Japanese Paintings and Works of Art Erik Thomsen 2009
Japanese Paintings and Works of ArtErik Thomsen 2009
Table of contents
3
5
37
59
71
81
94
102
107
Foreword and Acknowledgements
Screens
Paintings
Bamboo Baskets
Ceramics
Lacquers
Signatures, Seals and Inscriptions
Notes
Bibliography
Japanese Paintings and Works of Art
3
Foreword and Acknowledgements
I am delighted to present our annual spring catalog,
which features selections from my five specialties
within Japanese art: screens, paintings, bamboo
baskets, ceramics and gold lacquers. All items pre-
sented here were made in accordance with Japanese
taste and aesthetics and are connected with either
domestic artistic traditions or with the important
question of how to integrate new Western ideas
into Japanese arts.
The screen selection starts out with a brilliant pair
of mid-Edo period screens depicting a luxurious
scene of blooming wisteria, followed by four pairs
of screens painted by early 20th century artists. The
screen pair by Yamaga Seiga (catalog nr. 2) is pre-
sented here publicly again for the first time since it
was exhibited at the fifth Bunten in Tokyo in 1911
and at the International Exhibition of Contemporary
Art in Amsterdam in 1912.
The scroll paintings are inspired by themes from
nature. The two paintings of roosters by the artists
Itō Jakuchū (nr. 6) and Itō Jakuen (nr. 7) present a
valuable opportunity to compare the way the artists
treated the same subject with the same media
and to observe their similar yet quite different brush
techniques. Although mysteries surround their
exact relationship, the two artists were clearly related
at some level; this exhibition offers a visual evi-
dence of this link and makes a cogent argument for
considering Jakuen a separate artistic personality
with great talent.
Of the bamboo ikebana baskets shown, I am partic-
ularly fond of the two masterworks by Chikubōsai I
(nrs. 16 and 17). Their bold shapes and fine details
delight at first sight and do not disappoint with
closer inspection. Among the selected ceramics,
the fifteenth century Shigaraki jar (nr. 21) is a
spectacular example of its kind. It has a beautiful
shape with strong shoulders and dramatic nat-
ural ash glaze patterns, as well as exciting surface
textures and colors.
The lacquers are, as the scrolls, marked by nature
themes. They date mostly from the Taishō period
of the early 20th century, a fascinating time for
Japanese art when there were strong interactions
with the Western art world. The Japanese art
trade was flourishing and the quality of the materi-
als used and the work done was of the highest
level. The wisteria writing box (nr. 26) is a good
example of these high standards and also epito-
mizes the beautiful, subtle and understated
aesthetic that makes Japanese art outstanding.
I wish to thank my wife, Cornelia, and everyone
else who made this catalog possible; in particular
our photographer, Cem Yücetas, who traveled
from Germany to photograph the collection, for
his patience and perfectionism, and especially
our designer in Frankfurt, Valentin Beinroth, for his
clean design, attention to detail, and perseverance.
Erik Thomsen
New York, March 2009
Screens
6
1
Hasegawa School, anonymous artistFlowering Wisteria
Edo period (1615 –1868), 18th century
H 64 ¾" × W 145 ¼"
(164.5 cm × 369 cm) each
Pair of six-panel folding screens
Mineral pigments, ink and gofun on gold leaf
A remarkable pair of six-panel screens with a
luxurious detailed display of the flowers and wild-
life of late spring. The focal point of the screens
is unmistakably centered on a glorious proliferation
of flowering wisteria plants. In the left screen, the
wisteria plants grow over a bamboo lattice and
fence, seeming to overpower the structure with
their exuberance. In the right screen, the wisteria
flowers appear from behind a garden fence and
grow by an aged pine tree in the garden. In both
screens, we see an interesting contrast between
the domesticated and the wild, the garden and
nature: the two worlds seem to overlap and in-
teract with each other and the artist deliberately
leaves the boundary between them ambiguous.
Other plants appear as well, such as the low-lying
bamboo in the left screen and a splendid growth
of tree peony (shakuyaku) in the right screen. The
two screens are linked by the depiction of a pond,
within which we see lovingly detailed groups of
the flowering water lilies (hitsujigusa).
This luxurious hideaway from society is visited by
various flying objects: the screen to the right by
three red-breasted Daurian Redstarts (jōbitaki) and
the left screen by several types of butterflies. They
seem to thoroughly enjoy their private place of
refuge. The butterflies can be seen playfully flying
together, and, splashing into the water, a bird forms
delightful finger-like patterns of water around it.
The two right-most panels of the left screen reveal
a virtuosic brush display by the artist, as he lovingly
created a network of wisteria vines that seems to
want to take flight, reaching out for the flying but-
terflies just beyond its reach.
This glorious pair of screens is made in the eigh-
teenth century by an anonymous artist. Judging
from the style of the work and the luxurious use of
mineral colors, the artist may have been part of a
workshop that produced screens for the interiors
of the wealthy: the merchant houses, restaurants,
temples, and homes of the aristocracy. With periodic
fires being a fact of urban living in pre-modern
Japan, there was always a market for refined works
of art to place within architectural interiors. At
peace and with a mostly flourishing commerce,
eighteenth century Japan underwent an especially
rich flowering of its arts and culture, and this paint-
ing bears evidence to its riches in both the use
of luxurious materials and in the sheer energy of
expression.
Other examples of wisteria screens with similar
compositions can be seen in the Nihon byōbue
shūsei. According to Nakajima Junshi such screens
date from the eighteenth century. In fact, all the
screens (including the present screen pair) may
stem from the same source, one that Nakajima
ascribes to »mid-Edo variations of the Hasegawa
School.«1 The existence of an additional wisteria
screen pair of earlier date signed Hasegawa Sōen
(ac. 17th century), in the collection of the Seianji
Temple 盛安寺 in Shiga Prefecture, further heightens
the likelihood that the present pair of screens was
created by a follower of the Hasegawa School.2
7
12
2
Yamaga Seika 山鹿清華 (1885 –1981)
Painting of a Cuckoo 「かんことり図」
Meiji period (1868 –1912), 1911
H 52 ¾" × W 110 ¼"
(134 cm × 280 cm) each
Pair of six-panel folding screens
Mineral pigments and ink on gold leaf
Signed: Seika 清華Seals: Seika 清華
Box inscription, outside: Kankotori zu »Painting of a
Cuckoo« かんことり図
Box inscription, inside: »Exhibited at the fifth Bunten
exhibition and exhibited at the World Exposition
in Amsterdam, Holland« 第五回文部省美術展覧会出品、和蘭國 アムステルダム万国美術博覧会出品.
»Dated the seventh month of 1911, [signed] Seika«
明治辛亥初秋 清華
Published: Shinbi Shoin 審美書院 Monbusho
daigokai bijutsu tenrankai zuroku 文部省第五回美術展覧会図録. Tokyo: Shinbi Shoin 審美書院, 1911.
Also published in: Nittenshi Hensan Iinkai
日展史編纂委員会, Nittenshi 日展史.
Tokyo: Nitten 日展, 1980 –.1
The painting offers a magnificent display of Cryp-
tomeria trees (Sugi) spreading across two six-fold
screens. The detailing is remarkably realistic and
gives a striking sense of depth, due to carefully cal-
ibrated variations in colors. The trunk of the tree is
marked with the ravages of time, giving the impres-
sion of an old and mighty tree, deep in the forest.
Hidden among the branches of the tree a bird can
be seen, the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus),
in Japanese Kakkō or Kankodori.2 The artist chose
the latter reading for the bird, a name which also
can be translated as »high mountain bird« and which
has clear poetic connotations. The bird has a long
tradition in Japanese poetry, appearing not only in
classical Heian-period waka poetry but also in
early modern haiku. Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 94), for
example, wrote a poem on the bird:
»Your song caresses / the depths of loneliness /
high mountain bird.«3 The artist successfully creates
a visual connection to such poems and to a rich
tradition of the cuckoo within Japanese literature.
As written on the inside cover, this work was
exhibited in the fifth national Bunten exhibition in
1911.4 In the following year, it was then exhibited
in Amsterdam at the International Exhibition of
Contemporary Art (Internationale Tentoonstelling
van Hedendaagsche Kunst), held at the Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam, in 1912.5 It was one of few
paintings at the time to win great honors in both
Japan and the West, a fact which led Seika to write
his proud inscription on the box cover.
The artist is Yamaga Seika (1885 –1981), who was
born in Kyoto Prefecture.6 He, as many others of
his generation, went to Tokyo to be educated in
painting, studying under Nishida Chikusetsu 西田竹雪 in 1900 and then two years later under the re-
nowned Kamisaka Sekka 神 坂 雪佳 (1866 –1949).7
After placing the present painting in the Bunten and
then subsequently in an international exhibition in
Amsterdam, he painted other large works, among
which a pair of screens with the title Shirakanba
シラカンバ was exhibited in the first Seibu Tenrankai
of the National Art Association in 1913. This pair
of screens, which was published in the exhibition
volume, exhibits composition and execution similar
to the Cuckoo pair: in both the focus is on isolated
groupings of trees of the same species, created
with exquisite details and set against a simple
gold-leaf background.8
It is unusual for an artist to completely change his
field, especially after early success; having suc-
cessfully participated in national and international
exhibitions and achieved nationally-recognized
status. However, this was the case with Yamaga Seika,
who, after achieving a breakthrough with this paint-
ing in 1911 and 1912, chose to leave the field of
Nihonga painting completely. Seika became one of
13
the few Japanese artists who was able to create
first-rate works in a number of different fields. After
his success in Nihonga he went on to become one
of the leading textile designers and experts of the
twentieth century, amassing an impressive trail of
awards and achievements.
Seika’s participation in national exhibitions in his
second field of textile design is nothing but
astounding—entries in over thirty major national
exhibitions between 1911 and 1957.9 He also
became an exhibition judge of the Teiten in 1932,
the Shinbunten in 1943, and a member of the
Nitten in 1950 and kept a close connection to the
latter through a number of executive positions.
Seika also took part in numerous overseas exposi-
tions and won the grand prize at the Paris Inter-
national Exposition in 1925.10 An authority on tex-
tiles and textile design, he also left a number of
publications behind him.11 He ended his long
illustrious career with some of the highest honors
bestowed on Japanese artists, being named a
Person of Cultural Merit (Bunka Kōrōsha 文化功労者)
in 1969 and awarded the 3rd Class Grand Cordon
of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Kunsantō
zuihōshō 勲三等瑞宝章) from the Emperor in 1974.
The present screen holds an important place in
his illustrious career as it was the first public sign
of success that marked his start as an artist: this
was the first of his artworks to be accepted by a
national exhibition and to be seen by the general
public.
18
3
Tsuji Kako 都路華香 (1870 –1931)
Young Pines
Taishō period (1912 – 26), circa 1920
H 53 ¼" × W 106"
(135.5 cm × 269.5 cm) each
Pair of six-panel folding screens
Ink on gold leaf
Signed (right screen): Kakō kore egaku »Kakō
painted this« 華香画之.
Seals: To Yoshikage In »the seal of To Yoshikage«
都良景印, Kakō 華香Signed (left screen): Kakō ga »Painting by Kakō«
華香画.
Seals: To Yoshikage In »the seal of To Yoshikage«
都良景印, Kakō 華香
Many rows of young pines march across this pair
of screens, in a exuberant celebration of the New
Year. A Japanese custom of the season is to place
decorations with young pine seedlings, known as
kadomatsu, at entrances of homes to bring good
luck in the new year. Here the artist has placed a
great multitude of pine seedlings, seeming to bring
a prodigious amount of good fortune in the new
year for the owner screen's owner.
The artist, Tsuji Kakō (1870 –1951), has placed the
pines, the sole decoration of the screens, entirely
within the lower half of the screen, thereby focus-
ing our attention to the plants and the unusual
composition of the screens. Following the exam-
ples of other screens by this noted artist, the plants
are abstracted repetitions of each other, varying
only in the intensity of ink density. These plants
appear in groups, streaming across the screens in
currents, close to and far from the viewer.
A further interesting characteristic of the screens is
the brush technique. Large-scale screens were typi-
cally drawn while the mounted paper was lying flat
on the floor. The artist has, however, placed the pa-
per on a slanted surface for the drawing of the pine
trunks, so that the ink could collect in pools at the
bottom of each plant. This was by no means an easy
task, as too great a slope of the paper would let
the ink spill down the screen. This effect may seem
unimportant but it fulfills two important goals: the
many pools of ink have the effect of reinforcing
the theme of repetitions across the screen surfaces
and also to anchor the pines more firmly in the
gold ground: thanks to the pools of ink, the pines
curiously do not appear to float in space, but rather
seem firmly planted into the frosty winter earth.
Tsuji Kakō is one of the most celebrated Nihonga
artists of the twentieth century and has long been
well represented in Western collections.1 The
Griffith and Patricia Way Collection,2 for example,
contains several outstanding works by this remark-
able painter, who succeeded more than almost
any other Japanese artist of his time in combining
Japanese painting tradition with modernist ideas
of art. The abstraction of simple motifs was a theme
that again and again found representation within
his works—in this work, certainly, with young pines,
but also in other key works with bamboo plants,
ocean waves, and even flying ducks.3 He has found
acceptance in Japan as well, and the recent im-
portant retrospective exhibition of his works at the
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (2006) is
but one indication of the growing world-wide rec-
ognition of Kakō’s place among the great Japanese
artists of the modern era.
