. dium of paintings by Ike Taiga), 1803. Modern edition:
120th anniversary commemorative special exhibition). Exh. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of 5 vols. Tokyo: Chuo Koron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1958.
cat. Kyoto: Kyoto National Museum; Tokyo: Mainichi Art, 1985. Nakamachi 2011. Nakamachi Keiko, ed. Edo Rinpa no suijin:
Shinbunsha, 2017. Mizuo 1995. Mizuo Hiroshi. “Tosa Mitsuoki hitsu: Fuyō Sakai Hōitsu (Sakai Hōitsu: A sophisticate of Edo Rinpa).
shirasagi zu” (Tosa Mitsuoki: White Egrets and Cotton Bessatsu Taiyō, Nihon no kokoro (Taiyō supplement, heart
Levine 1997. Gregory P. A. Levine. “Jukōin: Art, Architecture, Roses). Kokka, no. 1198 (September 1995), pp. [2], 22 – 26, of Japan) 177 (January). Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2011.
and Mortuary Culture at a Japanese Zen Buddhist Temple.” pl. 3. Nakamura 2000. Nakamura Shin’ichirō. Kimura Kenkadō no
PhD diss., Princeton University, 1997. Mizutani 2016. Mizutani Aki. “Maruyama Ōkyo hitsu: Sōroku- saron (The salon culture of Kimura Kenkadō). Tokyo:
Levine 2005. Gregory P. A. Levine. Daitokuji: The Visual Cul- zu byōbu” (A screen painting of a pair of deer by Maruyama Shinchōsha, 2000.
tures of a Zen Monastery. Seattle: University of Washington Ōkyo). Kokka, no. 1452 (October 2016), pp. 25 – 27. Nakau 1984. Nakau Ei, ed. Ukiyo-e hyakunin hyakushu
Press, 2005. MOA Museum of Art 1983. MOA Museum of Art, Atami. (Ukiyo-e: One hundred people, one hundred minds).
Lippit 2012. Yukio Lippit. Painting of the Realm: The Kano House Kindai Nihon no shikkōgei (Lacquer crafts of modern Japan). Tokyo: Sojusha Bijutsu Shuppan, 1984.
of Painters in 17th-Century Japan. Seattle: University of Exh. cat. Atami: MOA Museum of Art, 1983. Narazaki 1982a. Narazaki Muneshige, ed. Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e
Washington Press, 2012. Moriyasu et al. 2006. Moriyasu Osamu et al. Uragami Gyokudō. (Ukiyo-e painting). Vol. 2, Moronobu. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1982.
Lippit 2015. Yukio Lippit. “The Kano School: The First One Exh. cat. Okayama: Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Narazaki 1982b. Narazaki Muneshige, ed. Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e
Hundred Years.” In Fischer and Kinoshita 2015, pp. 1 – 11. 2006. (Ukiyo-e painting). Vol. 8, Hiroshige. Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1982.
Lippit et al. 2012. Yukio Lippit, with Ōta Aya, Oka Yasuhiro, Moriyasu et al. 2016. Moriyasu Osamu, Nakamura Mariko, New Orleans Museum of Art 2002. New Orleans Museum of
and Hayakawa Yasuhiro. Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird- Matsuo Tomoko, and Matsuoka Marie, eds. Bunjin to shite Art. An Enduring Vision: 17th- to 20th-Century Japanese Paint-
and-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū. Exh. cat. Washington, ikiru: Urakami Gyokudō to Shunkin Shūkin fushi no geijutsu / ing from the Gitter-Yelen Collection. Exh. cat. New Orleans:
D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2012. Life as Bunjin: The Art World of Urakami Gyokudo and His New Orleans Museum of Art, 2002.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
Nezu Art Museum 1968. Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo. Kenzan Pollack 1986. David Pollack. The Fracture of Meaning: Japan’s Screech 2009. Timon Screech. Sex and the Floating World: Erotic
(Pottery by Kenzan). Catalogue by Mitsuoka Tadanari et Synthesis of China from the Eighth through the Eighteenth Images in Japan, 1700–1820. 2nd ed. London: Reaktion
al. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Nezu Art Museum, 1968. Centuries. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Books, 2009.
Nezu Art Museum 2012. Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo. Kōrin Pollard and Stevens 2006. Clare Pollard and John Stevens. Zen Screech 2012. Timon Screech. Obtaining Images: Art, Production
ten: Kokuhō “Kakitsubata zu” to Metoroporitan Bijutsukan Mind Zen Brush: Japanese Ink Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen and Display in Edo Japan. London: Reaktion Books, 2012.
shozō “Yatsuhashi zu” / “Irises” and “Eight Bridges”: Master- Collection. Exh. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales; Seigle 1993. Cecilia Segawa Seigle. Yoshiwara: The Glittering
pieces by Kōrin from the Nezu Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sydney: Art Gallery of New World of the Japanese Courtesan. Honolulu: University of
Museum of Art. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Nezu Art Museum, 2012. South Wales, 2006. Hawai‘i Press, 1993.
Nezu Art Museum 2016. Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo. Maruyama Polo 1903. Marco Polo. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, Seo and Addiss 2010. Audrey Yoshiko Seo and Stephen Addiss.
Ōkyo: Shasei o koete; Kaikan 75-shūnen kinen tokubetsuten Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Translated The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen
(Maruyama Ōkyo: Opening up new terrain in Japanese and edited by Henry Yule. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. London: John Master Hakuin. Boston and London: Shambala, 2010.
painting; special exhibition celebrating the museum’s 75th Murray, 1903. Shiba Kōkan 1994. Shiba Kōkan. “Discussion on Western
anniversary). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Nezu Art Museum, 2016. Painting (Seiyō dan),” translated by Thomas Looser. In
Noguchi 2012. Noguchi Takeshi. “Yatsuhashi zu byōbu ni Rathbun and Sasaki 1980. William J. Rathbun and Sasaki Jōhei. Readings in Tokugawa Thought, edited by Tetsuo Najita,
kansuru kanshō / Thoughts on Eight Bridges Screens.” In Ōkyo and the Maruyama-Shijō School of Japanese Painting. pp. 175 – 82. 2nd ed. Select Papers, vol. 9. Chicago: Center for
Nezu Art Museum 2012, pp. ix – xiv. Translated by Miyeko Murase and Sarah Thompson. Exh. East Asian Studies, University of Chicago, 1994.
cat., Saint Louis Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum. Saint Shimada 1979. Shimada Shūjirō, ed. Suibokuga (Ink painting).
Obata 1923. Shigeyoshi Obata. The Works of Li Po: The Chinese Louis: Saint Louis Art Museum, 1980. Zaigai Nihon no shihō (Japanese art: Selections from
Poet; Done into English Verse by Shigeyoshi Obata, with an Rokanshi 1768. Rokanshi. Heian jinbutsu shi (Records of Western collections) 3. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1979.
Introduction and Biographical and Critical Matter. London famous personages in Kyoto). Heian: Mukadeya Jirobi; Shimizu 1992. Yoshiaki Shimizu. “Multiple Commemorations:
and Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1923. Zeniya Shichirobe, 1768. The Vegetable Nehan of Itō Jakuchū.” In Flowing Traces:
Odin 2016. Steve Odin. Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Rosenfield and Cranston 1999. John M. Rosenfield and Buddhism in the Literary and Visual Arts of Japan, edited by
Aesthetics. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2016. Fumiko E. Cranston. Extraordinary Persons: Works by Eccen- James H. Sanford, William R. LaFleur, and Masatoshi
Ogata and Sasaki 1992 – 2001. Ogata Tsutomu and Sasaki Jōhei, tric, Nonconformist Japanese Artists of the Early Modern Era Nagatomi, pp. 201–33. Princeton: Princeton University
et al. Buson zenshū (Complete works of Buson). 9 vols. (1580 – 1868) in the Collection of Kimiko and John Powers. 3 vols. Press, 1992.
Tokyo: Kodansha, 1992 – 2001. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Art Museums, 1999. Shimizu and Rosenfield 1984. Yoshiaki Shimizu and John M.
Oka 2005. Oka Yoshiko. “Kyōyaki ni okeru Kenzan Kōrin ishō Rousmaniere et al. 2002. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere et al. Rosenfield. Masters of Japanese Calligraphy, 8th – 19th Century.
no keishō to fukkō” (The transmission and revival of Kenzan Kazari: Decoration and Display in Japan, 15th through 19th Exh. cat., Japan House Gallery, New York; Asia Society
and Kōrin designs in Kyoto ceramics). In Kōrin Dezain. Centuries. Exh. cat. London: British Museum; New York: Galleries, New York; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,
Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2005. Japan Society Gallery, 2002. Kansas City, Mo.; Seattle Art Museum. New York: Asia
Okada 2015. Okada Hideyuki. “Onai doshi no tensai eshi Society Galleries, 1984.
