Page 236 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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140 Album of assorted paintings ist is likely to have selected the paintings 141 Birds in fruit trees
Sakai Hôitsu (1761-1828) to be assembled into the present album. Bian Wenjin (fl. 1403-1435)
album; ink and color on silk or paper Hôitsu was born in Edo into the fam- pair of hanging scrolls; ink and color
each 25.1 x 20.0 (97/8 x 77/3) ily of Sakai Tadamochi, the daimyo of Hi- on silk
Edo period, before 1797 meji Castle in Harima Province (today's each 31.0 x 31.5 (12 ^ x 123/3)
Seikadó Bunko, Tokyo Hyôgo Prefecture), whose ancestor Tada- Ming, ist quarter of 15th century
taka was the patron of Ogata Kôrin (1658- Eisei Bunko, Tokyo
This accordion-type album contains 1716) in Edo. The various styles in this
seventy-two individual paintings of various album reflect Hôitsu's artistic background. In the Edo period small, intimate Chinese
subjects, in different mediums on either He was taught by Kano Takanobu (cat. 18); paintings executed in color, rather than
silk or paper, mounted on both the front Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814), the ukiyo-e large, imperious ones, were often used to
and back of the paper, thirty-six to each artist; and So Shiseki (1712-1786), the real- decorate the tokonoma. This pair of small
side. The covers are elaborately made, ist of the Nagasaki school in Edo. The his- paintings of birds perched in fruit trees ex-
with the corners capped by a silver open- torical significance of these works is emplify the taste.
work design of pine, bamboo, and plum. evident in the nine paintings ( four illus- Two seals are stamped on both paint-
In the center of the front cover is pasted a trated here) that emulate the style of Itô ings: one an unidentifiable square intaglio,
paper label that reads Tekagami (Mirrors of Jakuchu (1716-1800), a decorative naturalis- and the other a square relief, Bian Wenjin
calligraphy), which usually designates tic artist of Kyoto. shi. The signature Daizhao Longxi Bian
model examples of calligraphy. The al- The album is contained in two boxes. Jingzhao xie (Painter in attendance Bian
bum, however, is a collection of paintings, On the back of the lid of the outer box is a Jingzho of Longxi painted this) accompa-
and has been rightly called zatsugachd, or dedicatory inscription, dated the third nies the two seals of the painting on the
"album of assorted paintings," by the month, spring of the year corresponding right. Jingzhao is a personal name of Bian
present owner. The paintings serve as a re- to 1893, by Sakai Dôitsu (1845-1913), the Wenjin, a painter and a member of the
sponse by the artist Sakai Hôitsu to the fourth-generation head of Hôitsu's studio, Painting Academy of the Ming court, who,
various painting styles current in his time. Ukaan, and the son of Suzuki Kiitsu as a painter in attendance, served three
Seven different seals are used throughout (1796-1858), the immediate pupil of emperors in succession. The style of callig-
the album, and occasionally the artist's sig- Hôitsu. The back of the lid of the inner raphy of the inscription is close to another,
nature accompanies a seal. The seal Tôka- box is inscribed and signed by Hôitsu identically phrased inscription on a paint-
kuin in (seal of Tôkakuin) on the painting himself. YS ing in a Japanese collection, which is
Beetle and corn illustrated here may give widely accepted as a major work of Bian.
the earliest possible date to this group of The second seal, however, is different
paintings. Tôkakuin is an ecclesiastical ti- from the accepted version.
tle earned by Hôitsu when he took the An outstanding naturalist painter in
tonsure in 1797, a date after which the art- the Song academic style, Bian earned a

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