19
24
4
Minakami Taisei 水上泰生 (1877 –1951)
Melting of the Snow 「雪解け」
Taishō period (1912 – 26), circa 1920
H 66 ½" × W 147 ¾"
(168.7 cm × 375 cm) each
Pair of six-panel folding screens
Mineral pigments, ink, gofun and
gold on silk
Signature: Taisei 泰生. Seals: Kōjundōjin 廣純堂人
The artist presents the viewer with a tour-de-force
nature study of a mountain meadow at the time
of melting snow. Among the rough forms of the
mossy rocks, we see snow banks melting by a
profusion of new plants. Among others we see the
bramble ( ibara), mountain mandarin orange
(yama tachibana), Amur Adonis (fukujusō), ferns
(shida), violet (sumire), magnolia (kobushi), spindle
tree (mayumi), pine (matsu), bamboo grass (sasa),
bamboo (take), pampas grass (susuki), and a
creeper (kazura).
The title yukidoke—Melting of the Snow—is a term
that has been used in the visual arts and in litera-
ture as a point of change that marks the end of
the cold and the approach of spring. As such, the
painter’s theme plays within long Japanese tradi-
tions. The execution of the painting, however, is
daringly unconventional and anything but tradi-
tional. The rocks, in particular, are painted with a
mixture of techniques unusual for Nihonga paint-
ings: for example, tarashikomi (dripped pigments),
hatsuboku (»broken« ink), varied gofun applica-
tions, accentuated brush marks, and the application
of thick layers of pigments. The rocks appear in an
imaginative new mixture of Japanese techniques
with the new abstracted art images imported
from European artists. Through the combination
of numerous techniques and daring experimenta-
tion, the rock surfaces now appear to be wet with
moisture, almost as if they were streams of water,
adding to the sense of the snow melting and of the
imminent arrival of spring.
The artist, Minakami Taisei (1877 –1951), was a
native of Fukuoka in Kyūshū. He studied in Tokyo,
graduating from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in
1906, and then continued his studies under Araki
Bokusen and Terazaki Kōgyō (1866 –1919) before
returning to Kyūshū. Teaching at a local college,
he started a parallel career as a painter, submitting
works to exhibitions, both in Japan and abroad.
After his resounding success in exhibitions and
universal critical acclaim, he decided in 1916 to re-
sign his teaching position and move back to Tokyo
where he became active as a leading painter until
the end of his life.1
His works entered the Bunten exhibitions six times
and the Teiten twelve times, in addition to a number
of other exhibitions.2 In time, he also became an
exhibition judge and was accorded special status.
He submitted a large-scale work Ryūkyū Flowers,
a pair of screens depicting tropical plants from
Okinawa, to the Panama-Pacific International Expo-
sition in San Francisco in 1915, where it received
a prestigious gold medal.3 Eugen Neuhaus, then a
professor at UC Berkeley, highlighted the work in
his book on the exposition:
The two sixfold screens by Taisei Minakami …are
probably the most magnificently daring examples
of modern Japanese art. … Acutely observed …
very daring in color …exhaustingly beautiful. The
spacing of the design, the relative distribution of
the few daring colors against a gold background
of wonderful texture, combine in a picture of great
vitality.4
These qualities of acute observation, daring display,
and great vitality can also be seen clearly in Melting
of the Snow. The screens with their exciting display
of forms and colors highlight the expressive powers
of a superb artist at the peak of his powers. They
never fail to excite and reward the viewer who gives
them yet another look, from up close or from afar.
25
30
5
Hirai Baisen 平井楳仙 (1899 –1969)
Kyoto in the Winter
Taishō-Shōwa periods, 1920s
H 67 ¼" × W 148 ½"
(170.5 cm × 377.5 cm) each
Pair of six-panel folding screens
Colors, ink, and gofun on paper
(Left screen) signature: Baisen 楳仙.
Seal: Baisen 楳仙
(Right screen) seal: Baisen 楳仙.
This pair of screens offers a spectacular view of
Eastern Kyoto in the winter. The artist has taken the
two best-known sites of the eastern part of the city,
Kiyomizu Temple and Yasaka Pagoda, and placed
them into his new, highly original vision of Kyoto.
We see the two famous sights and also the shop-
lined streets that join them, such as the Ninenzaka,
Chawanzaka, the Sannenzaka; in addition, the roofs
of Jojuin Temple can be seen, just to the left of
Kiyomizu Temple. All store roofs are covered with
snow and the streets appear on the screens as if
they were the backbones of large, white creatures.
In the snow we can also distinguish the rows of
cherry trees, now in the depths of winter. And
overall we see the falling of fresh snow, in the form
of drops of gofun, finely ground seashell powder,
against a dark sky painted with ink wash. When
looked at from a low perspective, as they were in-
tended to be seen, the screen pair reminds one of
looking out of a window in the early morning with
awe after a silent all-night snowfall has magically
transformed the landscape outside. One can sense
the weight of the heavy, snow-laden gray clouds
above and the silence of the snow-covered moun-
tain below them.
Without the iconic image of Yasaka Pagoda on the
left screen it would be very difficult to place this
view—one would almost be tempted to place it in
Yoshino or other parts of Japan. The placement of
the pagoda works as a memory marker: the rest
of the image is then placed into order, in context
of the site we recognize from our visual memory.
The screens work on overturning expectations: we
expect to see Kiyomizu with the lattice-like scaf-
folding of the Main Hall; we also expect to see the
many cherry trees of the area in full bloom—he art-
ist now shows a tantalizing glimpse of one and the
snow-laden branches of the other. We also expect
to see colorful streets, plants, flowers, and architec-
ture, but instead see a view composed almost en-
tirely from the monotones of ink wash. Also, instead
of the densely-built, tourist-infested tourist sites
that we are familiar with, we are now given a poetic
reworking of reality: here is a refined view of Ja-
pan’s architectural past set within new contexts—the
sites as they interact with the elements of nature.
An intellectual painter, Hirai Baisen (1899 –1969)
was at the cutting edge of the twentieth-century
Nihonga movements during his early years.1 He was
highly interested in the histories of institutions,
especially those of temples, as can be seen from his
many works on these themes.2 He was also keenly
aware of Japanese art history, a fact that comes
across clearly in this screen, with its evocative ech-
oes of past masterpieces, such as the handscroll
by Yosa Buson (1716 – 83), Snowclad Houses in the
Night (Yashiki rōdaizu 夜色楼台図, Miho Museum) 3.
We see here the same rooftops, the rolling hills in
snowy white, the gofun spattered snow, and the
mottled ink wash sky as in the Buson masterpiece.
The painter also refers back to the many screens of
the famous sites of Kyoto, the Rakuchū rakugaizu
screens, with their sites separated from each other
by gold clouds, here replaced by banks of snow.4
The screens are a testament to the genius of Baisen
as he revisits the iconic masterpieces of the past
and then successfully reworks them into a new
vocabulary of his own.
31
Paintings
38
6
Ito Jakuchu 伊藤若冲 (1716 –1800)
Chicken by a New Year’s Cask
Edo period (1615 –1868), 1793
H 41 ¼" × W 11 ½" (incl. mounting 76 ½" × 17")
(105 cm × 29.2 cm, 194.5 cm × 43 cm)
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Signature: Beito’ō gyōnen hachijūsai egaku
米斗翁行年八十歳画 »Old man Beito painted this
in his eightieth year of his life«
Seals: (Top) Tō Jokin in 藤女鈞印
»The seal of Tō Jokin«,
(Bottom) Jakuchū koji 若冲居士
»The lay monk Jakuchū«
Inscription (on painting): »So beautiful / the water
that springs / from these chicken«
美や此鶏よりあふて水若き
Signed: Seki Musan 石無賛
Inscription (on box, front): »The roughly festive
chicken by old man Itō Jakuchū (sic)«
伊藤若仲翁粗祝鶏
Inscription (on box, back): »The character chū (sic)
is written chū (correct). Signed Arifumi on the third
month of 1860« 仲者冲也 庚寺申三月春有文「印」
A rooster balances himself on the edge of an
empty cask that has been decorated for the New
Year. A flock of chicks look on from the rim and a
hen regards her mate apprehensively from below.
The rooster is drawn in a range of ink tones, pat-
terns, and techniques and clearly takes the center
of the stage with his acrobatic feats. The hen, in
contrast, is outlined in a wavering ink stroke and
completed with thin, finely-drawn features.
Jakuchū’s chickens, whether posturing males or
timorous females, never appear as static figures;
they are always shown in a dynamic state and relate
to each other. That is also the case in this painting,
in which the composition hinges on a line that can
be drawn from the rooster to the hen; one that is
neatly intersected by the three chicks in the middle.
This line forms the central point of tension within
the painting, and the artist, in order to emphasize
this focal point, depicts the hen looking up toward
the rooster, the gaze, in effect, reinforcing this line.
The ink tones are expertly varied, even within indi-
vidual lines: for example, how ink of darker tone is
drawn into the rope that holds the cask together
or the legs of the rooster, and how the fine texture
of the fern branches are emphasized with expertly
applied ink modalities. Not only are the finer, care-
ful ink details planned, but flamboyant touches are
created in a seemingly spontaneous manner, such
as the striking whip-like strokes of dark modality
that form the rooster’s tail feathers. The very varia-
tion of ink, such as in the body of the rooster, cre-
ates an exciting set of patterns that work together
in defining the shape of the animal beneath it.
There are other examples with similar compositions
and representations of Jakuchū’s chickens; the topic
seems to have been a favorite one for the artist and
his friends.1 This particular work was created at the
end of his life, when he was leaving much of the
daily business of his Fushimi highway shop to his
students and was largely free to visit friends and to
take part in meetings of cultural salons.2 A number
of the paintings at the time were planned so that the
inscriptions of friends could be inserted. The pres-
ent case seems be such a work, where the painting
was completed in a communal setting. After
Jakuchū drew his painting, Seki Musan inscribed
the painting with a poem that described the com-
position and how the beautiful chickens will bring
forth the water in the empty cask.3 Judging from
the decoration on the container, this collaborative
work may well have been created at a New Year's
gathering in Jakuchū’s eightieth year.4
40
7
Ito Jakuen 伊藤若演 (ac. late 18th – early 19th centuries)
Rooster on a Lantern
Edo period (1615 –1868), circa 1800
H 44 ¼" × W 15 ¾" (incl. mounting 74" × 20 ¾")
(112.5cm × 40 cm, 188 cm × 53 cm)
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Seals: Tō Gaji jinju 藤雅時人寿, Jakuen 若演
A rooster has flown up to a hanging lantern and
is surveying its domain. There is a certain tension
in the bird’s position as the lantern appears to
be swaying under the sudden weight of the bird:
it leans to one side, and the fine line of the rope
receding toward the top of the painting makes it
appear as if the lantern is swinging toward the
viewer. The sense of controlled tension—of balance
within imbalance—makes this painting appealing
and exciting to the viewer.
The painter Jakuen forms one of the mysteries
surrounding the great eighteenth-century painter
Itō Jakuchū.1 From their painting style, techniques,
and motifs, even their names (both using the same
character »jaku«), we know that there was a close
connection of some kind.2 The questions center on
how this connection was formed and on the iden-
tity of Jakuen, who clearly was a talented artist with
social connections. We know that he took part in
group projects and that he was versatile in both ink
and color, creating works on both paper and silk,
just like Jakuchū. He also created time-consuming
large-scale works, such as large paintings and
screens.3 We know from documents that Jakuchū
had a number of apprentices—was Jakuen one of
these? Or was he one of the higher-placed persons
to whom Jakuchū taught painting? Hopefully these
questions will be solved over time.
For now, it is instructive to notice the techniques
that Jakuen used, and to then compare them
with Jakuchū, his likely master. In this case we are
fortunate to have images of both artists in this
exhibition, both on the same theme. The technique
of adding ink of darker modality to lighter lines can
be seen in both paintings, here in the ascending
rope and the talons of the rooster. The technique
of sujimegaki, of adding lines of like density ink
on top of each other—a technique that Jakuchū
brought to its perfection—is also seen here, used
most effectively in the windows, roof, and base of
the lantern. The understated use of the technique
in the window latticing is executed in a discreet
and sophisticated manner. The strong dark brush
lines for the tail have little of the tour-de-force
effect we see in Jakuchū; with Jakuen such lines
are more controlled, with an emphasis on creating
patterns and expressing refined order. While the
two artists used many of the same techniques, in
the end they created works of art quite different
from each other.