Jakuchū Buson to sono jidai” (Two prodigies of the same Salel 2006. Stephen Francis Salel. “Retracting a Diagnosis of Shimizu and Wheelwright 1976. Yoshiaki Shimizu and Caro-
age: Jakuchū, Buson, and their time). In “Tokushū Jakuchū Madness: A Reconsideration of Japanese Eccentric Art.” lyn Wheelwright, eds. Japanese Ink Paintings from American
to Buson,” Shūbi: A Quarterly Journal for the Arts of East Asia MA thesis, University of Washington, Seattle, 2006. Collections: The Muromachi Period; an Exhibition in Honor of
14 (2015), pp. 30 – 56. Sasaki 1975. Sasaki Jōhei. Yosa Buson (The Nanga painter Yosa Shūjirō Shimada. Exh. cat. Princeton: The Art Museum,
Okamura 2002. Okamura Tomoko. “Buson shoki byōbu Buson [1716 – 1783]). Special issue of Nihon no bijutsu 109 Princeton University, 1976.
sakuhin no juyō: Kyōto Yamahokochō o megutte” (The ( June 1975). Tokyo: Shibundō, 1975. Shirane 2012. Haruo Shirane. Japan and the Culture of the Four
reception of Buson’s early screen paintings: Examining the Sasaki 1996. Sasaki Jōhei. “Kaiga no haikei: Kenkyū nōto yori 11. Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts. New York: Columbia
Yamahokochō district of Kyoto). Jinbun Ronkyū (Journal Daijōji Kujaku no ma wa nido egakareta” (Contexts for University Press, 2012.
of the Society of Liberal Arts) 52, no. 1 (2002), pp. 1 – 21. painting: Research notes, no. 11. The Peacock Hall at Dai- Shively 1968. Donald H. Shively. “Bakufu versus Kabuki.” In
Onshi Kyoto Museum 1932. Onshi Kyoto Museum. Buson ihō jōji Temple was painted twice). Nihon bijutsu kōgei (Art and Studies in the Institutional History of Early Modern Japan, edited
(Buson memorial). Exh. cat. Kyoto: Kobayashi Shashin craft in Japan) 695 (1996), pp. 24–31. by John Whitney Hall and Marius B. Jansen, pp. 231 – 59.
Seihanjo Shuppanbu, 1932. Sasaki and Sasaki 1996. Sasaki Jōhei and Sasaki Masako. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968.
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art 2003. Osaka Municipal Maruyama Ōkyo kenkyū (Study of Maruyama Ōkyo). 2 vols. Shizuoka Prefectural Museum 2013. Shizuoka Prefectural
Museum of Art. Tokubetsuten Maruyama Ōkyo: “Shaseiga” Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan, 1996. Museum. Fujisan no kaiga ten: Sekai isan tōroku kinen (Paint-
sōzō e no chōsen. Exh. cat., Osaka Municipal Museum of Sasaki and Sasaki 2000. Sasaki Jōhei and Sasaki Masako. Koga ings of Mount Fuji exhibition: Commemorating its registry
Art; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art; Edo-Tokyo Sōran / Photographic Archive of Japanese Paintings: Maruyama as a World Heritage Site). Exh. cat. Shizuoka: Shizuoka
Museum. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 2003. Shijō School. Vol. 4. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankōkai, 2000. Prefectural Museum, 2013.
Ōshima and Yamabuki 2014. Ōshima Masato and Yamabuki Satō 1997. Satō Yasuhiro. Urakami Gyokudō. Shinchō Nihon Shūko jisshu 1800. Matsudaira Sadanobu, comp. Shūko jisshu
Tomoko, eds. Gyokudō hen’ei: Shinpojiumu Uragami Gyokudō bijutsu bunko 14. Tokyo: Shinchōsha, 1997. (Collected antiquities in ten categories). 85 vols. N.p., 1800.
2013 ( A Glimpse of Gyokudō: A symposium on Uragami Satō 2001. Satō Yasuhiro. “Shingan o miwakeru: Edo jidai Reprint ed., Tokyo: Kokusho Kankōkai, 1908.
Gyokudō, 2013). Fukuoka: Uragami-ke Shi Hensan Iinkai, kaiga o rei ni” (Distinguishing false from true: Examples Singer et al. 1998. Robert T. Singer, with John T. Carpenter
2014. from Edo-period paintings). In Wakeru (Connoisseurship), et al. Edo, Art in Japan 1615 – 1868. Washington, D.C.:
Ota 2007. Pauline Ayumi Ota. “Re-presenting the Imperial pp. 19–53. Tokyo Daigaku kōkai kōza (Tokyo University National Gallery of Art, 1998.
Capital: Kyoto Cityscapes, 1755 – 1787.” PhD diss., Stanford public lectures) 73. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 2001. Stevens and Yelen 1990. John Stevens and Alice Rae Yelen.
University, 2007. Satō 2010. Satō Yasuhiro. “Jakuchū Shōhaku to sō denai mono” Zenga: Brushstrokes of Enlightenment. Exh. cat., New Orleans
Owen 1996. Stephen Owen, ed. and trans. An Anthology of (Works purported to be by Jakuchū or Shōhaku, but which Museum of Art; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, N.C.;
Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York: W. W. aren’t). Bijutsushi ronsō: Tokyo Daigaku Bungakubu Bijutsushi Seattle Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Norton, 1996. Kenkyūshitsu kiyō (Studies in art history) 26 (March 2010), New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1990.
Ozaki 1989. Ozaki Yoshiyuki. “Kansei ki ikō no Goshun ni pp. 1 – 35. Stubbs 1993. Judith Ann Stubbs. “Ōmi Hakkei” (Eight Views
tsuite” (Goshun in Kansei and later periods). Museum: Koku- Screech 2000. Timon Screech. The Shogun’s Painted Culture: of Ōmi). PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1993.
ritsu Hakubutsukan bijutsushi (Tokyo), no. 455 (February Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States, 1760 – 1829. London: Sung 2009. Hou-mei Sung. Decoded Messages: The Symbolic
1989), pp. 24 – 34. Reaktion Books, 2000. Language of Chinese Animal Painting. Exh. cat., Cincinnati
Screech 2002. Timon Screech. The Lens within the Heart: The Art Museum. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Pekarik 1991. Andrew Pekarik. The Thirty-Six Immortal Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Suntory Museum of Art 1981. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Women Poets: Illustrations by Chōbunsai Eishi. New York: Japan. Rev. ed. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2002. Sakai Hōitsu to Edo Rinpa (Sakai Hōitsu and the Edo Rinpa
George Braziller, 1991. school). Tokyo: Suntory Museum of Art, 1981.
Suntory Museum of Art 1994. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo. Tamamushi 2004. Tamamushi Satoko. Toshi no naka no e: Sakai Westgeest 1996. Helen Westgeest. Zen in the Fifties: Interaction
Hishikawa Moronobu ten: 300-nen kinen ukiyo-e tanjō (Exhi- Hōitsu no kaiji to sono efekuto (Painting born in the urban in Art between East and West. Zwolle: Waanders Publishers;
bition of Hishikawa Moronobu: 300-year anniversary of environment of Edo: The art of Sakai Hōitsu and his follow- Amstelveen Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst, 1996.
the birth of Ukiyo-e). Introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi. ers). Kunitachi-shi: Buryukke; Hatsubaimoto Seiunsha, 2004. Wheelwright 1981a. Carolyn Kelley Wheelwright. “Kano
Exh. cat. Tokyo: Suntory Museum of Art, 1994. Tanaka (Den) 2015. Tanaka Den. “Tanomura Chikuden no Shōei.” PhD diss., Princeton University, 1981.
Suntory Museum of Art 1998. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo. naka no Chūgoku” (China in Tanomura Chikuden’s Wheelwright 1981b. Carolyn Wheelwright. “Kano Painters of
Nichirin to getsurin: Taiyō to tsuki o meguru bijutsu (Solar and works). In Idemitsu Art Museum 2015, pp. 8 – 10. the Sixteenth Century AD: The Development of Motonobu’s
lunar rings: Art about the sun and moon). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Tanaka (Ichimatsu) et al. 1980. Tanaka Ichimatsu, Susumu Daisen-in Style.” Archives of Asian Art 34 (1981), pp. 6 – 31.
Suntory Museum of Art, 1998. Suzuki, et al., eds. Uragami Gyokudō gafu (Paintings by Wheelwright 1989. Carolyn Wheelwright, ed. Word in Flower:
Suntory Museum of Art 2001. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo. Uragami Gyokudō). 3 vols. Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha, 1980. The Visualization of Classical Literature in Seventeenth-Century
Rinpa to chadōgu: Manno korekushon no meihin ikkyo kōkai Tōkyō Bijutsu Kurabu sale 1934. Sanshin Koizumi-shi aiganhin Japan. Exh. cat. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery,
(Rinpa and tea ceremony utensils: Masterpieces of the nyūsatsu (Auction of the Sanshin Koizumi Collection). 1989.
