Page 227 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

scribed with deliberation, as is the book month represents a kusudama, suspended 137 Studies of lizards, tortoises, and
box he carries on his back. Executed in with a vermilion and gold rope, trailing insects
ink, the painting shows Matabei's stylistic threads of five different colors and fes- Satake Shozan (1748-1785)
versatility. At the lower left is a large circu- tooned with blue irises, pink azaleas, white album; ink and color on paper
l
lar relief seal of the artist, Katsumochi. camellias, and morning glories. The paint- 34.0 x 28.3 (133/8 x u /s)
This work can be dated stylistically to ing for the ninth month shows a red Edo period, 2nd half of i8th century
about 1637, when Matabei was still in woven basket containing Japanese pears,
Echizen (Fukui Prefecture), just before he pomegranates, roses, and orchids. Each Private collection
set out on his journey to Edo. The inscrip- painting is inscribed with Kien's own Chi- Important Art Object
tion, assumed to be by Matabei, tran- nese poem, signed and sealed by the artist, Two other similar albums are included in
scribes Saigyó's famous poem about conveying appropriate thoughts on the this collection, and all three were trea-
viewing the moon: corresponding lunar month. AY sured by their creator, Satake Shozan (cat.
"When we see the moon .. " were our 136). One album includes Shozan's 1778
.
parting words 136 Iris and knife treatises Gaho kdryd (Summary of the laws
on those future thoughts of each Satake Shozan (1748-1785) of painting) and Gato rikai (Understanding
other; hanging scroll; ink and color on silk painting). Shozan wrote admiringly about
I wonder if the sleeves of those Î left at 112.5 4°-° (44 /4 5 4) western painting, explaining the laws of
x
x x 1 3//
home Edo period, 2nd half of i8th century perspective, shading, and various pig-
are wet with tears tonight. ments. He also included illustrations of
YS Private collection painting techniques, foreign copper-plate
Important Art Object prints, and floral studies. Another album
135 Flowers and plants of the first, fifth, During the second half of the eighteenth contains studies of birds. The album ex-
and ninth months century there was a renewed interest in hibited here consists primarily of studies
Yanagisawa Kien (1704-1758) the Western mode of image-making among of insects.
three hanging scrolls; ink and color on the Japanese, not simply as an artistic In the album shown here, in addition
silk practice, but also as a practical science. In- to reptiles and amphibians, almost 300
each 99.0 x 41.0 spiration came from books of anatomy, types of insects are depicted, including
Edo period, i8th century botany, medicine, and zoology, brought by caterpillars, butterflies, moths, and dragon-
flies. The
drawings were not necessarily all
Imperial Household Collection the Dutch, from which Rangaku (Dutch
studies) soon emerged as a new branch of executed by Shozan himself; on stylistic
Yanagisawa Kien, who served the clan that learning. Sugita Genpaku (1733-1817) and grounds, many of the works can be at-
ruled the Kôriyama domain in Yamato Hiraga Gennai (1728-1779) were two of the tributed to Shozan's retainer Odano
Province (present-day Nara Prefecture), champions of this new tradition: the Naotake (1749-1780), an artist trained in
was known as a man of cultured pursuits former was a medical doctor serving the western-style painting.
and many talents. In particular, he ex- Obama clan (in today's Fukui Prefecture), In eighteenth-century Japan, interest
celled since his youth at painting flower- who translated Tafel Anatomía (1734) and in natural history was on the rise, and
and-bird subjects. Unsatisfied with the published the first Japanese book of anat- many albums of studies were produced.
works of the Kano school, he copied Yuan omy; and the latter was a natural scientist The studies in this album, however, were
and Ming paintings and studied with and expert on herbal medicine. Genpaku's not drawn from live models. Almost half of
Yoshida Shüsetsu of the Nagasaki school. anatomy book, published in 1774, was illus- the insects depicted are copied from col-
His works generally combine descriptive trated by a student of Gennai, a samurai lections of studies compiled by Hosokawa
drawing and rich colors, though he also ex- from the domain of Akita in northern Ja- Shigekata, such as the one shown here,
ecuted finger paintings and monochrome pan. Gennai himself was called to Akita in Studies of Insects (cat. 139); it is possible
ink paintings of bamboo. Along with Gion 1773 for a geological survey of the domain that other drawings in the album are also
Nankai (1677-1751) and Sakaki Hyakusen that produced copper, where he laid the copied from other works.
(1697-1752), he is one of the pioneers of foundation for Akita ranga, the school of Whether or not these studies are from
Japanese literati painting, or bunjinga. Western-style painting based in Akita. The life does not affect their value as art ob-
The theme of this set of three scrolls, school flourished under the patronage of jects. Each is carefully drawn and conveys
one of his finest works, is related to the the daimyo of Akita, Satake Shozan, the a fascination with the forms and substance
first, fifth, and ninth months of the lunar artist of this painting. Shozan's theories on of nature. At times, the artist seems to
calendar, considered to be months of mis- Western-style painting are contained in have attempted to make associations be-
fortune. Traditionally, on the seventh day two treatises he wrote in 1778, Gaho kdryd tween disparate things; for example, the
of the first month one ate a rice gruel with (Summary of the laws of painting) and beehive illustrated here resembles some
seven herbs for good health during the Gato rikai (Understanding paintings). deep-sea fish. These studies differ from
coming year. On the fifth day of the fifth This painting is signed Minamoto Shigekata's counterparts; for Shozan, the
month one hung a kusudama (medicine Yoshiatsu, Shozan's personal name follow- exterior forms are objects of fascination.
pouch) in one's home. On the ninth day of ing the ancestral origin of his family, The studies in Shozan's albums served as
the ninth month one drank a special sake Minamoto. A circular relief seal below source material for his full-fledged
to avoid illness. the signature is in the roman alphabet, western-style paintings and those of other
The painting for the first month de- Zwarr Wit. YS artists in the Akita domain. SY
picts a footed hexagonal celadon vase or-
namented with a floral scroll. A miniature
plum tree and two other plants, known in
Japanese as fukujusd (literally, "Long Life
Plant," a kind of ranunculus often used as
a New Year's decoration) and shirabachi,
grow in the vase. The painting for the fifth

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