Clearly it is not enough to think of Jakuen as a mere
imitator of Jakuchū, and this has increasingly been
the consensus of both scholars and collectors over
the last few years. More and more objects by Jakuen
are being discovered and introduced—including
the present work, a newly discovered Jakuen paint-
ing in its first public viewing. Collector Joe Price
was one of the pioneer promoters of Jakuen and
his recent catalog, with five outstanding works by
Jakuen, stands as a testament to his vision and also
to the future appreciation of this painter, no matter
his true identity.4 Through the active research into
such works, we may well eventually solve some of
the mysteries surrounding this fine artist.5
42
8
Miyoshi Joka 三好汝圭 (1765 –1842)
Exotic Birds and Grapes
Edo period (1615 –1868), dated 1805
H 52 ½" × W 18" (incl. mounting 82 ¼" × 26 ½")
(133.3 cm × 45.5 cm, 209 cm × 61.3 cm)
Hanging scroll, colors and ink on silk
Signature: »Joka, the winter of Bunka 2 (1805)«
文化丑乙小春汝圭Seals: Joka and Tafuku 汝圭, 太復 Box inscription: »Painting of grapes by Joka«
葡萄図 汝圭
A pair of red-billed blue magpies (Urocissa eryth-
rorhyncha) appear feasting on clusters of grapes
on heavily-laden grapevines, twisting across the
surface of the painting.1 The male spreads himself
out with his long and distinctive tail feathers in the
center of the painting, while the female appears
to the lower right, seeming to offer a grape to her
mate. The pair looks at each other across the center
of the painting, an act that further serves to unite
the diagonally-based composition.
Joka was an Edo artist, born and bred in the capital
city, and was active in the cultural world of the 18th
and 19th centuries. He was, for example, a friend
of Tani Bunchō (1763 –1840) and was included in
the latter’s circle of important cultural figures. The
circle of artists around Bunchō collaborated at a
number of group projects such as the Meika kōsō
名花交叢, an anthology of flower designs published
in 1805. The images for this volume were designed
by many of the leading painters of the day, includ-
ing Sakai Hōitsu, Tani Bunchō, Bunchō’s son Tani
Bun’ichi, and others, including Joka.2 The publica-
tion of this work in 1805 was coincidentally the
same year as the creation of this painting of birds
and grapes.
The biographical records of Miyoshi Joka show
that he—in the tradition of Itō Jakuchū (1716 –1800)
and others—started his career as a self-taught paint-
er, learning his skills by copying imported paint-
ings from China dating to the Ming and Qing
periods.3 The skills of the artist can be gauged by
the present painting, which shows him adeptly
creating a composition of exotic birds and grapes.
As both the birds and the grapes were decidedly
non-native to Japan, the statement was clearly one
of China, and meant as an expression of apprecia-
tion of Chinese culture, a feature shared by many
intellectuals and artists of the day.
The grape was native to neither Japan nor China,
but rather came from Central Asia. Due to its twist-
ing vines and clusters, it proved from early on to
be an ideal plant with which to decorate objects,
from rims of silver cups to the bases of bronze Bud-
dhist statues. In due time, it also became a topic
of its own, appearing as the subject of Chinese
artists such as Wen Riguan (? – circa 1297), Lu Ji
(circa 1440 –1505), Xu Wei (1521– 93) and others.
Japanese artists, in turn, took images of grapes
not from life but rather from other paintings, and
a thriving tradition in depicting the grape developed
in Japan over the centuries. A notable example
from the eighteenth century is Jakuchū’s Rokuonji
Temple wall paintings, in which the walls of an
entire room are decorated exclusively with grapes.4
44
9
Sakatani Hironaga 坂谷廣長 (1760 –1814)
Ota Sukenobu 太田資順 (1762 –1808)
Cuckoo in the Autumn
Edo period (1615 –1868), circa 1805 – 8
H 37 ¼" × W 12" (incl. mounting 70" × 16 ½")
(94.3 cm × 30.4 cm, 178 cm × 42.2 cm)
Hanging scroll, colors and ink on silk
Signed: »by the brush of Hironaga« 廣長筆Seal: Kei’i 桂意
The waka poem: Where the gathering clouds /
Spread like blankets / The cuckoo /
From time to time / Lets his voice be heard.
むら雲の たなびくにての 時鳥 たえだえにこそ 声もきこゆる
Sakatani Hironaga (1760 –1814) served together with
his father as an official painter to the shogunate
(oku eshi).1 The father was taught by the Sumiyoshi
school and the son by the father, leaving traces
of the Sumiyoshi school in the works of the son. In
this painting this influence can be seen in the thick
application of mineral colors and in the traces of
the handscroll format, such as the horizontal direc-
tions and the stylized clouds on the bottom right
corner of the painting. The striking composition is
unusual, with six different tree types at the bottom
and with the hototogisu, a small cuckoo, flying
above in the clouds.
This is a collaborative work, painted by the court
painter Hironaga with a waka poem brushed by
the daimyō Ōta Sukenobu (1762 –1808). Sukenobu
was the seventh head of the Ōta clan and the third
daimyō of the Kakegawa domain in present-day
Shizuoka prefecture.2 As a daimyō, Sukenobu was
required to reside regularly in Edo, and it is likely
that this work was created in the city at one of the
many salons that flourished around literary daimyō
lords. Sukenobu was also an imperial courtier with
the rank of Senior Fifth grade, Lower Rank and
designated the Lord of Settsu (従五位下摂津守).
The painting is a visual form of the poem, with a
cuckoo flying above the banks of clouds. The
cuckoo, a small bird with a piercing and plaintive
cry, was thought to be able to sing only when
flying—hence the depiction of the bird in flight. The
painting and poem describe the splendor of long-
ing: of hearing a long-lost voice that reverberates
in the misty clouds of the wilderness. The autumnal
feel of the landscape further accentuates the
sense of loneliness.3
The late-Edo period box is inscribed by a previous
owner, Hisakata 久堅, who lists the two collabora-
tors on the cover. He also describes the occasion
of the painting coming into his possession, though
the name of the gift giver unfortunately has been
crossed out, most likely to protect his or her identity
as the scroll left the family. As Sukenobu attained the
rank of Daimyō in 1805 and passed away at the young
age of 47, only three years later, it is possible to date
the production of this work to the period 1805 – 8.
46
10
Kano Seisen’in 狩野晴川院 (1796 –1846)
Misty Cherry Blossoms 「霞櫻」
Edo period (1615 –1868), circa 1830
H 41 ¼" × W 16 ¼" (incl. mounting 71" × 19")
(105 cm × 41.4 cm, 180.5 cm × 48 cm)
Hanging scroll, colors, gofun, ink, and
gold on silk
Signature: »Brush of Seisen Yasunobu« 晴川養信筆Seal: »Seal of Yasunobu« 養信乃印
Box inscription: »Misty cherry blossoms by Kano
Seisen« 霞櫻・狩野晴川
The artist describes here the high point of the
yearly cherry viewing season. The fully opened
cherry blossoms cluster on the branches, and
slowly a few petals fall downwards—indications that
this moment of exquisite beauty will not last.
The artist created a detailed view of this very
moment, of the yearly ritual of cherry viewing that
is as much part of most Japanese’s lives today as
it was back in the early nineteenth century when
the painting was made. Cherry blossoms have
traditionally been depicted in a number of modes;
for example at night or with a slight breeze. The
present mode, in which the flowers are in a mist, is
perhaps the most poignant of these variations. In
this view, the cherry branches appear seemingly
out of nowhere and branches, trunks, and flowers
appear strikingly disconnected to each other as
the golden clouds bathe the composition in a soft,
warm glow.
The painter of this work, Kano Seisen’in
(1796 –1846), became the eighth generation head
of the Edo Kobikichō branch of the school.1 As the
official painter of the Shogunate (goyō eshi), he
had access to Edo Castle and to its storage rooms,
as well as to the upper echelons of military rulers.
He was richly endowed with honors and titles and
took on the title of hōgen in 1819 and the title of
hōin in 1834.
Judging from the luxurious composition and the
rich use of gold and pigments, the painting was
most likely a commission intended for a highly
ranked recipient. In any case, the moment the
painting was presented to its future owner almost
certainly coincided with the actual cherry-viewing
season. In this way, the glorious displays of cherry
trees in the gardens would vie with the poetically
rendered blossoms by Seisen’in, hanging inside
the room in its alcove.
48
11
Uchida Hirotsune 内田広恒 (fl. circa 1800 – 30)
Deer and Autumn Maples
Edo period (1615 –1868), circa 1820
H 22 ¾" × W 31 ¼" (incl. mounting 60 ¾" × 36")
(57.6 cm × 79.3 cm, 154 cm × 91.5 cm)
Hanging scroll, colors, ink, and gold on silk
Signature: Hirotsune ga 広恒画
»painted by Hirotsune«
Seal: Bunkyō 文卿
In this autumnal scene, a stag stands among grassy
hills, its head cocked, on the alert for danger. The
legs of the deer are restless, about to move at a
moment’s notice if needed, further emphasizing
the ephemeral quality of the scene. Colorful maple
leaves can be seen above on the tree to the upper
left; a few have fallen and can be seen near the
deer’s hooves.
The deer in autumn is a classic Japanese theme,
in painting as well as in literature, and numerous
famous poems refer to this combination, usually
referencing the plaintive cry of the lonely male
deer among the autumn hills.1 A number of artists
have imagined such scenes through the centuries,
and in this painting, the Sumiyoshi-school artist
Hirotsune reduces the scene to its barest essentials:
the hills, a tree, and a furtive deer.
The artist was a Sumiyoshi-school painter but painted
here with several Rimpa-school elements, includ-
ing the dripping-pigment technique tarashikomi
(where ink and pigments are dripped into still-wet
paints) on the deer’s back and on the maple tree
trunk; the lack of ink outlines and the fluid character
of the deer; the use of gold wash on the clouds;
and the traces of the brush left on the leaves and
the hilltops.2
This painting is an important reminder that for much
of its history the Rimpa was seen not as a school
but as a style that could be used by a wide range of
artists. It is also a reminder that Japanese artists of
the Edo period were typically versatile in more than
one style—and that the concept of painting schools,
into which we usually attempt to pigeonhole artists,
exists more as a convenient way to classify them,
and less as an expression of the works that they
actually produced.
As for the details of Hirotsune’s life, we know that
he was trained under Sumiyoshi Hiroyuki and that
he was active in the early half of the nineteenth
century.3 We also know that he was given commis-
sions for temples, possibly through his teacher’s
connections, including an extant narrative hand-
scroll in Jōsenji Temple 常宣寺 in Fukushima
Prefecture, a scroll titled Jōsenji engi emaki 常宣寺縁起絵巻 that depicts the origin of the temple
and the miraculous events that took place there,
including those related to its Amida figures. The
handscroll is depicted in typical Sumiyoshi-school
style, with rich mineral pigments and fine colorful
details, as in the present painting.
50
12
Fujiwara Hakuei 藤原伯英 (ac. 19th c.)
Successful Carps 「出世鯉」
Edo period (1615 –1868), circa 1865
H 38 ¾" × W 13 ¾"
(incl. mounting 73 ¾" × 17 ¼")
(98.7 cm × 34.7 cm, 187.5 cm × 44 cm) each
Pair of hanging scrolls, colors and ink on silk
Signed (on both paintings): By the brush of 67-year
old Hakueisai 六十七歳伯英斎筆Seal (on both paintings): Fujiwara 藤原Box inscription outside: »Painting of Successful
Carps by the brush of Hakuei«
Shusse koi no zu, Hakuei hitsu 出世鯉之図 伯英筆Box end: »Successful Carps, two scrolls, brush of
Hakuei« Shusse koi nifuku hakuei hitsu
出世鯉 二幅 伯英筆Poem and inscription inside box:
Looking at the river / the growing reflection / of the
moon in the spring 河みても 陰のふとりや 春の月Signed by the 72-year old Kaian Taimu
七十二翁槐庵大夢
The artist Hakuei depicts two carps in water in this
pair of paintings, one ascending a waterfall and the
other, on the left, looking on and preparing itself
for the jump. The fish are carefully rendered with
fine details of the scales. The waves, in contrast, are
more stylized, with regular patterns and translucent
sections.
Japanese paintings of carps and waterfall refer to
an old Chinese story of carps trying to ascend the
waterfall at Longmen. According to the legend, a
carp successfully swam up the Longmen Falls
(Dragon’s Gate), where it then transformed itself
into a dragon. This became in time a symbol for
perseverance and success, as climbing a waterfall is
no simple matter. The inner meaning of the paint-
ings is also reflected on the accompanying box title
»Painting of Successful Carps« or Shusse koi no zu.