Manno collection). Exh. cat. Tokyo: Suntory Museum of Sale cat. Tokyo: Tōkyō Bijutsu Kurabu, November 15, 1934. Wilson 2001. Richard L. Wilson; contributions by Ogasawara
Art, 2001. Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 2016. Tokyo Metropolitan Saeko. The Potter’s Brush: The Kenzan Style in Japanese Ceram-
Suntory Museum of Art 2016a. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo. Art Museum. Jakuchū: Seitan 300-nen kinen / Jakuchu: The ics. Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and
Sekai ni idonda 7-nen: Odano Naotake to Akita ranga (Seven 300th Anniversary of His Birth. Edited by Kobayashi Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2001.
daring years: Odano Naotake and the Akita Ranga school). Tadashi and Ōta Aya. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropoli-
Edited by Uchida Takeshi, Ikeda Fumi, and Shibahashi tan Art Museum; Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, NHK; Yamakawa 1963. Yamakawa Takeshi. “Nagasawa Rosetsu to
Daisuke. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Suntory Museum of Art, 2016. NHK Puromōshon, 2016. sono Nanki ni okeru sakuhin” (Rosetsu Nagasawa and
Suntory Museum of Art 2016b. Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo. Tokyo National Museum 1966. Tokyo National Museum. his works remaining in southern Kishū Province). Kokka,
Suzuki Kiitsu: Standard-Bearer of the Edo Rimpa School. Exh. Nihon no bunjinga (Japanese Literati painting). Exh. cat. no. 860 (November 1963), pp. 5 – 57.
cat., Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo; Himeji City Museum Kyoto: Benridō, 1966. Yamakawa 1977. Yamakawa Takeshi. Ōkyo, Goshun. Nihon
of Art, Hyogo; Hosomi Museum, Kyoto. Tokyo: Yomiuri Trede 2006. Melanie Trede, ed., with Julia Meech, Anton bijutsu kaiga zenshū (Survey of Japanese paintings) 22.
Shinbunsha, 2016. Schweizer, and Mio Wakita. Arts of Japan: The John C. Weber Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1977.
Suzuki 1978. Suzuki Susumu, ed. Uragami Gyokudō. Nihon no Collection. Exh. cat., Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Ber- Yamane 1980. Yamane Yūzō, ed. Rinpa kaiga zenshū (Paint-
bijutsu (Arts of Japan), no. 148. Tokyo: Shibundō, 1978. lin; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Minneapolis Institute ings of Rinpa). Vol. 5, Hōitsu ha (Hōitsu school). Tokyo:
Swinton et al. 1995. Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, with Kazue of Arts. Berlin: Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, 2006. Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 1980.
Edamatsu Campbell, Liza Crihfield Dalby, and Mark Tsuji 1970. Tsuji Nobuo. Kisō no keifu (The lineage of eccen- Yamane, Naitō, and Clark 1998. Yūzō Yamane, Masato
Oshima. Women of the Pleasure Quarter: Japanese Paintings tricity). Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1970. Naitō, and Timothy Clark, eds. Rimpa Art from the Idemitsu
and Prints of the Floating World. Exh. cat., Worcester Art Tsuji (1970) 2012. Tsuji Nobuo. Lineage of Eccentrics: Matabei Collection, Tokyo. London: British Museum Press, 1998.
Museum; Equitable Gallery, New York; Kimbell Art to Kuniyoshi. Translation of Tsuji 1970 by Aaron M. Rio. Yamato Bunkakan 2014. Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Nara.
Museum, Fort Worth. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1995. Tokyo: Kaikai Kiki, 2012. Sakai Hōitsu: Edo jōcho no seika; tokubetsuten (Sakai Hōitsu:
Tsuji 1980. Tsuji Nobuo, “Suzuki Kiitsu shiron” (The life and The essence of Edo spirit; special exhibition). Exh. cat.
Takeda 1977. Tsuneo Takeda. Kano Eitoku. Translated and work of Suzuki Kiitsu). In Yamane 1980, pp. 67–72. Nara: Yamato Bunkakan, 2014.
adapted by M. Mack Horton and Catherine Kaputa. Japa- Tsuji 2015a. Tsuji Nobuo, ed. Seitan sanbyakunen, onai doshi no Yasunaga 2007. Yasunaga Takuyo. “Yosa Buson ga egaita
nese Arts Library 3. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1977. tensai eshi, Jakuchū to Buson / Celebrating Two Contemporary hikari: Sono shuhō to jidaisei” (Light drawn by Yosa Buson:
Takeuchi (Melinda) 1992. Melinda Takeuchi. Taiga’s True Views: Geniuses: Jakuchū and Buson. Exh. cat., Suntory Museum of Methods and context). Shimei (Hyogo), no. 21 (September
The Language of Landscape Painting in Eighteenth-Century Art; Miho Museum. Tokyo: Yomiuri Shinbunsha, 2015. 2007), pp. 19 – 26.
Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. Tsuji 2015b. Tsuji Nobuo. Jakuchū. Kōdansha gakujutsu Yasunaga 2008. Yasunaga Takuyo. “Buson ga ni miru sozai e
Takeuchi (Melinda) 2004. Melinda Takeuchi, ed. The Artist as bunko 2323. Tokyo: Kodansha, 2015. no kannō” (The artist’s sympathy for matière in Buson’s
Professional in Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press, Tsuji et al. 2005. Tsuji Nobuo et al. Nyūyōku Bāku Korekushon paintings). In Yosa Buson: Kakemeguru omoi / Yosa Buson:
2004. ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki (Enduring legacy of On the Wings of Art, pp. 274 – 77. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Miho
Takeuchi (Melinda) 2012. Melinda Takeuchi. “Birds of a Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection). Exh. cat., Museum, 2008.
Feather: Jakuchū, Natural Science, and the Artistic Imag- Gifu Museum of Fine Arts; Hiroshima Prefectural Museum Yoshida 1931. Yoshida Teruji, ed. Ukiyo-e taisei (Compendium
ination.” Orientations 43, no. 3 (2012), pp. 52 – 61. of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; Miho Museum. of Ukiyo-e). Vols. 6–9, Ranjuku jidai (Golden period).
Takeuchi (Shōji) 1972. Takeuchi Shōji. “Kyū Date-ke bon [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005. Tokyo: Tōhō Shoin, 1931.
Hakuga dankin zu to Daisen’in Hōjō Ihatsu-kaku shōhe- Tsuji et al. 2007. Tsuji Nobuo et al. Japanese Masterworks from Yoshizawa 1982. Yoshizawa Chū. “Ike Taiga hitsu shunkei
kiga” (“Immortal Playing a Harp,” formerly owned by the the Price Collection. Exh. cat. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. sansui zu” (Spring Landscape by Ike Taiga). Kokka, no. 1055
Date family, and the screen paintings of the main hall of the Sackler Gallery, 2007. (September 1982), p. 2, pl. 1.
Daisen’in Temple). Kobijutsu (Ancient arts), no. 39 (Decem-
ber 1972), pp. 87 – 88, pls. 81, 82.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 217
Index
Page references to illustrations are in italics. C Deshima Island, 81

Cahill, James, 13 – 14, 15 Discussion on Western Painting (Seiyō dan), 145
A calligraphy, see sho Dong Qichang (1555 – 1636), 82, 90
Abstract Expressionism, 94, 118 Cao Pei (220 – 264), 126 Drawings and Poems by Various Artists (cat. 42), 187, 200 – 201, 201
Activities of the Twelve Months (Tsukinami-e), 39 – 41, 40 – 41, Cao Zhi (192 – 232), 126
42 – 43, 64 Chan Buddhism, 118, 128 E
Addiss, Stephen, 90, 94 see also Zen Buddhism eccentrics
Akera Kankō (1738 – 1800), 186 cherry trees, 27, 32, 48 – 49 Chan, 128
Amenomori Hakusui (1793 – 1881), 106 Chinese inspirations kijin, 117 – 18, 128
