Page 180 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

8 9 a kiln with clay for the firing and thin to evoke hues seen in dim light.
Large dish with design of porcelain stacking wares inside it. Returning to The personal sentiment that we wit-
production the intervening section, men can be ness in the painting — as well as the
seen firing the kiln, six chambers of figures' clothing, which is particular
c. 1820-18305 which are visible. The last roundel to the Kanazawa region — indicates
Nabeshima ware depicts the fired porcelains being car-
Porcelain with underglaze that Morikage must have seen or met
ried and placed in a warehouse. people like these during his stay in
cobalt blue the Kaga domain.
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Diameter 59.4 (23 /s) This dish is said to have been owned
Arita Ceramic Museum, Saga by Nakano Kizaemon Hidehisa, the The poetic mood of this painting
domain official in charge of the area does not occur by accident, according
• This plate gives the viewer a rare where it was produced. NCR to Yoshizawa Chü, who claims that
glimpse into the methods of ceramic it illustrates a waka poem by Kino- 179
production at the official kiln of the shita Chóshóshi (1570-1650) (Yoshi-
Nabeshima domain in Okawachi. The 90 zawa 1954). The poem reads: "Their
large central square area shows an Kusumi Morikage (c. 1620-c. 1690) pleasure is the cool beneath a trellis
interior view of the workshop, while Enjoying the Euening Cool under of evening faces: the men in under-
eight overlapping scenes around the an Arbor garments, the women in waist
perimeter depict separate stages of Two-panel screen; ink and wraps" (translation by Royall Tyler).
production, though not in sequence. Kinoshita was a samurai whose
light color on paper fief was confiscated after he lost
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149.1x165 (58 Ax65)
Starting in the upper right quadrant, favor with the Tokugawa shogunate.
we see a landscape where the por- Tokyo National Museum Morikage would likely have empa-
National Treasure
celain clay is mined and a roundel thized with the samurai's plight, and
showing a porter carrying the clay Illustrated page 162 he clearly took a compassionate
to be refined by the water mortars. and perceptive view of the laborers
Proceeding counterclockwise, a man • Kusumi Morikage created an en- in the Kaga domain. HG
can be seen sieving the clay to remove tirely original image in this, his most
the iron impurities. Production con- famous painting. As the first true
tinues in the central square, where portrait of a lower-echelon working
the clay is thrown on the wheel, family, the scene is utterly lacking in
finished, and molded. A supervisor either caricature or decorative intent.
wearing glasses views the process Morikage's scene reveals the family's
from the upper left, while beside him humble circumstances and their
a workman paints underglaze cobalt efforts to create beauty in their lives
blue onto the bisque-fired wares. by planting floral vines. We see them
Women bring tea, and a child looks taking time on a sultry summer
on. On the right in a raised tatami- night to enjoy a cool breeze and each
matted section the porcelains other's company. Morikage captured
are inspected, and a man with an their pleasure in an evening spent
accounting book records the results. together through individual pose,
The story continues at the margins group positioning, facial expression,
in the lower right quadrant, where and casual brushwork. He surrounded
women with packhorses gather fire- the figures with simple shapes to
wood to heat the kilns and, moving frame them. The curved form of the
clockwise this time, a woman glazes great moon, glowing through the
the decorated wares while a boy humid night, is repeated in the bodies
packs finished pieces. Skipping the of the figures and in the gourds and
adjacent scene, we see men sealing leaves of the trailing vine. All other
elements are echoing squares or rec-
tangles, reflecting the format of the
painting. The colors are kept very