The noted haiku poet Naoyama Sōshirō 直山宗四郎
(1794 –1874) has inscribed the box with a poem
that refers to the paintings.1 Although he describes
the growing spring moon, with its waxing image
reflected in the water, he also refers to the grow-
ing carps in the water, growing in both size and
achievement. The poet is an interesting example
of the samurai who became cultural figures of
their time. He became the leader of the account-
ing section of the Kaga Domain Daimyō and was
in charge of controlling the finances of the castle
and the considerable holdings of his lord. He gave
up his post, however, and started a school of his
own in Kanazawa, the castle town, and became
established as a major poet. He was a painter and
a student of the haiku poet Kaian Taijō 槐庵大常 and used the artist names Kaian Taimu (sixth gen-
eration) 槐庵大夢, Bōan 忘庵, and Nanmuan (third
generation) 南無庵. He compiled poem antholo-
gies, provided prefaces for numerous publications,
and wrote several major works of his own.2
The paintings are drawn in an interesting mixture
of styles, with the waves in a typical Kano genre
and the carp more in the Nagasaki School style, a
style favored, among others, by leading lords such
as Satake Shozan, the daimyō painter of Akita. The
artist certainly was a highly skilled painter, very
likely an amateur painter of high rank, as he had a
leading contemporary poet inscribe and sign his
work. A note in the scroll box attributes the paint-
ings to the leader of the Maeda family, the daimyō
family of Kaga Domain, who resided for a part of
the year in Kanazawa, the same town as the poet.3
This attribution, however, remains to be proved,
due to the lack of extant paintings with the present
name. If the attribution is correct, then the scene
could be imagined of the daimyō sitting down with
a former samurai vassal and collaborating on this
pair of paintings, wishing themselves—now both in
their old age—success in all new endeavors. As the
poet inscribed the box in 1865 at the very end of
the Edo period at a time of nationwide unrest, the
painting and its message of future success was one
with timely significance for both the intellectuals
and the leaders of Japan.
52
13
Nomura Bunkyo 野村文擧 (1854 –1911)
The Moon in the Rain 「雨中月」
Meiji period (1868 –1912), circa 1900
H 22 ¼" × W 33 ¼"
(incl. mounting 70 ¼" × 40 ½")
(56.5cm × 84.7 cm, 178.5 cm × 103 cm)
Hanging scroll, ink and gold on silk
Signature: Bunkyo 文擧Seal: Bunkyo no ga’in 文擧画印 Box inscription: »The Moon in the Rain« 雨中月
Nomura Bunkyo野村文擧
The artist Nomura Bunkyo reveals a dreamy
nocturnal scene of the moon veiled by rain clouds.
Although the theme may be simple, it is anything
but that in actual execution. The artist created the
moon by leaving the circular area free of ink and
pigment and surrounded it in wonderfully varying
intensities of ink wash. The ink is partially brushed
on and partially dripped onto the wet surface in
a tarashikomi effect. The lines of rain are partially
done in ink and partially in lines of shimmering
gold wash, going diagonally across the surface. The
body of dark clouds at the bottom left is balanced
with a light band of clouds in the upper right.
Depictions of the sun became popular in the
twentieth century, especially as the sun—long a
symbol of Japan—gained imperialistic overtones in
the growing movement towards war. Images of the
moon, however, were free of national symbolism
and the present image represents more an attempt
by the artist to depict a natural phenomenon as
realistically and movingly as possible within the
medium of painting. This he accomplishes remark-
ably well with just a few basic tools: the brush, ink,
and gold. Bunkyo creates a convincing and moving
image of great beauty, which is also endowed with
drama: we see the moon as it is being threatened
by the dark clouds coming in from the left. The
clouds seem to be forming the head of a gigantic
dragon, approaching from the left as if wanting to
devour the celestial body. The artist avoids giving
the composition a sense of gloom by leaving the
lower left corner unpainted: we sense that there is
hope after the storm and that eventually the moon
will shine again.
The artist was a major artist and teacher of his time
who influenced the art world of the Meiji period in
a number of ways. He came from a wealthy mer-
chant family in Gokasho, Shiga Prefecture, and was
fortunate in having a very fine group of teachers,
starting with Umekawa Tōkyo 梅川東擧 (1828 – 69),
an ukiyoe artist, then Shiokawa Bunrin 塩川文鱗
(1808 – 77), one of the great Meiji talents, then fin-
ishing up with Mori Kansai 森寛斎 (1814 – 94), who
worked in a wholly different manner. Combining
the teachings of his three teachers, he set out on
a life of teaching and production of art. He started
teaching at an art school in Kyoto and moved on
to the imperial university in Tokyo, the Gakushūin
学習院, where he became a professor. He taught,
among others, Yamamoto Shunkyo 山 本 春 挙
(1871 –1933), one of the founders of the modern
Kyoto art scene. He was also a regular exhibitor
at national exhibitions and became a judge for the
Bunten, starting with its second national show.
In addition, he was one of the three founders of
the influential Japanese Painting Association
(Nihongakai 日本画会).1
54
14
Arai Kou 荒井晃雨 (Ac. early 20th century)
The Jōruri Chanter at a Puppet Theater
Taishō period (1912 – 26), circa 1920
H 76" × W 42 ¼" (incl. mounting 116 ½" × 51 ¾")
(193 cm × 107.5 cm, 296 cm × 131.5 cm)
Hanging scroll, colors, gofun, ink and
gold on silk
Signature: Kōu 晃雨
Seal: Takako多加子Inscription: »Arai Kōu« 荒井晃雨
»Beautiful woman as puppeteer« 人形使ひ美人
In this oversized scroll a beautiful woman is seated,
hands folded, behind the stage of a bunraku theater.
She is taking a rest and wears a slightly melancholy
expression, the artist perhaps imagining the moment
after an exhausting performance or the nervous
moments before a challenging appearance. Behind
her, on the wall, is a program of the performances
of the day and, to the left, the two protagonists of
the play, a beautiful courtesan with an elaborate
hairdo and a finely-dressed samurai. The clothing
style of both figures indicates the Edo period, the
setting for most of the classical bunraku plays.
We know that the woman must be a jōruri chanter
from the songbook with notations placed in front
of her and that she also plays the samisen from
the instrument placed behind her and the samisen
equipment box placed next to her on the floor.
For most of the Edo period, the bunraku theater was
even more important than the kabuki theater and
most of the classic plays used on the kabuki stage
have their origins in the bunraku theater. Interest-
ingly the bunraku theater was not an exclusive male
world. For example, the Kiyomoto 清 元 School,
the main group of both jōruri chanters and samisen
players, had important female members and leaders.
Particularly famous are the two nineteenth-century
leaders Kiyomoto Enjudayū IV (1832 –1904) and his
wife, Kiyomoto Oyō (1840 –1901), the daughter of
Enjudayū II (1802 – 55). Both are thought to have
been among the greatest performers in the history
of the school; Oyō, in particular, is considered to
have been the greatest female jōruri performer and
composer in the history of the art form. In other
words, by placing a woman performer in this paint-
ing, the artist was not making a startling statement,
but was instead referring to a long tradition.
Of note, however, is the way that the artist is making
a psychological study. The mood of the woman
forms the central point of interest of the painting.
Just what brought forth this feeling is of course
part of the attraction of the painting: we do not
know. Also new is the startling color palette of the
painting: the combination of salmon pink, lime
green, faded purple and others would have been
unimaginable a few decades earlier. We clearly
see the influx of new ideas and techniques, many
coming from the West, that marks the interesting
creative impetus of the Taishō period. A recent
catalog has explored the visions of this era1;
this painting similarly illustrates the attempts by
Japanese artists to combine the modern with the
traditional, the West with Japan.
The artist is one of the many new artists springing
forth at this time. We know that she was a female
artist, named Arai Takako, and that her artist name
was Kōu, all from the information on the paint-
ing. We can surmise from her artist name that her
teacher could have been either Tasuku Kōriku
佐晃陸, Takei Kōriku 武井晃陸, or Hiroshima Kōfu
広島晃甫, three noted artists working in Tokyo at
this time.2 However, little more is known of the
artist, despite her obvious talents. As can be seen
in the aforementioned catalogue, there are defi-
nite limits to our knowledge of artists from this
period.3 For one thing, the great Kantō earthquake,
which marked the unfortunate end of the Taishō
era, killed a number of promising artists, along with
their documentary records. Despite the relative
proximity of this painting to our time, we may never
discover who created this melancholy beauty,
sitting backstage by herself.
56
15
Yamamoto Gempo 山本玄峰 (1866 –1961)
Long Life 「寿」
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), circa 1950
H 69" × W 36 ¾" (incl. mounting 90 ½" × 46")
(175 cm × 93.5 cm, 230 cm × 117 cm)
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Central character: kotobuki 寿 »Long life«
Seals: Rinzai seishū »Rinzai, the true sect« 臨済正宗,
Hannya kutsu »the cave of Hannya« 般若窟;
Gempō 玄峰
Outer scroll: Gempō Rōshi »Old Dharma Master,
Gempō« 玄峰老師 kotobuki« long life« 寿 Ryūtakuji-zō »collection of Ryūtakuji Temple«
龍澤寺蔵 Tsuda Kiraku tsuizen »for the memory of
old man Tsuda Kiraku« 津田喜楽翁追善
Box inscription: Hannya Daishi »the great master
Hannya« 般若大師 kotobuki »long life« 寿 Tsuda Kiraku bodai no tame »For the repose of old
man Tsuda Kiraku« 為津田喜楽翁菩提 Mitta shiki
»certified by Mitta [Nakagawa Sōen]« 蜜多識
Seals: Mitta 蜜多, Sōen 宋淵
[seals of Nakagawa Sōen]
Yamamoto Gempō is one of the towering figures
of twentieth century Zen Buddhism.1 Not a greatly
learned monk but a greatly charismatic one, he was
able to create great opportunities for the strength-
ening and expansion of Zen Buddhism before
and after the Second World War. Gempō became
known as the second Hakuin, and his life followed
the life of the great Edo period Zen master in a
number of ways. He was able to reach the masses
and earn their respect; he was a great temple
restorer, rebuilding a number of temples that
had fallen into disuse; he became abbot of the
Ryūtakuji Temple in Mishima; and he became
known for the many pieces of calligraphy and
paintings he created during his long life.
Like Hakuin, Gempō relied on the medium of the
brush to reach people, and many striking works
remain from his brush. Due to his near blindness,
he was only able to read and write with difficulty.
He turned to calligraphy at a late age and devel-
oped his own particular style, which relied on his
own sense of aesthetics and was unburdened by
the weight of tradition and rules. Being barely able
to see, he relied on large and vigorous move-
ments of the brush, and his characters have a raw
power of expression and persuasion, much like
the man himself.
The present work is a case in point. This is a huge
character for »long life« that seems to demonstrate
longevity by its prodigious size. The top half of the
character is created architectonically, with strong
parallel and perpendicular lines. The lower part,
however, loses all restraint and flies off in circles,
leaving traces of »flying white,« lines of unpainted
paper left between the brush hairs of the stroke.
The sheer strength it must have required of Gempō
is clear by the prodigious spattering of ink in the
area around the two lower seals. At the bottom of
the paper, a final, urgent gasp of the brush can
almost be heard as it goes over the edge to the
bottom, with its ink almost spent.
The paper was placed on the floor—we can see
the patterns of the tatami mats through the strokes—
and the monk must have stood above the paper
to be able to create the large brush strokes neces-
sary for a character of this size. As such it was
probably a public performance for a specific event.
The inscription on the outside of the scroll and
on the box mention a Tsuda Kiraku, with one stating
that the scroll was made for his repose and the
other stating that the calligraphy was made as a
memorial to this man; he may well have been a
local practitioner.
The scroll has been authenticated by Nakagawa Sōen
(1907 – 84), the monk who followed Gempō as the
abbot of Ryūtakuji. Sōen was a great leader himself
and became known as a haiku poet and a calligra-
pher in his own right.
Bamboo Baskets
60
16
Chikubosai I (1872 –1950)
Art Deco Karamono Basket
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), 1930s
H 22 ¾" × W 8 ¾"
(57.7 cm × 22 cm)
Ikebana flower basket, bamboo and rattan
Signed: Chikubōsai kore tsukuru
»Chikubōsai made this«
This large and imposing bamboo ikebana flower
basket has an ingenious geometry, starting out
square on the bottom, flaring out on the sides, and
ending up round on the top. The wide vertical strips
on the four edges were made with old bamboo
and add character to the body.
The bamboo strips forming the sides and bottom
are arranged in the sensuji-gumi or kushime ami
thousand-line construction. Arranged parallel, the
strips are reinforced with thicker bands of bamboo
strips on the inside. They are held together with
fine rattan strips, which are plaited in mat and cross-
stitch patterns. The sides are further reinforced
with an unusual diamond-shaped pattern, which
shows a strong art-deco influence.
The tall, elegantly curving handle is made of three
bamboo branches; fine rattan strips plaited in
beautiful patterns hold them together on the top
and connect the ends to the basket body. The entire
basket exterior was applied with a thin layer of
natural lacquer, which has gained a warm patina
over the decades.
The basket is signed on the bottom with an incised
signature reading Chikubōsai kore tsukuru or
»Chikubōsai made this«. It comes with a faceted
and lacquered bamboo otoshi tube to hold water
and flowers and with a fitted kiri-wood box.
Maeda Chikubōsai was one of the greatest bamboo
artists of the early twentieth century. He became
famous for having made presentation baskets for
the Imperial family in the early 1920s. His son,
Chikubōsai II (1917 – 2003), continued the tradition
and was named a Living National Treasure for the
bamboo crafts in 1995, a title he held until his
death in 2003.