Amida Buddha, 56, 67, 123 for Kano school, 20 – 23, 25 painters, 15 – 16, 155
Amusements in a Mansion, 174 – 75, 175, 176 for Maruyama Ōkyo, 144, 145 – 46 see also Three Eccentrics of Edo painting
an (quail), 27, 208n12 (ch.1) for Nanga, 15, 81 – 88, 90, 101 Edo
The Annotated Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari tōsho shō), 210n12 (ch.6) Chinese literati, 15, 97, 112 Iriya asagao ichi (morning-glory market), 59
Ariwara no Narihira (ca. 825 – 880), 180 – 82, 186, 194 Chinese painters, 82, 90, 95, 110 Koishikawa district, 97
asagao (morning glories), 57 – 59, 201 chirashigaki (scattered writing), 15, 36, 50, 51, 60 Okachimachi district, 58 – 59
“Ascending the North Tower One Autumn Day,” 40 Chō Gesshō (1772 – 1832), 99, 200 Shinagawa district, 191
Autumn Festival, 87 Chōbunsai Eishi (1756 – 1829), 196 Tōkaiji, 191
Autumn Landscape (Gyokuran), 88, 89 Courtesan Holding a Poetry Slip (cat. 39), 180 – 82, 194, 195, Yoshiwara district, 16, 176, 177, 179, 182, 187, 188, 191, 194, 200
Autumn Landscape (Taiga), 85, 87 – 88, 87 209, 209 Edo Castle, 25, 30
Drawings and Poems by Various Artists (cat. 42), 187, 200, 201 Edo period (1615 – 1868)
B Chōjiya brothel, 182 Bakumatsu, 97
Bai Juyi, 91 chōnin (well-to-do townspeople), 184 nonconformist artists, 117 – 18
Bakufu (military government), 81 Collected Antiquities in Ten Categories (Shūko jisshu), 67 painting schools, 14
Bakumatsu (end of the military government), 97 Collection of Myriad Leaves (Man’yōshū), 58, 147 see also specific painting styles
Ban Kōkei, 117 Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū), 55 – 56, edokoro azukari (head of the imperial painting bureau), 27
Battle of Ichinotani (1184), 23 58, 147, 182, 186, 187 Egrets, Peonies, and Willows, 99, 101
Bean Vine, 15 – 16, 125, 126 – 27, 126 Collection of Poems of a Thousand Years (Senzaishū), 53 Egrets and Cotton Roses (cat. 4), 18, 27, 33, 33, 203, 203
Beauty of the Kanbun Era, 176, 177 Compendium of Ukiyo-e (Ukiyo-e taisei), 193 Egrets and Crows (cat. 36), 16, 156, 157, 170 – 71, 171, 208, 208
Beauty on Veranda in Snow (cat. 6), 8, 39, 42, 64, 64, 65, 203, 203 Confucianism, 25, 82, 83 – 85, 121 Egrets in a Lotus Pond, (cat. 23), 99, 115, 115, 206, 206
Bender, Estelle P., 14, 15, 16, 20, 38, 118 see also Neo-Confucianism Eight Varieties of Painting (Hasshū gafu), 103
see also Fishbein-Bender Collection Courtesan Holding a Poetry Slip (cat. 39), 180 – 82, 194, 195, Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, 25, 30
bijin paintings (genre paintings), 176, 184 209, 209 Eishōsai Chōki (active late 18th century – ca. 1808/9), 192 – 93,
Biographies of Eccentrics from the Early Modern Era (Kinsei courtesans 210n14 (ch. 6)
kijin-den), 117 calligraphy by, 182 Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden, 97, 112
bird-and-flower paintings, see kachōga paintings garments, 188, 194, 196, 198 Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden (cat. 21), 15, 96, 97,
birds, see specific birds hairstyles, 64, 188, 191 112 – 13, 112, 113, 206, 206
Blossoming Cherry Trees, 48 – 49, 48 – 49 images of, 16 – 17, 180 – 82 enlightenment, see satori
Bodhidharma, see Daruma oiran (high-ranking courtesan), 179 Enman’in (Kyoto), 145, 147
bokuseki (traces of ink), 121, 123, 128 poets, 182 Eupatorium japonicum ( Japanese: fujibakama), 162
“boneless” method, see mokkotsu method qin playing, 21
bosatsu (bodhisattva), 42 see also Ukiyo-e school F
botan (peonies), 75 Crane and Pine Tree with Rising Sun (cat. 13), 57, 78 – 79, 79, Female Entertainer with a Koto (cat. 41), 184, 198 – 99, 199, 209, 209
Boya, 21 204, 204 Female Entertainer with a Shamisen (cat. 40), 196, 197, 209, 209
Boya Plays the Qin as Zhong Ziqi Listens, 20, 21 Cranes (cat. 34), 16, 154, 166, 167, 202, 208, 208 Fengkan ( Japanese: Bukan), 128
Brown-Eared Bulbul (Hiyodori) on a Branch of Plum (cat. 1), 23, Festival for Seven-, Five-, and Three-year Olds (Shichi-go-san),
28, 28, 29, 203, 203 D 42, 136
Budai, see Hotei Daijōji (Kyoto), 144, 149, 152, 166, 209n4 (ch.5) Fishbein, T. Richard, 14, 15, 16, 20, 38, 118, 156
Buddha, see Amida Buddha Daitokuji (Kyoto), 23, 30, 127 Fishbein-Bender Collection, 14, 15 – 17, 20
Buddhism Daoism, 21, 91 – 92, 106 “The Fishing Village in the Evening Glow” (Gyoson sekishū), 25
iconographic art, 41 – 44 Daruma (Sanskrit: Bodhidharma), 118 – 20 flowers, see kachōga (bird-and-flower) paintings; and specific
Pure Land, 123 deer flowers
Shingon (Esoteric) sect, 121 Cold Forest and Solitary Deer, 105 “flying white” (hihaku) technique, 123, 132
Tendai sect, 127 of Jurōjin, 52, 74, 140 For a Hundred Years, [I Have Been] a Person with No Attachments,
see also Zen Buddhism poetic images, 144, 162 122, 123
Bungo province, 94 Stag amid Autumn Flowers (cat. 32), 151 – 52, 162, 162, 163, Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments (kin-ki-sho-ga), 21, 85, 176
bunjin, see literati 208, 208 Frog on a Lotus Leaf (cat. 12), 12, 55 – 57, 76, 77, 204, 204
Bunjinga (Literati school), see Nanga Two Deer beneath Maple Trees (cat. 30), 16, 142, 144, 146, 155, Fūgai Ekun (1568 – 1654), 118 – 20, 121
byōbu (folding screens), 21, 45 158, 158 – 59, 207, 207 Hotei Pointing at the Moon (cat. 24), 15, 120, 130, 131, 206, 206
Byōbu-kō (Screen Painting Association), 91 Deer and Maples, 150 – 51, 152 – 53 Portrait of Daruma, 119 – 20, 119
Deer in Moonlight (cat. 17), 15, 16, 91, 105, 105, 158, 205, 205 Fugen, 127
fujibakama (type of white flower), 162 hiyodori (brown-eared bulbul), 23, 28 life sketches, 144
Fujiwara no Kanesuke (877 – 933), 62 Hiyodori Cliff (Hiyodori-goe), 23 Nanga, 99, 115
Fujiwara no Kintō (966 – 1041), 60 Hollyhocks, 51 – 52, 51 kagura (Shinto ritual dances), 194
Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139 – 1191), 182 Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558 – 1637), 36, 45 kai-awase (shell-matching parlor game), 179, 188
Fujiwara no Teika (1162 – 1241) honkadori (allusive variation), 38 Kaigetsudō Ando (ca. 1671 – 1743), 179
“Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months,” 37 Hosokawa Shigekata (1720 – 1785), 145 Standing Courtesan, 179, 180
calligraphy, 37, 180, 191 Hotei, 119, 120, 130 Kaihō Yushō (1533 – 1615), 176
poetry, 37 Hotei Pointing at the Moon (cat. 24), 15, 120, 130, 131, 206, 206 kaisho (standard script), 149
Fukurokuju, 52, 74, 140 hototogisu (cuckoo), 49, 69, 200 Kajibashi lineage, 23 – 26, 30
funpon (copybooks), 144 Huang Gongwang (1269 – 1354), 95 kakitsubata (irises), 37, 45, 59
Fun’ya no Yasuhide, 187 hyōgo-mage (hairstyle), 191 Kamata Hō (Ryūō, 1754 – 1821), 136
fusuma-e (sliding-door paintings), 21, 144, 149, 152, 166 Kameoka, 143 – 44
I Kameyama Muken (1797 – 1863), 97, 112 – 13
G Ichinotani, Battle of (1184), 23 kami (supernatural local deities), 121
ga (painting), 21 Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776), 7, 15, 55, 85, 90 – 91, 117, 209n4 (ch.3) Kamiya Ten’yū (1730 – 1802), 99
gasenshi paper, 125 Autumn Landscape, 85, 87 – 88, 87 kamuro (child attendants), 182
Gazan Nanso (1727 – 1797), 128 Orchid Pavilion Gathering, 85 – 87, 86 Kanazawa, 120
