Page 183 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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92 • In this pair of screens Shiko took reveals fascinating details of village
Watanabe Shikó (1683-1755) inspiration from the painting on the life, such as a daikagura dance by
Rice Cultivation in the Four Seasons same topic by Kusumi Morikage visiting entertainers in the second

Pair of six-panel screens; (cat. 91). Like Morikage, Shikó appar- panel from the right on the right
a farmhouse being built
screen, and
ink and light color on paper ently went to a local village to study
3
x
Each 155.9 393-6 (6i /s x 143 Vs) the activities of its inhabitants. He in the left two panels of the left
screen. We also see samurai and their
Private Collection, Hyógo then composed his observations into
this maplike bird's-eye view. Reading palanquin bearers stopping for sum-
from right to left are the tasks of the mer refreshment at a tea shop in the
seasons: plowing and rice transplan- central two panels of the right screen.
tation, which occur in late spring and Shikó followed his predecessors
early summer, on the right screen,
Kano Tan'yü (1602 -1674) and Ogata
and fall harvesting and processing of Kórin (1658-1716) in his method of
the rice on the left screen. Though sketching from life. Yet he went far
rice cultivation (the basis of the Japa- beyond these artists in the realistic
nese economy) is the central theme presentation seen in his late work.
of the painting, Shiko added depic- His approach served as an inspiration
tions of subsidiary crops. For example, to the painters of the naturalist
reading from right to left on the left school who were active at the end
screen, we see cotton fields in the of the eighteenth century, especially
first panel, a taro field at the bottom Maruyama Ôkyo (1733-1795). HG
of the third panel, and cotton process-
ing in the fifth panel. The scene also