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62
17
Chikubosai I (1872 –1950)
Square Karamono Basket
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), dated 1941
H 19 ½" × L 6 ¾" × W 6 ¼"
(49.5 cm × 17 cm × 16 cm)
Ikebana flower basket, bamboo and rattan
Signed: Chikubōsai kore tsukuru
»Chikubōsai made this«
Chikubōsai made this karamono-style bamboo
ikebana basket in a square tapered form using
split old bamboo arrows. The attractive handle is
made with old bamboo having a warm patina;
the top is held together with fancy plaiting, the han-
dle base cleverly incorporating bamboo rhizome
sections as supports. The rim of the body is plaited
with fancy ring-looping; the four side are plaited
along the top and bottom in the gozami ami mat-
pattern, supported in the middle by five rows of
cross-plaiting; the square bottom is plaited with
split bamboo in the yottsume ami square pattern
and supported diagonally by two bamboo strips.
One of these bottom supports bears the incised
signature »Chikubōsai kore tsukuru« or »Chikubōsai
made this«
Since Chikubōsai used old arrows and bamboo
material for the basket, the basket had a beautiful
patina already when he made it and even more so
today, almost 70 years later.
The basket comes with its original sugi-wood
tomobako box which is inscribed on the lid top:
Kodai ya-shiki hanakago or »Flower Basket in
the Style of Ancient Arrows«; on the reverse the lid
is inscribed: »A present for Mr. Ueda Saneyoshi
of the Nihon Bareisho Tamanegi Yushutsu Kumiai«
(»Japanese Association for the Export of Potatoes
and Onions«) and dated October, 1941; followed
by a further inscription by Chikubōsai: »I adapted
a basket with a handle into the form of an ancient
arrow and have made a new style of flower basket«,
dated by him to an autumn day of the 2601st year
of our empire (=1941) and signed Chikubōsai kore
tsukuru »Chikubōsai made this« with a square red
seal mark reading Chikubōsai.
For a very similar basket by Chikubōsai see Nihon
Keizai Shinbun, Inc., ed. Bamboo Masterworks:
Japanese Baskets from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection.
Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbun, Inc., 2003, item 33
on page 68.
63
64
18
Kyokushosai
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), circa 1940
H 23" × W 11"
(58.5 cm × 28.8 cm)
Ikebana flower basket, bamboo and rattan
Signed: Kyokushōsai saku
»Made by Kyokushōsai«
This fine ikebana basket shows off the artist’s skill
in mastering several beautiful plaiting patterns. The
middle band around the body has the distinctive
chidori ami or plover plaiting, using very fine bam-
boo strips which cross the surface diagonally. These
fine strips form delicate crosses, which resemble
tiny bird tracks on sand, hence the name. Above
this band the artist plaited bamboo in the Seikai ami
or wave plaiting pattern and below in the similar
matsuba ami or pine needle plaiting pattern.1
The tall elegant handle is unusual in the fact that
no bamboo is exposed, being entirely covered by
plaited rattan.
The basket is signed with an incised signature
reading Kyokushōsai saku or made by Kyokushōsai.
Little is known about this skilled artist; we only
know that he was active in the early Shōwa period.
For a basket with a similar combination of plaiting
patterns by Chikuryōsai, see Nihon Keizai Shinbun,
Inc., ed. Bamboo Masterworks: Japanese Baskets
from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection. Tokyo: Nihon
Keizai Shinbun, Inc., 2003, item 86 on page 113
65
66
19
Cicada Flower Vessel
Meiji period (1868 –1912), circa 1900
H 2 ¾" × L 8 ¾" × W 4 ¾"
(7 cm × 22.5 cm × 12 cm)
Ikebana flower vessel, bamboo, rattan and iron
Unsigned
Bamboo and rattan flower basket in the shape of a
cicada. The cicada body is made with rattan, which
was plaited in the gozame ami mat-pattern. The
delicate wings are plaited with very thin strips of
bamboo in the ajiro ami twill pattern and reinforced
with other rattan strips along the edges. The back
of the body has an elaborate decoration of rattan
strips, the legs are made of bamboo, rattan and
metal, the eyes of iron. It has an attractive patina
throughout. Designed for hanging on the wall, it
has a rattan hook on the back and comes with an
otoshi bamboo tube to hold water and flowers.
It has the original fitted kiri-wood box, which bears
a label reading »Semi hanaire« or »Cicada Flower
Vessel.«
The basket was intended for use during the summer,
when cicadas could be seen on vertical objects
such as trees and the sides of houses. The visual joke
of seeing the basket cicada hang on a wall or pillar
within the tea room would not have been lost on
the participants.
The basket is a karamono-utsushi or Chinese-style
basket. It was made by a skilled Japanese basket
maker to simulate a formal Chinese basket and was
most likely used in Japan for displaying flowers at
the Chinese-style sencha tea ceremony. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Chinese
art and the Chinese-style sencha tea ceremony
were very popular among the Japanese, and, as a
result, Chinese-style baskets were highly sought
after. As the Chinese prototypes were unsigned, the
Japanese karamono-utsushi baskets, such as this
one, were generally also purposely left unsigned.
However, bamboo artists who had attained fame,
such as Chikuunsai I and Chikubōsai I, signed all
their works, including their karamono utsushi.
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68
20
Iizuka Rokansai (1890 –1958)
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), circa 1941
H 3 ¼" × L 11 ¼" × W 13"
(8.5 cm × 28.5 cm × 33 cm)
Ikebana flower basket, bamboo and wood
Signed Rōkansai
Rōkansai plaited this flower vessel in a variation of
the yottsume ami square pattern using light-colored
bamboo. The shiny outer surface of the bamboo is
facing up except for four strips in each direction,
which face down so that he could incise his signature
onto a shiny surface, and so that the shiny strips
would be symmetrical. The basket is held together
into its shape with a wood branch, which has been
split to facilitate bending and which is held together
to the basket with narrow bamboo straps. The
bamboo strips and the distance between them are
purposely of varying widths. These factors make
the basket appear rustic and simply made, even
though every detail was in fact carefully planned by
the great master. The branch ridge is of a contrast-
ing dark brown color, as is the bamboo otoshi
flower holder, which has been shaved around the
outside and applied with dark brown lacquer on
all surfaces. The incised signature on the bottom of
the basket reads Rōkansai.
The basket is in the shape of a leaf-gathering scoop,
associating it for the Japanese with the autumn
season when they collect fallen leaves with similarly-
shaped tools. As the Japanese are highly conscious
of the seasons, this flower basket was used most
likely only during the autumn weeks, when leaves
were falling, and then packed away safely in its box
during the rest of the year.
It comes with its original fitted tomobako box, which
is made the way Rōkansai usually ordered, of sugi-
wood with beveled edges. It is inscribed on the
outside and signed on the inside »Rōkansai saku«
or »made by Rōkansai«; and sealed »Rōkansai.« The
signature and the red oval seal are consistent with
those illustrated for 1936 – 49 in Iizuka Rōkansai:
Master of Modern Bamboo Crafts (Tochigi Prefec-
tural Museum of Fine Arts, 1989), pages 118 –19.
For a very similar basket entitled »Minori« or
»Harvest«, see Rōkansai: Master of Modern
Bamboo Crafts (Tochigi Prefectural Museum of
Fine Arts, 1989), item 63 on page 92, dated
to circa 1941.
Rōkansai is widely acknowledged as the greatest
Japanese basket maker of the twentieth century.
The sixth son of the basket maker Hōsai I, he start-
ed out making intricate baskets in the karamono-
style but went on to develop many new ideas and
techniques. He pioneered modern bamboo crafts
and exerted great influence on numerous post-war
bamboo artists. His works are in the collections
of many institutions, including the Tokyo National
Museum of Modern Art and the Idemitsu Museum
of Art.
69
Ceramics
72
21
Shigaraki Jar
Muromachi period (1392 –1573), 15th century
H 20", D 16 ½"
(50.5 cm, 42 cm)
Shigaraki ware; stoneware with
natural ash glaze
This imposing Shigaraki jar has the features trea-
sured by Japanese collectors: a large tapered body
with strong shoulder and flared neck; copious
»wet« glaze running down the side; and exciting
surface details and colors. The glaze ranges in color
from olive-brown to green and in character from
the glossy, translucent, and crackled on the side to
the matte, rough, and sandy on the shoulder. The
body is reddish-brown, ranging from rich dark to
lighter hues. The clay has a large number of feldspar
and quartz inclusions, some of which have partially
melted and formed droplets on the surface. In
other places the stone inclusions have caused the
clay surface to burst and break off, forming jagged
patterns. The shoulder shows numerous traces of
the sand and pebbles that fell from the kiln roof
of the primitive anagama or »hole kiln« during the
firing process. There it mixed with the liquid glaze,
partially hindering its flow down the side of the jar.
Although the vessel had been turned on a rudi-
mentary potter’s wheel—we see the traces around
the center of the vessel and in the neck area—
the outlines of the coils used to form the vessel
can still be discerned, and there are unevenness
and imbalance within the structure of the jar.
This type of large rustic jar built on a monumental
scale were created at a number of kilns in me-
dieval Japan. Such jars were made for utilitarian
purposes, for the storage of food, seeds, and
other objects, and were a common feature of the
Japanese landscape. The Shigaraki pottery district
became one of the main producers of the jars, due
to its proximity to major population centers and to
its bountiful supplies of clay and pine, which were
the two necessary items for the production. The
jars were sold widely to farmers, merchants, and
religious institutions.1 The kiln was by all accounts
a success and has stayed a major producer of ce-
ramic goods, even down to the twenty-first century.
Early jars from this area, such as this one, embody
a sense of austere beauty and virtuosic display of
surface detail. Here we see many spectacular ef-
fects, such as firing spots, stone inclusions, natural
ash-glaze dripping, cracks, minor explosions, de-
bris dropped from the kiln roof, and various melted
minerals. The Shigaraki clay contained minerals,
pebbles, and other impurities, which would come
to the surface during potting. During firing they
would expand and contract at different rates than
the clay, thereby forming minor cracks and bursts
in the surface of the jar. The natural glaze produced
during firing was the result of the burning of pine,
the ashes of which would settle on the object
and turn into a glaze when a certain temperature
was reached. The present jar has extensive glaze
deposits on the neck and body of one side; this
was the side that faced the fire. The sheer quantity
of glaze indicates that there were no other objects
in front of it to deflect the ash; in fact, the jar may
have been on the first line of objects to be fired.
73
74
22
Bizen Shallot Flask
Momoyama-Edo periods, early 17th century
H 11", D 6 ½"
(28 cm, 16.5 cm)
Bizen ware; stoneware
Like the Shigaraki kiln, Bizen kilns have an early
origin in Japan’s ceramic history, going back to
at least the 12th century. Bizen became famous
for its unusual clay, which has a high iron content
and needs to be fired for a longer time than others.
The resulting stoneware is easily identified: the
color is reddish-brown, the surface is glossy, and
the burning marks are more pronounced than in
the pottery of other kilns. Due to the ease in creating
various burn marks, the potters of the area became
adept at producing them, by for example wrapping
objects in straw or seaweed or by placing objects
close to another during firing, resulting in interesting
surface patterns.
This particular flask is no exception and features a
lively surface action, including a number of mineral
inclusions, starbursts, cracking, traces of natural
ash, and various burn marks. It is heavy with a low
center of gravity and the surface color ranges from
red and dark brown to olive green. Whereas the
elegantly formed neck and mouth show traces of the
potter’s wheel, the rest of the flask surface has a
rough and scarred flavor. The bottom of the flask
reveals a potter’s mark, a common feature in early
Bizen area vessels: as the firing of Bizen clay was a
lengthy and costly affair, the kilns were communal
and were typically fired only twice a year. Due to
the large number of objects and potters, each pot-
ter left special marks on their vessels to distinguish
their works. Much research has been done to link
certain marks to specific periods and potters.1
This kind of Bizen flask is called rakkyō, or shallot,
due to its shape. Shallot flasks were used for sake
and were popular in the early 17th century and
a number of similar examples are extant.2 In fact,
there are more examples of sake flasks from Bizen
than from any other kiln of the time. This is partly
because the Bizen kilns were blessed with an excel-
lent transportation system: based close to the Seto
Inland Sea, the objects were easily transported by
boat widely across the coasts of Japan. Further-
more, the smooth surface of the objects, the rela-
tive heaviness of the clay, and the high firing and
density of the clay were all factors contributing to
their popularity. The surface and clay features also
kept the sake from seeping out through the clay, a
fact that was not lost on the sake-lovers of the time.
75
76
23
Okugorai Tea Bowl
Momoyama-Edo periods, early 17th century
H 3 ¼", D 6 ¼"
(8.5 cm, 16 cm)
Karatsu ware; stoneware with feldspar glaze
Box inscriptions:
(top:) Karamono Ido tea bowl 唐物井戸 茶碗(side:) Number 104, Ido 第百四号 井戸 Seal: Mitsu 光
This fine large tea bowl from the Karatsu kiln has a
number of interesting features. The form, first of all,
is based on earlier bowls from the Korean Penin-
sula, in particular on the Ido type. The bowl looks
plain and undecorated, but is actually carefully
thought out in detail and anything but spontane-
ous. A creamy feldspar glaze has been applied in
different thicknesses onto the reddish-brown clay
body, resulting in variations of hues, as well as in
dripping and pooling effects. A drop of glaze was
let into the foot and turned 180 degrees. Depend-
ing on the thickness of the glaze, the crackling
ranges from small to large, resulting in an interest-
ing visual pattern. Paradoxically, rusticity and spon-
taneity were the effects sought after in creating
this vessel. The bowl has undergone the ravages
of time, and there are small gold lacquer repairs
of chips and hairlines along the rim, as well as a
large gold lacquer repair that joined three broken
sections of the bowl. Judging from the wear and
slight shrinkage of the lacquer, the repairs go back
at least a century.