genre paintings, 174 – 76, 184 The River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes (cat. 14), 80, 85, Kanbun bijin (beauties of the Kanbun era), 176
Gessen (1721 – 1809), 210n29 102, 102, 205, 205 Kanbun era (1661 – 72), 176
gijo (prostitute), 192 Spring Clouds Arising from the Gorge (cat. 15), 88, 103, 103, Kaneko Kinryō (d. 1817), 97
Gion district, Kyoto, 88 205, 205 kanmuri (courtier’s caps), 180, 194
Gion Festival, 91 Ike (Tokuyama) Gyokuran (1727/28 – 1784), 55, 88, 117 Kannon
go (board game), 21, 176 Autumn Landscape, 88, 89 White-Robed, 42 – 43
go (enlightenment), 192 Peony and Bamboo, 88, 90 Willow (Yōryū), 67
go (five), 192 Warbler in a Plum Tree (cat. 16), 104, 104, 205, 205 Kannon Sutra (Kannon-gyō), 43
The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin (cat. 10), 52, 74, 74, 204, 204 Ikeda domain, Okayama, 93 Kano Eitoku (1543 – 1590), 21, 23, 26
The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin (cat. 29), 116, 120, 140, 141, 207, 207 Ikkyū Sōjun (1394 – 1481), 192 Kano Hiroyuki, 136
gofun (oyster shell) pigment, 49 Illustrated Chinese and Japanese Encyclopedia (Wakan sansai zue), 145 Kano Masanobu (1434 – 1530), 20 – 21
Go-gawa kyōka poetry group, 186 Illustrated Compendium of the Three Powers (Sancai tuhui), 145 – 46 Kano Motonobu (1476 – 1559), 21, 28
Gōke Tadaomi, 171 Imperial Palace (Kyoto), 30 Boya Plays the Qin as Zhong Ziqi Listens, 20, 21
Goose and Reeds, 146 – 48, 146 In Verdant Mountains Hoping for Snow (cat. 19), 15, 93, 108, 109, Kano Shōei (1519 – 1592), 21, 28
gosai-bushi (Edo jōruri), 56, 77 205, 205 Brown-Eared Bulbul (Hiyodori) on a Branch of Plum
gosho-mage (palace chignon), 176 ink brushwork, 15, 21, 82, 99, 118 – 23, 140 (cat. 1), 23, 28, 28, 29, 203, 203
gosho-ningyō (palace dolls), 144 Interior Scene at a Brothel in Yoshiwara, 177 – 78, 178 Pheasants among Trees and Flowers of the Four Seasons, 22, 23
goyō-eshi (official painter), 23, 30, 99 Irises (Kakitsubata; Noh play), 45 Kano Takanobu (1571 – 1618), 26
Guo Ziyi Room, Daijōji, 144 Irises and Moth, 58, 59 Kano Tan’yū (1602 – 1672), 23 – 27, 30, 32, 144
Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges), 37, 45, 46 – 47, 57 – 58 Landscape in Moonlight, 24 – 25, 25 – 26
H Ishida Yūtei (1721 – 1786), 144 Landscape with Fisherman (cat. 2), 25, 26, 30, 30 – 31, 203, 203
hachi (paper wasp; honeybee), 38 Isoda Koryūsai (1735 – ca. 1790), 192 Kano school, 19 – 27
hagi (bush clover), 27 Itō Jakuchū (1716 – 1800), 19, 117 – 18, 123 – 27, 129 bird-and-flower paintings, 14, 21 – 23, 26 – 27
haiga (haiku text-image tradition), 90 Bean Vine, 15 – 16, 125, 126 – 27, 126 Chinese inspirations, 20 – 23, 25
haikai (seventeen-syllable seasonal verse), 38, 49, 50, 51, 55, 58, 90 Hen and Rooster with Grapevine, 123, 125 compared to Literati painting, 15
hakubutsugaku (natural history), 145 Peapods on a Branch (cat. 26), 15 – 16, 125, 134, 135, 207, 207 decline, 145
hakubyō (white drawing), 188 Turtles (cat. 27), 125, 136, 137, 207, 207 influence, 16, 27, 158
Hakuin Ekaku (1685 – 1768), 120 – 21, 129, 209n10 (ch.4) Vegetable Nirvana, 125 ink painting, 21, 25 – 26
Portrait of Daruma, 120, 121 vegetable paintings, 125 – 27, 134 Kajibashi lineage, 23 – 26, 30
Virtue (cat. 25), 8, 15, 120, 132, 133, 206, 206 Vegetables and Insects, 125 lineages, 19, 20
Hanshan ( Japanese: Kanzan), 128 White Plum Blossoms and Moon, 123, 124 patrons, 19, 27
Harima province, 38 Iwasa Matabei (1578 – 1650), 188 students, 127, 146, 150
Hayano Hajin (Yahantei Sōa, 1677 – 1742), 90, 91 Tosa school and, 20
Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyō), 118, 192 J kanoko (fawn spot), 176
Heian period (794 – 1185) Japonisme movement, 174 Kansai, 55
court culture, 182, 184 Jiun Sonja (1718 – 1804), 121 – 23, 129 Kantō, 30
literature, 14 – 15, 35, 38 For a Hundred Years, [I Have Been] a Person with No Karagoromo Kisshū (1743 – 1802), 185
hemp-fiber strokes, 95, 97, 103 Attachments, 122, 123 Karasumaru clan, 51
Hen and Rooster with Grapevine, 123, 125 Profound Sincerity, 122, 123 Karasumaru Mitsuhiro (1579 – 1638), 51
Herb Gatherers in the Mountains (cat. 18), 15, 91 – 92, 106, 106, 107, jōruri (puppet play with melodic recitation), 56, 77 katade (prince’s-feather flowers; Polygonum orientale), 52
205, 205 Journal of Ten Thousand Things (Banshi), 145, 158 Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849), 192, 200
hibachi (container of hot coals), 182 Jukōin (Kyoto), 23 Kayou-kami (Shinto patron deity), 199
Hikone Screen, 176 Jurōjin, 52, 74, 120, 140 keishū (woman highly accomplished in the arts), 26, 32
Himeji Castle, 38 Kema, 90
Hishikawa Moronobu (ca. 1618 – 1694), 177, 179 K ki (board games), 21
The Annotated Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari tōsho shō), Kabuki theater, 173, 174, 187 kigo (season words), 56
210n12 (ch.6) kachōga (bird-and-flower) paintings kijin (eccentrics)
Interior Scene at a Brothel in Yoshiwara, 177 – 78, 178 Chinese, 21 – 23, 144, 208n12 (ch.1) Chan, 128
Standing Courtesan (cat. 37), 8, 16 – 17, 172, 178 – 79, 188, 189, of Kano school, 14, 21 – 23, 26 – 27 painters, 117
208, 208 see also Three Eccentrics of Edo painting
INDEX 219
Kikuchi Gozan (1769 – 1849), 201 Li Bai (701 – 762), 40 Monju, 127
kikyō (bellflower), 27, 50, 69 Li Gonglin (d. 1106), 97, 112 monk-painters, see Zen monks
Kimura Kenkadō (1736 – 1802), 55, 91, 95, 103 Lineage of Eccentrics (Kisō no keifu), 117 Moon and Kudzu Vine (cat. 9), 34, 50 – 51, 72, 73, 204, 204
kin-ki-sho-ga (Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments), 21, 85, 176 Lions at the Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai, 16, 127 – 28, 128, 129 Mori Shūhō (1738 – 1823), 150, 152, 210n24
see also qin; sho literati Mori Sosen (1747 – 1821)
kisō (nonconformity), 117 – 18 Chinese, 15, 97, 112 monkey paintings, 150 – 51, 162
Kitagawa Utamaro (1754 – 1806), 193 gatherings, 97, 103, 112 Silkies (cat. 33), 9, 16, 152, 164, 165, 208, 208
“Paper Wasp (Hachi) and Hairy Caterpillar (Kemushi),” 38, 39 Japanese, 15, 82, 99, 185 Stag amid Autumn Flowers (cat. 32), 151 – 52, 162, 162, 163,
Picture Book of Crawling Creatures, 38, 39, 186 Literati painting, see Nanga 208, 208
Kitao Masanobu (Santō Kyōden, 1761 – 1816) Lotus Sutra, 43 Mori Tetsuzan (1775 – 1841), 152
literati friends, 185 Deer and Maples, 150 – 51, 152 – 53
A New Record of Calligraphy by Courtesans of Yoshiwara, M Mori school, 150 – 53
182, 183 magan (Greater White-Fronted goose), 147 Morning Glories, 56 – 57, 57 – 59
poetry, 201 Manazawa, 120 Mount Fuji, 49, 69, 138, 200 – 201
Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643 – 1682), 26 – 27 Manpukuji, 81, 85, 126 Mount Fuji and Seikenji Temple (cat. 28), 16, 127, 138, 139, 207, 207
Waxwings, Cherry Blossoms, and Bamboo (cat. 3), 14, 27, 32, Manual of Eight Categories of Painting (Chinese: Bazhong huapu; Mount Hōrai (Chinese: Penglu), 79
32, 203, 203 Japanese: Hasshu gafu), 145 Mount Taishan, 21
kōan (Zen verbal conundrums), 15 – 16, 118, 120, 128 Maruyama Ōkyo (1733 – 1795), 16, 143 – 44, 145, 155, 156 Mount Tiantai (Chinese: Tiantaishan: Japanese: Tendaisan), 92,
