Page 440 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

243 (detail)
242
Kaigetsudó Dohan
(active early eighteenth century)
Standing Courtesan

c. 1705-1715
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
5
93.1 x 42.3 (36 /s x i6Vs)
Tokyo National Museum
• A stately courtesan, wrapped in
layers of colorful robes with her obi tied
in front, stands out against a perfectly
blank background. Her statuesque 439
pose, with an ever-so-slight sugges-
tion of contrapposto, is characteristic
of Kaigetsudó painters. Shown in
three-quarter profile, she peers mys-
teriously into the distance. Her hair,
combed straight back and gently cas-
cading over her shoulders, is held in
place with a single tortoiseshell comb
and tied in back with a white ribbon.
The eye is drawn at first, however, not
to her face but to the bright azurite
243 the carving is somewhat rough, the
blue designs of aoi leaves and blos- Shimizu Ryükei (1659-1720) sculptor's scrupulous attention to
soms on the outer robe; such meticu- One Hundred Townspeople costume and hairstyles, poses, and
lous attention to textile designs was bodily and facial expressions makes
another hallmark of the Kaigetsudó Dated 1717 the sculpture an invaluable visual
school. The aoi, often called a holly- Carved and painted wooden figures documentation of the social strata of
7
J
hock or wild ginger, is actually a 53.2 X48.8 X4.8 (21 x 19 Ax i /s) the day. Ryükei included a small scroll
short-stemmed flowering grass Private Collection, Kyoto in his own hand relating the circum-
traditionally associated with the Aoi stances behind the production of
Festival and Kamo Shrine in Kyoto. • Though born in Edo, Shimizu Ryükei these remarkable figures. He recounts:
The triple aoi leaf in a circle was the took Buddhist vows as a young man and "First I created the scene of Old
crest of the Tokugawa clan, the lineage worked in Kyoto as a Buddhist sculptor Doctor Genpaku inquiring about the
of the shogun. Rather than attributing most of his life. After the death of health of a man with rheumatism.
any political significance here, the his teacher, Priest Tankai (1629-1716), Next I tried to make another figure
educated reader of Edo times would a noted Buddhist sculptor of the day, resemble a man tipsy after drinking
surely have made the connection to Ryükei starting carving wooden figur- sake from a gourd. Thereafter I carved
Lady Aoi of the early eleventh-century ines of townspeople, drawing on his one figure after another — one by
novel Tale o/Genji. Edward Seidensticker observation of actual street scenes. one, ten by ten — until the count
in his translation of the classic cleverly Each miniature figure, none taller than reached a hundred." The wide range
rendered the chapter title with the six centimeters, is carved in the round of figures includes young children on
nonce word "Heartvine," evocatively from a single block of wood. Objects an outing, attendants to a daimyo,
alluding to the plant's heart-shaped the figures carry and accessories such Buddhist and Shinto priests, partici-
leaves. JTC as weapons or umbrellas were carved pants in a street fight, peddlers,
separately. The figures were carefully dancers, and entertainers of many
painted to reproduce convincingly the types. JTC
effect of colorful garments. Many of
the women's faces were coated with
white pigment (go/un, ground oyster
shell); men's faces were left the natural
wood color. Hair and eyes were deli-
cately brushed in with ink. Though