The Karatsu kiln has its origins back in the fifteenth
century, but did not achieve fame until the end of
the sixteenth century, when Korean potters were
forcibly resettled in the area after Hideyoshi’s inva-
sions of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean potters
brought with them expertise in seeking out the
right clays, high technical skills, and knowledge of
Korean ceramic objects. This proved to be an irre-
sistible combination for the tea-ceremony-crazed
daimyō for whom Korean tea bowls such as the Ido
type became models for the bowls created at the
revitalized Japanese kilns, such as the Karatsu.
At Karatsu they did this exceedingly well. In fact,
the bowls created here in the early seventeenth
century were so well made that they are some-
times hard to distinguish from those made on the
mainland. The present bowl is a case in point, for
the box belonging to the bowl has been mistakenly
inscribed »Ido« by two different collectors, one
with a seemingly large collection of tea utensils (as
this forms number 104 of his or her collection).
The differences are, in this case, the lack of the
iconic Ido-type crackling of glaze near the foot of
this bowl (though an approximation was attempted
with the varied layering of glaze), the lack of glaze
within the whole foot (again, glaze was let run
around, but not enough), the number of spur marks
(three here but four or more in the Ido), and the
shape of the foot (in this case, too deliberate).1 In
fact, it is better not to see this tea bowl as a mere
»copy« of a Korean tea bowl, but as an independent
achievement on its own. As such this striking work
of a highly skilled and inventive potter should be
celebrated as a great work of the Karatsu Okugōrai
type, created in response to Korean ingenuity and
Japanese tea ceremony aesthetics.
77
78
24
Kogo Incense Box Distant Landscape, without Compare 「永景無比」
Momoyama-Edo periods, early 17th century
H 1 ½", D 2 ½"
(3.9 cm, 6.2 cm)
Mino ware, Shino-Oribe type; glazed stoneware
Fitted kiri-wood box.
Box inscription: Shino Oribe kōgō 志野織部香合Box label:
名蓋書附 志野織部香 小文字 舟越伊予守 永景無比 もの也 卯二年 文月 古筆了信 琴山»With label reading: »Shino oribe incense box«
Belonged to Funakoshi Iyonokami and with the
name:
»Distant landscapes, without compare (Eikei muhi).«
Dated 7th month of the second year
(of Shōwa = 1927). Kohitsu Ryōshin.«
With »Kinzan« seal.
This fine incense box was made in the Mino area
north of Nagoya in response to orders from tea
masters during the highpoint of the tea ceremony
culture in the early seventeenth century. The round
box was carefully formed on the potter’s wheel,
leaving tell-tale traces on the inside and on the
finely formed circular foot. Likewise, the striking
concentric iron-oxide lines, two on the bottom half
and four on the upper, were applied by brush while
the object was turning on the wheel. The pattern
of cross-linked lines on the top simulates textiles,
a common feature among tea ceremony objects of
the time.1 The glaze is translucent with small and
large crackles. A number of similar objects and
designs from the early seventeenth century can be
found in literature.2
Raised droplets of glaze on the rims of the cover
and of the box indicate the »front« of the object,
the determining of which is important in the tea
ceremony, where the positioning of the object in
relation to its front (and back) is integral to the cer-
emony rituals. Likewise important was the naming
of the tea objects.3 According to the box label, this
object was given the name »Eikei muhei,« meaning
»distant landscape, without compare,« a name
that indicates the paradox of the tea ceremony,
where practitioners experience in a small room the
timeless and boundless ideal of tea—with William
Blake, »to see a world in a grain of sand and a
heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of
your hand and eternity in an hour.«4 In this sense,
it is precisely the smallness of the object that gives
it a sense of infinity in viewing a distant landscape.5
The name was probably also, at least partly, intended
as a joke: a grand name placed on a very small
object.
This incense box has been connected with two great
connoisseurs in the history of Japanese art working
centuries apart from each other. On the early
end is the great tea master Funakoshi Nagakage
(1597 –1670), also called Funakoshi Iyonokami.
A follower of Sen no Rikyū, he was active in the
Tokugawa shogunate as a tea master. According to
the box label, the incense box was in the collection
of Funakoshi, who also gave it its name. The other
expert is Kohitsu Ryoshin (1876 –1953), the last
member of the Kyoto branch of the great Kohitsu
line of calligraphy connoisseurs, famous for their
Kinzan seals (also seen on this label). From the
Meiji period the succeeding heads branched into
other forms of connoisseurship, including ceramics.
79
Lacquers
82
25
Ryoshibako with conch
Meiji period (1868 –1912), 19th century
H 4 ¾" × L 15 ¾" × W 12 ½"
(12.3cm × 40.1 cm × 31.6 cm)
Box inscription: takamakie akikusa hanazu bunko
高蒔絵秋草花図文庫
Large rectangular ryōshibako box for writing paper,
decorated on the outside with a conch horn in
takamakie high-relief gold lacquer with togidashi
details in silver black and red lacquers and an
inlaid solid silver mouth piece. The conch horn is
placed on a ground of very fine sprinkled nashiji
lacquer, applied on all surfaces. The simple out-
side decoration scheme is contrasted with a lavish
scene on the lid interior: five bell crickets gambol
amid a luxurious profusion of fall grasses and flow-
ers. All imaginable lacquer techniques are used in
the highly detailed and naturalistic rendering of
the autumn scene: takamakie high-relief leaves and
rocks with mosaics of inlaid kirigane gold foil piec-
es, the flowers in several hues of gold in takamakie
and hiramakie lacquer, the elderberry blossoms
with a nashiji base and gold details on top, and the
crickets in minute details, done entirely in takamakie
black lacquer. The inside surfaces are decorated
with okibirame,—individually inlaid flakes of gold
leaf—and the edges are in kinji gold lacquer.
The autumnal scene is described with the following
plants, flowering in the late summer and early
autumn: nadeshiko (wild pink), hagi (bush clover),
susuki (eulalia), kuzu (arrowroot), and kikyō (bell-
flower), among others.
The tasseled conch horn refers to the Yamabushi,
Japanese ascetic mountain priests who regularly
use such horns in religious rituals. The Yamabushi
perform major rituals in the autumn, for example
during the Dewa Sanzan pilgrimage, and have long
been associated with nature in the Japanese
mountainsides. Thus a connection can be made
between the outside and inside of the box.
Furthermore, the box is a good example of the
uramasari aesthetics in Japanese art. The term,
which can be translated »hidden decoration« or
literally »inner victory,« was originally used for
textiles. From the outside, a piece of clothing (e.g.
haori) could look simple, but when opened, would
reveal a complex, luxurious design. This is often a
characteristic in many fields of Japanese art,
including architecture: the artist hides the more
intricate and skillfully created sections from the
outside viewer and the inner riches are revealed
only upon entering the inner space. In the case of
the lacquer box, the relative simplicity of the
outside design was probably created in order to
increase the sense of delight upon seeing the inner
complexities. The cover with its slightly puzzling
object (what could be connected to a conch?)
might have been designed as a provocation to the
viewer—who would then open up and be dazzled
by the luxurious splendor of the autumn scene.
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84
26
Suzuribako with wisteria and full moon
Taishō-Shōwa periods, 1920s
H 2" × L 10" × W 9"
(5 cm × 25.2 cm × 22.7 cm)
Box inscription: »Writing Box« 硯箱
»Box number 56« 第硯ノ五十六号.Seal: Chō 長
This exceptional suzuribako writing box has been
decorated with blooming wisteria in various shades
of takamakie relief gold lacquer, which varies in
hue from green to reddish brown. The wisteria
leaves and blossoms appear on a bokashi ground
of sprinkled gold powder, which gradates from
almost solid gold to faint sprinkles of gold dust on
mirror-black. The wisteria design continues down
the sides, imparting a luxurious three-dimensional
motif to the writing box.
On opening the lid, the viewer is met by a striking
depiction of the full moon, created in the togidashi
lacquer technique. The silver full moon is contrasted
with several bright gold takamakie leaves of various
late spring plants, appearing against a roiro deep
black ground. The suzuri ink stone is covered with
thick gold lacquer on its top and sides and with
nashiji gold flakes on the bottom. The gold lacquer
ink stone and the accompanying solid silver suiteki
water dropper with its rectangular beveled edges,
creatively echo the interplay of gold and silver on
the inside cover. On either side of the ink stone are
rests for brushes and other writing tools, decorated
with gold lacquer plants. The overall effect is of
refined and controlled luxury.
The plants appearing on this writing box are care-
fully selected in order to fit a certain season, as is
often the case in Japanese works of art. The cover
is decorated with wisteria, which flowers during the
fourth month of the Japanese calendar. The plants
on the insides of the box also flower at this time;
however, the artist decided to show only the leaves
and not the flowers of these plants, possibly to
create a contrast with the rich, flowering wisteria on
the exterior. The plants shown are the mabushigusa,
a plant of the wild potato genus, the long stems
of the umanoashigata, and the fine patterns of the
nemunoki leaves. All plants live in the wild, in the
forests of late spring, and the artist has presented
a nicely calibrated contrast between the public
display of the wisteria on the cover of the box and
the inner private and poetic walk at night, through
the forest path lit by the full moon.
The rims of the writing box are fitted with bands of
solid silver and its bottom is sprinkled with fine
nashiji gold flakes. It comes complete with its original
protective outer box, featuring an inventory label
from the collector.
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86
27
Suzuribako with chrysanthemumsKiitsu 淇一 (ac. early 20th century)
Meiji-Taishō periods, 1910s
H 1 ½" × L 8 ½" × W 7 ¼"
(3.7 cm × 21.4 cm × 18.3 cm)
Box inscription, outside: On-suzuribako, kiku makie
御硯箱 菊蒔絵 (»Venerable writing box, chrysanthe-
mum gold lacquer«)
Box inscription, inside: Kiitsu 淇一
with seal, Kiitsu 淇一
The viewer is faced with a veritable symphony on
the theme of chrysanthemums, both outside and
inside the box.
The artist has highlighted his many skills in making
this superb writing box. The cover of the box is
decorated with two groups of chrysanthemums
with numerous flowers and buds, presented in
takamakie high-relief gold lacquer in two tones.
The leaves and the center of the flowers are
adorned with many inlaid squares of kirigane gold
foil. The flowers are placed on a bokashi ground
that gradates from almost solid gold to faint
sprinkles of gold powder on a roiro mirror-black
ground. Inside the box is an elaborate remov-
able tray that holds the suzuri ink stone and the
lozenge-shaped silver suiteki water dropper in a
chrysanthemum form—a finely chased work with a
gilt center. The tray has two pairs of bridges to
support the ink brushes, and the suzuri ink stone
is gilt on the top edges and decorated in nashiji
gold flakes on its other sides.
On the inside lid, the chrysanthemum are rendered
against a bamboo fence in takamakie raised gold
lacquer with fine details in inlaid kirigane gold foil
pieces on a bokashi gold powder and nashiji gold
flake ground. The inside and the bottom of the
box are with evenly sprinkled nashiji gold flakes;
the outside surfaces continue the decoration from
the lid top. Silver rims enclose this fine rectangular
lacquer box.
The chrysanthemum enjoys a number of sym-
bolic meanings in East Asia. The one that is refer-
eed to here is surely the Chinese poet Tao Qian
(365 – 427), who described, in a famous poem, the
chrysanthemum growing along his garden hedge,
a motif that became a symbol for the poet. In this
lacquer box we see Tao Qian’s flowers, recreated
1500 years after his death—perhaps as a tribute to
the poet by the lacquer artist.
The writing box comes with its original kiri-wood
tomobako box which is inscribed on the top and
signed on the inside by the artist Kiitsu with his
hexagonal seal. Lacquer scholarship has yet to find
biographical material on this outstanding artist,
who created his masterful appreciation of the
chrysanthemum flower.
87
88
28
Suzuribako with cranes
Taishō-Shōwa periods, 1920s
H 2 ¼" × L 9 ½" × W 8 ¾"
(5.5 cm × 24.3 cm × 22.2 cm)
A suzuribako writing box with a cover decoration
of five cranes by a meandering stream; the cranes,
four adults and one chick are shown in brightly
polished takamakie relief gold lacquer in three
different shades with hiramakie details on a roiro
mirror-black ground. The clouds are rendered
with nashiji and makibokashi details using very fine
gold powder, and the stream is crafted in togidashi
gold lacquer.