Kogō, Lady (Kogō no tsubone), 199 atelier, 144, 146, 149, 152 106, 127 – 28
Koishikawa district, Edo, 97 Chinese influences, 144, 145 – 46 “Mount Utsu” episode (“Utsu no yama”), 36 – 37, 36
Kokin wakashū, see Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern Goose and Reeds, 146 – 48, 146 Muromachi period (1392 – 1573), 20 – 23
Komai Genki (1747 – 1797), 210n29 influence, 49 Musen Jōzen (Tangai, 1693 – 1764), 125 – 27, 134
Kongōji, 147 megane-e, 145 Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual (Chinese: Jieziyuan
Kōno Motoaki, 165 Pine Trees in the Snow, 161 huazhuan; Japanese: Kaishien gaden), 88, 90, 99, 103, 114
Koōgimi (active late 10th – early 11th century), 63 shasei-ga (pictures sketched from life), 144, 145 Myōhō’in (Kyoto), 144
Kōrin Painting Manual (Kōrin gafu), 54, 55, 75 Spring and Autumn Waterfalls, 158
koto (thirteen-string zither), 21, 176, 198 students, 154, 166, 169, 210n29 N
Kubo Shunman (1757 – 1820), The Six Poetic Immortals, 184, 185, Two Deer beneath Maple Trees (cat. 30), 16, 142, 144, 146, 155, Nagasaki, 81, 95, 99, 145, 162
186 – 87 158, 158 – 59, 207, 207 Nagasaki school, 97, 99, 144
Kuhara Fusanosuke (1869 – 1965), 79 Willows in Moonlight, 146 – 48, 147 Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754 – 1799), 7, 19, 88, 117, 118, 153 – 54, 155
Kusumi Morikage (ca. 1620 – 1690), 26 Maruyama-Shijō school Cranes (cat. 34), 16, 154, 166, 167, 202, 208, 208
Kuwagata Keisai (1764 – 1824), 192 artists, 38 Landscapes with the Chinese Literati Su Shi and Tao Qian,
kyōka (parodic or witty verse) influence, 48, 59, 97, 156 154 – 55, 155 – 56
in collections, 200 naturalism, 16, 143, 144, 150 – 53, 156 Puppies in the Snow, 152 – 53, 154
gatherings, 38, 186 Shijō school, 16, 148, 156 Sparrows on a Plum Tree (cat. 35), 16, 154 – 55, 168, 169, 169,
in Insect Book, 38 Mary Griggs Burke Collection, 14 208, 208
poets, 55, 56 Masuyama Sessai (1754 – 1819), 145 Nagoya, 99, 115
popularity, 38 Matsumura Goshun (Gekkei, 1752 – 1811), 16, 148 – 49, 200 Nakabayashi Chikutō (1776 – 1853), 99
Rinpa paintings and, 77 Winter Scene with Ducks and Pine Trees (cat. 31), 149, 160 – 61, Nakajima Kanbei, 144
Ukiyo-e paintings and, 17, 182 – 87 161, 207, 207 Nakamura Butsuan (1751 – 1834), 44
kyōka-bon (woodblock-printed anthologies), 185 – 86 Woodcutters and Fishermen, 148 – 49, 149 Nakamura Hōchū (d. 1819), 55
kyōshi (Chinese verse, akin to kyōka), 186, 200 Matsuo Bashō (1744 – 1794), 90 Kōrin Painting Manual (Kōrin gafu), 54, 55, 75
Kyoto Matsushima, 91 Peonies (cat. 11), 55, 75, 75, 204, 204
Daijōji, 144, 149, 152, 166, 209n4 (ch.5) megane-e (pictures viewed in a stereopticon), 145 Nanga
Daitokuji, 23, 30, 127 Meiji period (1868 – 1912), 16, 156 artists, 38, 82 – 94, 99 – 101
Enman’in, 145, 147 meisho (poetic places), 49, 52, 88 Chinese inspirations, 15, 81 – 88, 90, 101
Gion district, 88 meisho-e (pictures of poetic places), 88 naturalism, 97 – 99
Gion Festival, 91 Mi dots, 103 third generation of painters, 92
Imperial Palace, 30 Mi Fu (1052 – 1107), 90, 97, 103, 112, 209n31 Nankyokusei (southern polar star), 74
Myōhō’in, 144 Miho no Matsubara, 138 Nanshūga, see Nanga
Nanzenji, 28, 30 mikagura (Shinto sacred ritual dances), 194 Nanzenji (Kyoto), 28, 30
Nijō Castle, 25, 30 Mikuma Katen, 117 Nara period (710 – 794), 144, 147
Shijō Street, 16, 148 Minagawa Kien (1734 – 1807), 91 Narazaki Muneshige, 198
Shōkokuji, 127 Minamoto no Shitagō (911 – 983), 63 National Treasures, 91
Tenryūji, 128 Minamoto no Toshiyori (ca. 1055 – ca. 1129), 53 naturalism, 16, 97 – 99, 143, 144, 145, 150 – 53, 156
Kyūshū, 94 Minamoto no Yoshitsune (12th century), 23 Neo-Confucianism, 97, 174
Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644), 15, 23, 81 New Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Shinkokin wakashū), 58
L minogame turtle, 140 A New Record of Calligraphy by Courtesans of Yoshiwara
lacquerware, 156 Miroku (Sanskrit: Maitreya), 120 (Yoshiwara keisei shin bijin jihitsu kagami), 182, 183
Lake Dongting, 25, 30 Miyagawa Chōshun (1683 – 1753), 192 New Year’s paintings, 140
Landscape in Moonlight, 24 – 25, 25 – 26 Miyazaki Kinpo (1717 – 1774), 85 Nijō Castle (Kyoto), 25, 30
Landscape in the Blue-and-Green Manner, 82 – 85, 82, 84 mokkotsu (boneless) method, 27, 99, 114, 115, 169 Nine Songs (Chinese: Jiuge), 95
Landscape Room, Daijōji, 144 Momokawa Shikō (active late 18th – early 19th century), 193, Ningbo (Zhejiang province), 43
Landscape Screen (Senzui byōbu), 91 210n14 (ch.6) Nishimura Nantei (1775 – 1834), 210n29
Landscape with Fisherman (cat. 2), 25, 26, 30, 30 – 31, 203, 203 Parading Courtesan (cat. 38), 17, 179 – 80, 181, 190, 191 – 93, Nishinomiya (Osaka), 162
Landscapes with the Chinese Literati Su Shi and Tao Qian, 154 – 55, 209, 209 Noh plays, 45
155 – 56 Momoyama period (1573 – 1615), 20, 21, 25, 26 Northern school (of Chinese landscape painters), 82
Northern Song dynasty (960 – 1127), 23, 103, 112 haikai, 38, 49, 50, 51, 55, 58, 90 Rinpa paintings, 15, 45, 48 – 49
nozoki karakuri (type of stereopticon), 144, 145 inscriptions on paintings, 17, 182 Scenes and Poems of the Four Seasons (cat. 8), 49 – 50, 68,
nume (lustrous satin-weave silk), 91 kyōka, 17, 38, 55, 77, 182 – 87, 200 69 – 70, 70 – 71, 204, 204
nure-karasu (“damp crow”; a type of morning glory), 59 Rinpa paintings and, 36 – 37 White-Robed Kannon, 42 – 43, 44, 45
waka, 15, 17, 36, 45, 162, 179 – 82 Willow Kannon (Yōryū Kannon) (cat. 7), 8 – 9, 44, 66, 67,
O in Zen paintings, 118 203, 203
Ōbaku Zen sect, 81, 85, 126 Polo, Marco, 165 Sakai Ōho (1808 – 1841), 38, 51 – 55
Odano Naotake (1750 – 1780), 145 Portrait of Daruma, 119 – 20, 119 The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin (cat. 10), 52, 74, 74, 204, 204
Odawara (present-day Shizuoka prefecture), 119 “Praise for the Hanging Scroll” (“Jiku home”), 192 Hollyhocks, 51 – 52, 51
“Ode on the Red Cliff,” 155 Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, 86 – 87 Six Jewel Rivers (Mu-Tamagawa), 52 – 53, 52 – 53
“Ode to the Four Seasons,” 85, 102 Profound Sincerity, 122, 123 Sakazuki no Komendo, 186
Ogata Kenzan (1663 – 1743), 37, 45, 180 Puppies in the Snow, 152 – 53, 154 san (inscription), 192
“Sixth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers Pure Land Buddhism, 123 san (three), 192
of the Twelve Months,” 37, 37 Sanchūjin (man amid the mountains), 95
Tiles with Waka Poems of the Four Seasons (cat. 5), 15, 37 – 38, Q sanpitsu (three great painters), 27
60, 61, 62, 63 qi (spirit), 82 Santō Kyōden, see Kitao Masanobu
Ogata Kōrin (1658 – 1716), 14, 36, 45, 60, 75 qin (zither; Japanese kin, or koto), 21, 85, 93, 94, 102, 108, 176 Sanuki province, 91
Irises (Kakitsubata zu byōbu), 45 Qing dynasty (1644 – 1911), 15, 81 Sarumaru Dayū (active late 8th century), 179, 186
Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges), 37, 45, 46 – 47, 57 – 58 Quail and Autumn Flowers, 26, 27 Satake Shozan (1748 – 1785), 145
poetic painting, 37 satori (enlightenment), 15, 118, 129, 134
Ogyū Sorai (1666 – 1728), 83 R Scenes and Poems of the Four Seasons (cat. 8), 49 – 50, 68, 69 – 70,