The inside of the writing box is depicted with a
design of a flowering plum tree and young pine
seedlings in takamakie with kirigane inlays and
striking mother-of-pearl inlays. A removable tray
holds the original suzuri ink stone, the rim of which
is ornately decorated in the oki-birame technique
with individually inlaid pieces of gold foil, and the
original mixed-metal suiteki water dropper in the
shape of the rising sun, partially hidden by clouds.
The inside and the bottom are decorated with
evenly sprinkled nashiji gold flakes and the rims
with kinji gold lacquer.
The cranes depicted on the cover of the box are
Nabezuru or Hooded Cranes (Grus monacha), a
type of crane that spends its summers in Siberia
and reappears in Japan, Korea, and China during
the winters. Arriving in the winter, it has become
one of many symbols of the New Year, along with
the rising sun, young pine seedlings, and the
flowering plum, all of which are included within the
design of this lacquer box. The New Year symbols
indicate renewal, a steadfastness of purpose, and
auspicious beginnings. All these can be seen in the
depiction of the cranes, where the idea of renewal
is literally shown with a newly born chick, protected
by the adults around it. Thus a wish for healthy
offspring accompanies the seasonal message,
conferring the writing box with numerous happy
meanings.
It is likely that this writing box was used at New
Year, perhaps in the ceremony of kakizome, an
important ritual for calligraphers performed on the
second day of the New Year. In this ceremony, the
calligrapher would be seated facing in an auspi-
cious direction, and, after opening his or her writ-
ing box, would write out a Japanese waka poem
with appropriately promising content.
90
29
Suzuribako in half-moon shape
Taishō period (1912 – 26), 1920s
H 1 ¼" × L 9 ¼" × W 6 ¼"
(3.3 cm × 23.5 cm × 15.8 cm)
Box inscription:
keisetsu ōdoku no zu 蛍雪横読之図
(»picture of reading by fireflies and snow«),
hantsuki gata 半月形 (»half-moon shape«),
shinken 真硯 (»genuine inkstone«).
With seal: Rinrō 鈴琅
An elegant suzuribako writing box in a half moon
shape, decorated on the cover with poetry books
and numerous fireflies, some trapped inside a
Japanese washi paper bag and some flying freely.
The decoration is done in hiramakie gold and silver
lacquers on a roiro mirror-black lacquer ground.
The fireflies are in black and red lacquer with inlaid
mother-of-pearl. The book of poetry is decorated in
takamakie raised flowers, while the book title and
spine are created in togidashi lacquer, the flowers
on a ground of very fine nashiji gold flakes. Refer-
ences to the moon continue on the inside of the
writing box with a silver moon-shaped suiteki water
dropper, as well as the silver lacquer that is applied
on the rims of the suzuri ink stone. The rims of the
box are in pewter and the inside and bottom of the
suzuribako are decorated with sprinkles of nashiji
gold flakes.
The decoration has a number of finer references
that are not obvious at first glance. A reference is
made to the Chinese historical annals of the Jin
dynasty (265 – 420 AD), which describe two virtuous
but poor young men who educated themselves
by reading texts at night after work, the one using
the reflection of the moon on the snow and the
other capturing fourteen fireflies in a bag in order
to read Confucian texts, as both were too poor to
light oil lanterns. In due time, both men became
high officials and the term keisetsu 蛍雪 (literally
»fireflies and snow«) became a term for learning in
spite of difficulties.
The decoration refers to this story, but places it
within a Japanese context. The book is decorated
with the title of an early Japanese poetry anthol-
ogy, the Manyōshū, and a poem written in Japanese
kana style is partially visible. The flower on the
cover is the nadeshiko, a summer flower, placing
this image into the correct seasonal context. The
joke is that instead of reading the difficult Confucian
classics, the modern Japanese reader is now
perusing love poetry.
There is, however, one more layer of meaning in
addition to the story clearly depicted on the cover
of the writing box. We may recall that the original
Chinese story was a story about two men, and that
the term keisetsu (the term written on the outer
box) refers to both their reading methods. The art-
ist has in fact cleverly combined both stories into
this writing box: we see the story of the fireflies on
the cover, but the second story—that of reading
under the moon—becomes obvious only when we
open the box and see the moon-shaped water
dropper. One then sees that the two halves of the
writing box themselves form the shape of the
moon, nearly identical in form to the water dropper,
and the intentions of the artist become clear.
91
92
30
Tebako with Pine Cones
Shōwa period (1926 – 89), dated 1929
H 5" × L 11 ¼" × W 9 ¼"
(12.8 cm × 28.4 cm × 23.5 cm)
Inner inscription: lengthy inscription written by
Shōsho Dōjin 松処道人, or Dōryo 道亮, the latter
name also appearing in a seal. The orchid painting
by the artist Takemaro 武麿, with seal Rankō 蘭岡
A striking black lacquer tebako box for the tea
ceremony with surface decoration in hiramakie
gold lacquer, inlaid pewter and mother-of-pearl
inlays depicting pine seedlings and pine cones.
The decoration of pines continues from the top of
the rectangular box down its gently rounded and
tapered sides. The inside cover is decorated with
flowering orchids in two tones of hiramakie gold
lacquer with an extensive calligraphic inscription.
This particular work constitutes a fine example of
work from the early years of the Shōwa period,
when Japanese artists were strongly influenced by
the Art Deco movement. At the time, many artists
experimented with ways to combine traditional
Japanese themes with the new ideas from abroad.
News of this international movement was eagerly
reported by art journals at the time, which illus-
trated objects from the West, and by actual objects
brought into and exhibited in Japan.
The lengthy inscription inside the box was the project
of an older Japanese intellectual, Shōsho Dōjin,
who starts his text with a long essay on the virtues
of the orchid, »Essay on Loving the Orchid«.
It starts with the words:
»I have heard that Yuanming (Tao Qian) loved the
chrysanthemum and that Lianxi (Zhou Dunyi) loved
the lotus.1 But I have yet to hear of someone who
loved the orchid.«
The text goes on to make a case for the appreciation
of the orchid, concluding with two autobiographi-
cal notes. The first describes a moment during the
youth of the author, when he traveled back to his
hometown to plant an orchid with the hope that it
would enrich him in his business ventures. At this
time he also wrote the aforementioned essay. Now,
almost fifty years later in celebration of the New
Year 1929, he asked the artist Takemaro to draw an
orchid and write out his old essay, dedicating
the lacquer box to the »eternal fascination« of the
orchid.
The essayist and his painter friend were probably
members of the same cultural salon, where mem-
bers typically engaged in collaborative events such
as composing poetry and brushing calligraphy
and paintings The lacquer box was likely displayed
at an event held at the New Year of 1929, and
celebrated as the collaboration between members
of the group. The essayist likely commissioned the
work from a lacquer artist, who incorporated the work
of the two salon members into this elegant New
Year object. Little is known of the true identity of
either member, as both chose to use playful artist
names. It is certain, however, that the box they
created was no isolated example of the rich and
varied cultural activities that took place in Japan
during the early twentieth century during the
Taishō and Shōwa periods.2
The tebako comes with the original fitted kiri-wood
box with an label on the inside lid.
93
94
Signatures and SealsReproduced actual size
Nr. 3 Left Nr. 3 Right
Nr. 4
Nr. 2
95
Nr. 7
Nr. 5 Left
Nr. 5 Right
Nr. 6
Nr. 8
96
Nr. 9
Nr. 12
Nr. 13
Nr. 10
Nr. 11
Nr. 12 Left
Nr. 12 Right
97
Nr. 15
Nr. 15
Nr. 30
Nr. 17
Nr. 16 Nr. 18
Nr. 20
Nr. 14
98
Box InscriptionsReproduced half size except as noted
Nr.10
Nr. 9 ¹∕¹ size
Nr. 6
Nr. 9¹∕³ size
99
Nr. 12
Nr. 13
Nr. 15 ¼ size
Nr. 15 ¹∕³ size
100
Nr. 15 ¼ size
Nr. 17
Nr. 19 ¹∕¹ size
Nr. 20Nr. 18 ¹∕³ size
Nr. 23
101
Nr.24 ¹∕¹ size
Nr. 27
Nr. 26 ¹∕¹ size
Nr. 29 ¹∕¹ size
Nr. 25 ¼ size
102
Nr. 1 Flowering Wisteria
1 Nakajima Junshi, et al., Nihon byōbue shūsei
日本屏風絵集成. Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1980, Vol. 7,
page 111, cat nrs. 11 and 12.
2 See also ibid., cat nr.9 for the pair of wisteria
screens signed by Hasegawa Sōen (fl. 17th century).
Nr. 2 Yamaga Seika, Painting of a Cuckoo
1 See also Hosono Masanobu 細野正信, ed., Bunten,
Teiten, Shinbunten, Nitten: Zenshuppin mokuroku 文展・帝展・新文展・日展:全出品目録. Tokyo: Nitten
日展, 1990, vol. 2, 17, for references to this painting
2 For information on the Cuckoo, see Mark Brazil,
The Birds of Japan. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1991, 176 – 7
3 Uki ware o sabishigarase yo, kankodori. From the
Narrow Road to the Interior (oku no hosomichi).
Translation by Sam Hamill, Narrow Road to the
Interior: And Other Writings. New York: Shambhala,
2000.
4 Shinbi Shoin 審美書院. Monbusho daigaokai
bijutsu tenrankai zuroku 文部省第五回美術展覧会図録.
Tokyo: Shinbi Shoin 審美書院, 1911.
5 See, Stedelijk Museum, Stedelijke internationale
tentoonstelling van kunstwerken van levende
meesters: catalogus (Catalog: The Stedelijk Interna-
tional Art Exhibition of Living Masters). Amsterdam:
Stedelijk Museum, 1912.
6 For biographical information on this artist, refer
to the major retrospective catalog from 1985: Kyoto
City Museum 京都市美術館 and Asahi Shimbunsha
朝日新聞社, eds., Kindai senshoku no sōshisha:
Yamaga Seika ten 近代染織の創始者山鹿清華展.
Kyoto and Osaka: Kyoto City Bijutsukan 京都市美術館 and Asahi Shinbunsha 朝日新聞社, 1985.
7 The influence of Sekka must have been substan-
tial, as Seika chose the same path in life, creating
modern designs that crossed over into different
genres. See Donald Wood, Kurt Gitter, et al.,
Kamisaka Sekka: Rimpa Master, Pioneer of Modern
Design. Birmingham and Kyoto: Birmingham Mu-
seum of Art and National Museum of Modern Art
Kyoto, 2003.
8 Published in Kokumin Bijutsu Kyōkai 國民美術協会,
ed., Kokumin Bijutsu Kyōkai daiikkai seibu tenrankai
kessakushū 國民美術協会第一回西部展覧会傑作集.
Tokyo: Kokumin Bijutsu Kyōkai 國民美術協会, 1913.
9 The present pair of screens marks the very first
acceptance into national exhibitions. His list of ex-
hibitions includes the Bunten, Teiten, Nitten and a
number of other expositions. See Hosono Masanobu
細野正信, ed., Bunten, Teiten, Shinbunten, Nitten:
Zenshuppin mokuroku 文展・帝展・新文展・日展:全出品目録. Tokyo: Nitten 日展, 1990, vol. 1, 115.
10 He also took part in the 1922 exposition in Paris.
See Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Exposition
D’Art Japonais: Salon de la Société Nationale des
Beaux-Arts. Catalogue des Ouvres Moderne de
Peinture, Sculpture, Arts Décoratifs et les Oeuvres
Anciennes. Paris: Éditions de l’Abeille d’Or, 1922), 37.
11 Two of his publications focus on textile design:
Mukashi watari sarasa 昔渡更紗. 3 vols. Geisōdō 芸艸堂, 1917 (reissued fifty year later in one volume
as: Mukashi watari sarasa むかし渡更紗. Geisōdō
芸艸堂, 1967); and Teorinishiki: Yamaga Seika
sakuhinshū 手織錦・山鹿清華作品集. Mitsurinsha
Shuppan 光琳社出版, 1972
Notes
103
Nr. 3 Tsuji Kakō, Young Pines
1 For biographical matter, see Michiyo Morioka,
»A Reexamination of Tsuji Kakō’s Art and Career« in
Paul Berry and Michiyo Morioka, Modern Masters
of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting
Traditions, Nihonga from the Griffith and Patricia
Way Collection. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1999,
40 – 54. See also references in Ellen P. Conant, et
al., Nihonga, Transcending the Past: Japanese Style
Painting, 1868 –1968. Saint Louis: The Saint Louis
Art Museum and The Japan Foundation, 1995
and Ōtsu City Museum of History 大津市歴史博物館, ed. Shirarezaru Nihon kaiga 知られざる日本絵画 (English title: Unexplored Avenues of Japanese
Painting). Seattle and Otsu: University of Washing-
ton Press, Otsu City Museum of History 大津市歴史博物館, 2001. An important recent contribution is
the museum catalogue: The National Museum of
Modern Art, Kyoto 京都国立近代美術館 and Chikkyō
Art Museum, Kasaoka 笠岡市立竹喬美術館, eds.
Tsuji Kakō Exhibition 都路華香展. Kasaoka 笠岡and
Kyoto 京都: The National Museum of Modern Art,
Kyoto 京都国立近代美術館 and Chikkyō Art Museum,
Kasaoka 笠岡市立竹喬美術館, 2006.