oikake (fan-shaped side flaps on kanmuri), 180, 194 Rai Sanyō (1780 – 1832), 95 70 – 71, 204, 204
oiran (high-ranking courtesan), 179, 191 rakugo (tale narrated by a solitary performer), 192 Scholars and Cranes in a Landscape (cat. 20), 15, 95 – 97, 95, 110 – 11,
Oka clan, 94 Ranga school, 145 111, 206, 206
Okachimachi district, Edo, 58 – 59 Ranpeki daimyō (“Holland-obsessed lords”), 145 Seikenji (Shizuoka), 138
Okada Kanrin (1775 – 1849), 200 Records of Ancient Paintings (Chinese: Guhua pinlu; Japanese: seisha (life copy), 144
Okamoto Toyohiko (1773 – 1845), 156 Koga hinroku), 108 sekiga (impromptu paintings), 144, 187
Oku Bunmei (d. 1813), 210n29 Records of Famous Personages in Kyoto (Heian jinbutsu shi), 90, sencha (Chinese-style tea practice), 94, 97
okubi-e (head and upper body portraits), 193 148 – 49 Sensōsan Ichindo (1755 – 1820), 187
ominaeshi (maiden flower), 50, 69 Red and White Peach Blossoms, 99, 100 Sesshū Tōyō (1420 – 1506), 138
ōmizuao moth, 59 The Reflection of Fragrant Flowers Dangling over a Pond Seven Gods of Good Fortune, 52, 74, 120, 130, 140
On a Rustic Bridge, Carrying a Zither, 93 – 94, 94 (cat. 22), 97 – 99, 98, 114, 114, 206, 206 Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, 154
Onakatomi no Yorimoto (d. 958), 62 Regulations for Samurai Households (Buke shohatto), 174 shai (painting the idea), 88
One Hundred Paintings of Kōrin (Kōrin hyakuzu), 45, 46 – 47 Reizei script, 179 – 80, 191 shajitsu (direct observation and sketches from nature/life),
One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets (Hyakunin isshu), Rinpa school 150 – 52
179, 182 artists, 39 – 41, 44 – 45, 48 – 59 shajitsu-sei (naturalism), 144
Ōnishi Suigetsu (active 1750 – 75), 148 – 49 influences on, 48, 59 Shaka, 127
Ono no Komachi, 186 literary symbolism, 14 – 15, 45, 59 Shakuyakutei Nagane (1767 – 1845), 187
Orchid Pavilion Gathering, 85 – 87, 86 origins, 14 – 15, 35 – 36 shamisen, 175, 176, 178, 196
Osaka poetry integrated with painting, 36 – 37 shasei (to sketch or paint from nature or life), 88, 97, 144, 156
Nishinomiya, 162 Rinshō’in (subtemple of Myōshinji), 165 shasei-ga (pictures sketched from life), 144, 145
Ryūsenji, 103 Rinzai sect, 15, 120, 126, 128 Shasei-ha (School of Realism), 143
Ōta Nanpo, see Shokusanjin The River in Spring Overflows Four Marshes (cat. 14), 80, 85, shasin (copy truth), 144
Ōtomo no Kuronushi, 186 102, 102, 205, 205 Shen Nanpin (Shen Quan, 1682 – 1758), 91, 95, 99, 105
Owari, 99 Rokujuen (Yadoya no Meshimori, 1753 – 1830), 186 Shiba Kōkan (1747/48 – 1818), 144 – 45
Ryūryūsai Shinsai (1770 – 1844), 200 Shibata Zeshin (1807 – 1891), 156
P Ryūsenji (Osaka), 103 Egrets and Crows (cat. 36), 16, 156, 157, 170 – 71, 171, 208, 208
“Paper Wasp (Hachi) and Hairy Caterpillar (Kemushi),” 38, 39 shibori (tie-dyeing method)., 188
Parading Courtesan (cat. 38), 17, 179 – 80, 181, 190, 191 – 93, 209, 209 S Shide ( Japanese: Jittoku), 128
peafowl, 165 Sagami Bay, 120 Shijō school, 16, 148, 156
Peapods on a Branch (cat. 26), 15 – 16, 125, 134, 135, 207, 207 Saigū no Nyōgo, 198 Shijō Street (Kyoto), 16, 148
Peonies (cat. 11), 55, 75, 75, 204, 204 Sakai Hōitsu (1761 – 1828; monastic name [after 1797]: Tōgakuin shijōshin (profound sincerity), 123
Peony and Bamboo, 88, 90 Monsen Kishin) shiki (form), 192
Persimmon Tree, 49, 50 Activities of the Twelve Months (Tsukinami-e), 39 – 41, 40 – 41, Shiki, Prince, 161
Pheasants among Trees and Flowers of the Four Seasons, 22, 23 42 – 43, 64 shikishi (rectangular poem cards), 36, 60, 179
Picture Book of Crawling Creatures (Ehon mushi erami; Insect adopted son, 51 – 55 Shikitei Sanba (1766 – 1822), 200 – 201
Book), 38, 39, 56, 186 Beauty on Veranda in Snow (cat. 6), 8, 39, 42, 64, 64, 65, Shikoku, 91
poem cards 203, 203 Shimosato Gakkai (1742 – 1790), 91
shikishi, 36, 60, 179 Blossoming Cherry Trees, 48 – 49, 48 – 49 Shinagawa district, Edo, 191
tanzaku, 180, 182, 194 Buddhist art, 41 – 44 Shingon (Esoteric Buddhist) sect, 121
“Poem on a Stringless Qin,” 85 calligraphy, 50, 51 shinkeizu (true-view picture), 88
poetic painting, 13 – 14, 37 Jurōjin paintings, 74 Shinnin, Prince, 144
poetry Moon and Kudzu Vine (cat. 9), 34, 50 – 51, 72, 73, 204, 204 shinsa (true copy), 144
Chinese, 15, 40 – 41, 51 One Hundred Paintings of Kōrin (Kōrin hyakuzu), 45, 46 – 47 Shinto, 121, 194, 199
contests (uta-awase), 38, 184 painting styles, 38 – 39, 41, 44 – 45 shinzō (apprentice courtesan), 182
by courtesans, 182 Persimmon Tree, 49, 50 shita-e (preliminary sketch), 99
gatherings, 38, 103, 184, 187, 200 poetry, 38, 49, 51, 69 – 70, 186 Shizuoka prefecture, 119, 138
INDEX 221
sho (calligraphy) Takeda Keiho (1673 – 1755), 127 Tsuji Nobuo, 117, 118, 166
bokuseki (traces of ink), 121, 123 Takeuchi, Melinda, 88 Tsuruya Kinsuke, 193
Reizei style, 179 – 80, 191 Takizawa Bakin (1767 – 1848), 192 Tsutaya Jūzaburō (1748 – 1797), 185, 186, 193
skills, 21, 82 Takuan Sōhō (1573 – 1645), 180, 191 – 92 Turtles (cat. 27), 125, 136, 137, 207, 207
in ukiyo-e, 187 The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), 15, 39, 58, 179 Two Deer beneath Maple Trees (cat. 30), 16, 142, 144, 146, 155, 158,
women’s skills, 182 The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari), 23, 199 158 – 59, 207, 207
shō (reedless wind instrument with upright pipes), 97 Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), 15, 36 – 37, 45, 179, 182
shogakai (calligraphy-painting gathering), 103, 200 Tamagawa ( Jewel River), 52 – 53 U
Shōkokuji (Kyoto), 127 tanchōzuru ( Japanese red-crowned crane), 166 uchikake (surcoat), 180
Shokusanjin (Ōta Nanpo, 1749 – 1823), 56, 77, 184, 185, 186, 187, Tang dynasty, 67, 90 uguisu (bush warbler), 88, 104
198 – 99, 200 Tani Bunchō (1763 – 1841), 43, 45, 97, 200, 208n18 ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”)
Shūkin Gyokudō, 93, 108 Tanomura Chikuden (1777 – 1835), 7, 94 – 95, 209n36 calligraphy in, 187
shukuzu (small, quickly rendered sketches), 25 Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden (cat. 21), 15, 96, 97, popularity, 174
shunga (“spring pictures”; ukiyo-e erotica), 174 112 – 13, 112, 113, 206, 206 predecessors, 176 – 77
Shunkin Gyokudō, 93, 95, 108 poetry, 95 – 97, 110 – 11 shunga (“spring pictures”), 174
Silkies (cat. 33), 9, 16, 152, 164, 165, 208, 208 Scholars and Cranes in a Landscape (cat. 20), 15, 95 – 97, 95, subjects, 38, 173
silkies ( Japanese: ukokkei; Chinese: wuguji), 152, 165 110 – 11, 111, 206, 206 Ukiyo-e school
Sima Guang (1018 – 1086), 132 tanzaku (elongated poem cards), 180, 182, 194 collaborative paintings, 186 – 87, 200 – 201
Six Jewel Rivers from Various Provinces (Shokoku Mu-Tamagawa), Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming, 365 – 427), 85, 102, 155 – 56 founder, 177
52 – 53, 53 tarashikomi (ink-mottling technique), 49, 55, 75, 77, 79, 158 literary aspects, 174, 177 – 78, 179 – 87
Six Jewel Rivers (Mu-Tamagawa), 52 – 53, 52 – 53 Tawaraya Sōtatsu (d. ca. 1640), 14, 36, 38, 45 paintings, 16 – 17, 39, 174, 176, 177 – 82, 187
The Six Poetic Immortals, 184, 185, 186 – 87 “Mount Utsu” (“Utsu no yama”), 36 – 37, 36 poetic inscriptions, 17, 179 – 87