2 This collection is depicted in Paul Berry and
Michiyo Morioka (1999)
3 See many examples in National Museum of
Modern Art, Kyoto (2006); in Berry and Morioka
(1999); Otsu (2001); and Conant (1995)
Nr. 4 Minakami Taisei, Melting of the Snow
1 For biographical information, see, for example,
Roberts (1976), 106
2 He entered the Bunten from the seventh to the
twelfth exhibitions, and entered the Teiten from
the third to the fifteenth exhibitions (except the
eighth occasion). He entered the Shinbunten twice
(1n 1941 and 1943), was invited to the Bunten
Shōtaiten in 1936, and entered the wartime Senji
Tokubetsuten in 1944. For details, see Hosono Ma-
sanobu 細野正信, ed., Bunten, Teiten, Shinbunten,
Nitten: Zenshuppin mokuroku 文展・帝展・新文展・日展:全出品目録. Tokyo: Nitten 日展, Heisei 2, vol.
1, 30, and vol. 2 for painting titles.
3 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, ed.
Official Catalogue, Illustrated, of the Department
of Fine Art, Panama-Pacific International Exposition,
San Francisco, California, 1915. San Francisco:
Wahlgreen Co, 1915.
4 Eugen Neuhaus was a professor in the Art De-
partment of Berkeley and was, for over decades,
a leading American critic on the arts. The quote
comes from his The Galleries of the Exposition: A
Critical Review of the Paintings, Statuary, & Graphic
Arts in the Palace of Fine Arts. San Francisco, Paul
Elder and Company, 1915.
Nr. 5 Hirai Baisen, Kyoto in the Winter
1 Later works have been criticized by contemporary
Japanese critics, who have characterized Baisen
as an artist who peaks early and then levels off to
mediocrity. In retrospect this criticism seems highly
undeserved, as the works of the mature artist are
just as imaginative as the earlier, though not in an
openly demonstrative manner. A reappraisal of the
artist’s career and of his role in the twentieth cen-
tury Nihonga movement are needed. For one thing,
his remarkable success in national exhibitions is
hard to deny: his work was accepted into every
Teiten exhibition from the first to the very last and
into all but one Bunten exhibitions, twice with two
entries. For short but useful biographies with paint-
ings of this artist, see Ōtsu City Museum of History
大津市歴史博物館, ed. Shirarezaru Nihon kaiga 知られざる日本絵画. Seattle and Ōtsu: University of
Washington Press, Ōtsu City Museum of History
大津市歴史博物館, 2001, 36, 124, 190; Paul Berry
and Michiyo Morioka, Modern Masters of Kyoto:
104
The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions,
Nihonga from the Griffith and Patricia Way Collection.
Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, 270 – 3; and
Roberts (1976), 43.
2 An excellent example of this is his Burning of the
Daibutsu, a screen that caused a sensation in 1910.
He also visited China in the 1910s and created a
number of impressive views that were based on his
travels.
3 Can be seen in: Yoshizawa Chū 吉沢忠, Yosa
Buson 与謝蕪村. Nihon bijutsu kaiga 日本美術絵画,
vol 19. Tokyo: Shūeisha 集英社, 1980, nr. 29. See
also the recent catalogue from Miho Museum: Yosa
Buson: On the Wings of Art, published in 2008 on
the occasion of the important retrospective exhibi-
tion of the artist.
4 See examples in McKelway, Matthew. Capitalscapes:
Folding Screens and Political Imagination in Late Me-
dieval Kyoto. Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 2006
Nr. 6 Itō Jakuchū, Chicken by a New Year’s Cask
1 See Tokyo (1971) nrs. 26 – 31; and Kyoto (2000),
nrs. 9 –11 and 121. All date from the 1790s.
2 For details of Jakuchū’s life, see Satō and Hickman
(1989).
3 The poet, as with a number of other inscribers of
Jakuchū’s circle, has not yet been identified. There
are also examples of Jakuchū’s paintings where
inscriptions are added quite a bit later, such as
the painting in Kyoto (2000), nr. 68. This work was
bought in Kyoto, taken to Kyūshū, and then signed
by the Zen monk and painter Sengai.
4 Jakuchū had an unusual way of counting (and
signing) his age as he grew older. For a theory on
this counting system, see Kano Hiroyuki’s introduc-
tory essay in Kyoto (2000)
Nr. 7 Itō Jakuen, Rooster on a Lantern
1 Who appears in another entry in this catalog.
2 For the problem of Jakuen, see, for example,
Tokyo (1971), Tsuji (1974), Satō (1987), Kyoto (2000),
Kobayashi (1996), Shimizu (2006), and Hickman and
Satō (1989).
3 For a newly-discovered large screen, see Kobayashi
(1996).
4 See Shimizu (2006), cat nrs. 22 – 26
5 For example, Kano Hiroyuki suggests that, as the
seal impressions of Jakuen show little wear, he
might only have been active as a painter for a few
years. (See, Shimizu (2006), cat. nr. 23). The Jakuen
painting in this catalog, however, shows the same
seals with significant added wear, seeming to place
this theory into doubt. As such this painting adds
valuable insight into future Jakuen research.
Nr. 8 Miyoshi Joka, Exotic Birds and Grapes
1 The birds are native to a large area of mainland
Asia, from the Himalayas to China and Vietnam.
They are not native to Japan, but were brought in
as exotic birds during the Edo period.
2 See Urushiyama Tendō 漆山天童, Ukiyoe nenpyō
浮世絵年表. Tokyo: Fūzokuemaki Zuga Kankōkai風俗絵巻図画刊行会, 1934, page 173.
3 For details, see Araki (1991), vol. 1, 812 and vol.
2, 2134. The latter reference shows a confusion
of the present artist with an artist by the name of
Yokota Fukuan. See also Sawada (1970) 546.
4 See Satō Yasuhiro and Money Hickman, The
Paintings of Jakuchū. New York: Asia Society Gallery,
1989.
105
Nr. 9 Hironaga / Sukenobu, Cuckoo in the Autumn
1 See, for example, Araki (1934), vol. 2, 2424. The
father’s name was Sakatani Hiromasa坂谷広当
2 See, Kokushi daijiten (1908), 464 – 5
3 For another scroll in the catalogue with a similar
theme, see Nr. 11 Deer and Autumn Maples.
Nr. 10 Kano Seisen’in, Misty Cherry Blossoms
1 For biographical information, see, for example,
Roberts (1976), 140, and Araki (1934), 2069
Nr. 11 Uchida Hirotsune, Deer and Autumn Maples
1 See, for example, Hyakunin issu, »The cry of the
stag / is so loud in the empty / mountains that an
echo / answers him as though / it were a doe«
(Translation by Kenneth Rexroth)
2 For examples, see Howard Link, et al., Exquisite
Visions: Rimpa Paintings from Japan. Honolulu:
Aonolulu Academy of Arts, 1980.
3 Araki Tadashi 荒木矩. Dai Nihon shoga meika daikan 大日本書画名家大監. 4 vols. Original ed.: 1934. To-
kyo: Dai-Ichi Shobō 第一書房, 1991, vol. 2, p. 2426
Nr. 12 Fujiwara Hakuei, Successful Carps
1 For details of his life, see Shimonaka Kunihiko
下中邦彦, ed., Nihon jinmei jiten 日本人名辞典.
Tokyo: Heibonsha 平凡社, 1979, vol. 4, 513.
2 His works include the popular Noto meguri
能登めぐり and Tōyū nikki 東遊日記, two travel dia-
ries that included numerous haiku poems and were
written in the style of Basshō’s poetry books, such
as his famous travel diary Oku no hosomichi.
3 For information on the Maeda family, see ibid.,
vol. 5, 565
Nr. 13 Nomura Bunkyo, The Moon in the Rain
1 For details, see, for example, Roberts (1976), 122;
Araki (1934) vol. 1, 232;
Nr. 14 Kōu, The Jōruri Chanter at a Puppet Theater
1 See Kendall Brown and Sharon Minichiello,
Taishō Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, and
Deco. Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2003
2 See, Ozaki Bansetsu, Kokon shoga Kantei hyōka
sōran. Kyoto: Rakuyō Bijitsusha, 1925, Part 4, 46
3 A number of the painters in this catalogue have
not been identified, except for the information in
their signatures or seals. See, ibid., cat. nrs. 11, 13,
15, and 33 – all which are identified with either just
first names or none at all.
Nr. 15 Yamamoto Gempō, Long Life
1 For a biography of Yamamoto Gempō, see
Stephen Addiss and Audrey Seo, The Art of Twen-
tieth-Century Zen: Painting and Calligraphy by
Japanese Masters. Boston and London: Shambhala,
1998, 93 –107.
Nr. 18 Kyokushōsai
1 For an overview of plaiting techniques, see
Rinne, Melissa in collaboration with Koichiro Okada.
Masters of Bamboo: Artistic Lineages in the Lloyd
Cotsen Japanese Basket Collection. (San Francisco:
Asian Art Museum, 2007), 130 – 4. A more complete
overview with 50 distinct patterns is illustrated and
explained in Japanese in Nihon Keizai Shinbun,
106
Inc., ed. Bamboo Masterworks: Japanese Baskets
from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection. (Tokyo: Nihon
Keizai Shinbun, Inc., 2003), 130 – 8.
Nr. 21 Shigaraki Jar
1 For similar examples of Shigaraki jars, see: Ford
and Impey (1989), 46 – 7; MOA Museum (1982),
ills. 31– 5; Price (1987), 200 –1; Capon, et al. (1982),
126 – 7; and Earle, ed. (1986), 36 – 7
Nr. 22 Bizen Shallot Flask
1 See, for example, Tanikawa Tetsuzō and Kawabata
Yasunari, eds. Bizen. Nihon no tōji, vol. 6 (Tokyo:
Chūō Kōransha, 1974), 119 – 44. The mark of the
present flask is close to number 173 depicted on
page 144.
2 See ibid, numbers 15 – 6, 183, and 185 – 6. Se also
Okada Shūei, ed. Bizen koyō shūsei. Tokyo: Sōjusha
Bijutsu Shuppan, 1983, nrs. 17, 65 – 7 and 79 – 80.
Nr. 23 Okugōrai Tea Bowl
1 For comparisons, see Ōhashi Kenji, et al.
»Tokushū: Shimijimi, Kogaratsu.« Rokushō 9 (1993),
6 –11, 25 – 8, and 64 – 8; Aichiken Tōji Shiryōkan
Gakugeibu Gakugeika, ed. Momoyamatō no kareina
sekai: Aichi Banpaku kinen tokubetsu kikakuten.
(English title: Breaking the Mold—Birth of an
Original Style, Momoyama Ceramics 16 –17th Cen-
tury). (Seto: Aichiken Tōji Shiryōkan, 2005), 97 – 8,
158 – 60; Idemitsu Bijutsukan, ed. Kogaratsu.
(Tokyo: Idemitsu Bijutsukan, 1986), 11– 8, 68,
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vol. 5. (Tokyo: Chūō Kōransha, 1974).
Nr. 24 Kōgō Incense Box, »Distant Landscape, with-
out Compare«
1 See numerous examples in Miyeko Murase, ed.,
Turning point: Oribe and the Arts of the Sixteenth
Century. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art,
2003.
2 See, for example, Tanikawa Tetsuzō and Kawabata
Yasunari, eds. Shino. Nihon no tōji, vol. 2 (Tokyo:
Chūō Kōronsha, 1974), nrs. 110 – 31.
3 See Yagi Ichio, »Uta-mei: The Poetic Names of Tea
Utensils.« Chanoyu Quarterly 83 (1996), 16 – 40.
4 From his »Auguries of Innocence« in the Pickering
Manuscript
5 For a discussion of tea ceremony aesthetics, see
Haga Kōshirō. »The Wabi Aesthetics throughout
the Ages,« in Tea In Japan: Essays on the History
of Chanoyu. Kumakura Isao and Paul Varley, eds.
Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 1994, 195 – 230
Nr. 30 Tebako with Pine Cones
1 Tao Qian (365 – 427) who has been described in
an entry for another lacquer box, was a Chinese
poet who wrote about the chrysanthemum growing
in his garden. Zhou Dunyi (1017– 73) was a Neo-
Confucian philosopher and cosmologist, who often
wrote of natural phenomena. He became known for
having said that the best life is that of a pure lotus
growing out of dirty water, and that the lotus is the
natural equivalent of the lofty gentleman.
2 For other examples of Japanese cultural indus-
trialists from this time, see Christine Guth, Art, Tea,
and Industry: Masuda Takushi and the Mitsui Circle.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
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Erik Thomsen 2009
Japanese Paintings and Works of Art
© 2009 Erik Thomsen
Photography: Cem Yücetas
Design and Production: Valentin Beinroth
Printing: Henrich Druck + Medien GmbH, Frankfurt am Main
Printed in Germany
Cover:
Flowering Wisteria
Hasegawa School, anonymous artist
Detail, pair of six-panel folding screens (cat. nr. 1)
Edo period (1615 –1868), 18th century
Erik Thomsen LLCAsian Art
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