Six Poetic Immortals (Rokkasen), 55, 186 – 87 Teachings of Master Huainan (Chinese: Huainanzi; Japanese precedents, 174 – 77
Six Principles of Chinese Painting, 108, 144 Enanji), 134 prints, 174, 176 – 77, 187
“Sixth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Teachings of Master Lie (Liezi), 21 Uno Shishin (Meika, 1698 – 1745), 83 – 85
Twelve Months,” 37, 37 Teisai Hokuba (1771 – 1844), 192, 200 Uragami Gyokudō (1745 – 1820)
Sōdōji (Wakayama), 166 Ten Conveniences and Ten Pleasures, 91 Chikuden and, 95
Soga Jasoku (or Dasoku, active ca. 1490s), 127 Tendai sect, 127 In Verdant Mountains Hoping for Snow (cat. 19), 15, 93, 108,
Soga Shōhaku (1730 – 1781), 7, 19, 117, 118, 127, 129 Tenmei era (1781 – 89), 184 – 85 109, 205, 205
The God of Good Fortune Jurōjin (cat. 29), 116, 120, 140, 141, Tennōji (Osaka), 103 On a Rustic Bridge, Carrying a Zither, 93 – 94, 94
207, 207 Tenryūji (Kyoto), 128 qin playing, 21, 93
Lions at the Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai, 16, 127 – 28, 128, 129 Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen), 38, 60, 180, 194 sons, 93, 95, 108
Mount Fuji and Seikenji Temple (cat. 28), 16, 127, 138, 139, Three Eccentrics of Edo painting, 117 – 18, 123 – 28, 153 uta-awase (poetry contests), 38, 184
207, 207 see also Itō Jakuchū; Nagasawa Rosetsu; Soga Shōhaku Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858), Six Jewel Rivers from Various
Soga school, 127 Three Perfections (poetry, painting, and calligraphy), 13, 15, 182 Provinces (Shokoku Mu-Tamagawa), 52 – 53, 53
Sōjun (1394 – 1481), 192 Tiantai ( Japanese: Tendai) sect, 127 Utagawa Toyoharu (1735 – 1814), 64
Song dynasty (960 – 1279), 15, 21 – 23, 27, 103, 112 Tiles with Waka Poems of the Four Seasons (cat. 5), 15, 37 – 38, 60, Female Entertainer with a Koto (cat. 41), 184, 198 – 99, 199,
see also Su Shi 61, 62, 63 209, 209
sonnōu (humble peasant), 110 Tōgensai Eishū (active late 18th – early 19th century), Female Utei Enba (1743 – 1822), 200
Sōtō (Zen) sect, 15, 118 – 19, 121, 126 Entertainer with a Shamisen (cat. 40), 196, 197, 209, 209
Southern school (of Chinese landscape painters), 82 Tōkaidō Road, 138 V
Southern Song dynasty (1127 – 1279), 21 – 23, 27, 33 Tōkaiji (Edo), 191 Virtue (cat. 25), 8, 15, 120, 132, 133, 206, 206
Sparrows on a Plum Tree (cat. 35), 16, 154 – 55, 168, 169, 169, 208, 208 tokonatsu (or nadeshiko, wild pinks), 37
Spring Clouds Arising from the Gorge (cat. 15), 88, 103, 103, 205, 205 toku (virtue), 120, 209n10 (ch.4) W
Stag amid Autumn Flowers (cat. 32), 151 – 52, 162, 162, 163, 208, 208 Tokugawa Hidetada, 30 Wainandō III, 186
Standing Courtesan (Ando), 179, 180 Tokugawa Iemitsu, 174 waka (thirty-one-syllable court verse)
Standing Courtesan (cat. 37), 8, 16 – 17, 172, 178 – 79, 188, 189, Tokugawa shogunate, 23 – 26 deer imagery, 162
208, 208 Toriyama Sekien (1712 – 1788), 193 poets, 90
Su Shi (Dongpo, 1037 – 1101), 88, 97, 101, 112, 155 – 56, 192 Tosa Mitsunaga (flourished 12th century), 27 Rinpa paintings and, 15, 36, 45
Su Xun, 41 Tosa Mitsunobu (1434 – 1525), 27 Ukiyo-e paintings and, 17, 179 – 82
sugoroku (backgammon-like board game), 176 Tosa Mitsuoki (1617 – 1691), 27 wakashu (handsome male youth), 174, 178
sui (millet), 27, 208n12 (ch.1) Egrets and Cotton Roses (cat. 4), 18, 27, 33, 33, 203, 203 Wang Jia, 87
sujime-gaki (white-line drawing), 125, 136 Quail and Autumn Flowers, 26, 27 Wang Meng, 90, 95
Sutra of Meditation on Amida Buddha (Kanmuryōju kyō), 123 Tosa school Wang Wei, 90
Suzuki Harunobu (1724 – 1770), 145 bird-and-flower paintings, 14 Wang Xizhi, 85 – 87
Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858), 8, 15, 38, 45, 55, 73 influence, 20 Warbler in a Plum Tree (cat. 16), 104, 104, 205, 205
Crane and Pine Tree with Rising Sun (cat. 13), 57, 78 – 79, 79, patrons, 27 Watanabe Kazan (1793 – 1841), 97
204, 204 yamato-e paintings, 33 Watanabe Nangaku (1767 – 1813), 210n29
Frog on a Lotus Leaf (cat. 12), 12, 55 – 57, 76, 77, 204, 204 Toyama Mitsuzane (1756 – 1821), 50 – 51, 73 Watanabe Shikō (1683 – 1695), 144
Irises and Moth, 58, 59 Travel Notebook (Kiryo manroku), 192 waxwings, 27, 32
Morning Glories, 56 – 57, 57 – 59 Travels through Mountains and Fields, 91, 92 – 93 Waxwings, Cherry Blossoms, and Bamboo (cat. 3), 14, 27, 32, 32,
Suzuki Nanrei (1775 – 1844), 156 Tsubaki Chinzan (1801 – 1854), 97 203, 203
Red and White Peach Blossoms, 99, 100 Wei dynasty (220 – 264), 126
T The Reflection of Fragrant Flowers Dangling over a Pond Western painting
tachiaoi (hollyhocks; Althaea rosea), 52 (cat. 22), 97 – 99, 98, 114, 114, 206, 206 Abstract Expressionism, 94, 118
Takakura (Heian emperor), 199 tsuitate (freestanding single-panel screen), 156 influence on Japanese artists, 145, 156
White Plum Blossoms and Moon, 123, 124 Yamamoto Rantei (1763 – ca. 1854), 99 Yoshiwara district (Edo), 16, 176, 177, 179, 182, 187, 188, 191, 194, 200
White-Robed Kannon, 42 – 43, 44, 45 yamato-e ( Japanese style-painting), 14, 27, 33, 36, 39, 41, 179, 188 see also ukiyo-e
Willow Kannon (Yōryū Kannon) (cat. 7), 8 – 9, 44, 66, 67, 203, 203 Yamazaki Tōretsu, 200 Yūjō, 145, 158
Willows in Moonlight, 146 – 48, 147 Yanagisawa Kien (1704 – 1758), 88, 117
Winter Scene with Ducks and Pine Trees (cat. 31), 149, 160 – 61, 161, Landscape in the Blue-and-Green Manner, 82 – 85, 82, 84 Z
207, 207 Yang Zhu (440 – 360 B.C.), 134 Zen Buddhism
Woodcutters and Fishermen, 148 – 49, 149 yoko-hyogo (courtesan hairstyle), 64 Daitokuji (Kyoto), 23, 30, 127
Wu Daozi (689 – after 755), 44, 67, 208n18 Yomo no Utagaki Magao (1753 – 1829), 186 kōan, 15 – 16, 118, 120, 128
Wu school, 95, 110 Yōryū Kannon (Willow Guanyin, called Avalokitesvara), 67 Ōbaku sect, 81, 85, 126
wutong (wood oil) trees, 40 Yosa Buson (1716 – 1783), 7, 90 – 91 practice, 118
Cold Forest and Solitary Deer, 105 Rinzai sect, 15, 120, 126, 128
X Deer in Moonlight (cat. 17), 15, 16, 91, 105, 105, 158, 205, 205 satori (enlightenment), 15, 118, 129, 134
Xie He (active 479 – 502), 108, 144 Herb Gatherers in the Mountains (cat. 18), 15, 91 – 92, 106, Sōtō sect, 15, 118 – 19, 121, 126
106, 107, 205, 205 see also Chan Buddhism
Y poetry, 90, 91 Zen monks
yabukōji (spearflowers), 23, 50, 69 Sanuki period, 91 painter-calligraphers, 15, 118 – 23
Yamaato Kakurei (active 1804 – 1817), 210n29 screen painting, 91 poetry, 180
Yamaguchi Soken (1759 – 1818), 210n29 students, 148 – 49, 161 Zenga (Zen paintings), 118 – 23
Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783 – 1856), 99 Travels through Mountains and Fields, 91, 92 – 93 Zhejiang province, 43, 106, 127
Egrets, Peonies, and Willows, 99, 101 yosegaki (gathered writings), 186 – 87, 200 Zhong Ziqi, 21
Egrets in a Lotus Pond (cat. 23), 99, 115, 115, 206, 206 Yoshida Teruji, 193
INDEX 223
John T. Carpenter


John T. Carpenter



The Poetry of Nature Edo Paintings From The Fishbein Bender Collection

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Poetry of Nature Edo Paintings From The Fishbein Bender Collection

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Poetry of Nature