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paintings in a Rinpa mode. Having elevated the status of the end of the Edo period, Kiitsu had a considerable impact
his inspiration from the previous century, Hōitsu then on noted artists of the nihonga (modern “Japanese-style”
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published a compendium of his own works entitled Oson’s painting) movement, such as Hishida Shunsō (1874 – 1911)
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Drawing Manual (Oson gafu). This volume, with its and Hayami Gyoshū (1894 – 1935), who were attracted by a
sensitively rendered flowers in the “boneless” style and style of painting that could utilize stylized natural motifs
restrained use of tarashikomi, brought the publicly avail- but still demonstrate the power of Japanese brushwork to
able Rinpa repertoire to a new level of sophistication. evoke the nuances of the seasons and reflective moods.

Persimmon Tree, a masterwork by Hōitsu in the Metro-
politan’s collection, demonstrates how the artist distilled the heirs to the r inpa Mantle
techniques of the Rinpa tradition by juxtaposing the intense Unlike Hōitsu and Kiitsu, who reestablished Rinpa in Edo,
orange of the fruit against the modulated, dappled texture nakamura Hōchū (d. 1819) lived and worked in the Kansai

of the tree bark, achieved using the tarashikomi technique region, which includes the cities of Kyoto, osaka, and Kobe.
(cat. 63). In contrast to the somber, late autumn ethos Trained as a literati painter (in a relaxed, Chinese mode
of the Metropolitan’s work, with its extensive expanses of of ink painting), Hōchū was on close terms with the noted
blank space, Hōitsu’s hanging scroll of an arrowroot vine artists Kimura Kenkadō (1736 – 1802) and Ike Gyokuran

in moonlight captures the reflective mood of leaves being (1727 – 1784), whose husband, Ike Taiga (1723 – 1776), was
buffeted in the breeze on a warm summer evening (cat. 89). himself a renowned painter. Hōchū was also a talented
The verse that accompanies the painting, a love poem by poet — he wrote haikai (seventeen-syllable seasonal verse)
Toyama Mitsuzane (1756 – 1821), complements the overall as well as kyōka (thirty-one-syllable witty verse) — and

sultry mood (for a translation, see p. 188). through these poetry connections was granted numerous
Hōitsu’s protégé, Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858), began his commissions to illustrate poetry anthologies.
apprenticeship with the master in 1813, when he moved into Geographically remote from Hōitsu — he was born in
the Hōitsu household. He was later adopted and received Kyoto but spent most of his life in osaka — Hōchū reen-

his family name from Suzuki Reitan (1782 – 1817), a samurai gaged with the work of Kyoto’s favorite son, Kōrin, and bor-
who served the Sakai clan and who also was a painting stu- rowed motifs and styles from the Rinpa repertoire, which
dent of Hōitsu’s. Although Kiitsu emulated his teacher’s he then reinvigorated in a more decorative, playful, and
style, later in life he sought a fresher, more modern feel in sometimes even humorous vein. Taking the tarashikomi tech-

his work, often employing a vibrant palette of pinks, purples, nique to new extremes, he mixed colorful pigments some-
and incandescent blues that had never before been seen, not times to almost psychedelic effect, as seen, for instance, in
even in the colorful Rinpa tradition. For instance, Kiitsu a screen with the flowers of the twelve months (cat. 87). In
relied on two radically different modes to depict morning the early 1800s Hōchū temporarily moved to Edo, and in

glories — one renders the flowers in phosphorescent blue, 1802 he produced the influential Kōrin Painting Manual
the other in modulated tones of ink — but each is magiste- (Kōrin gafu), an homage to the artist who inspired his
rial in its own way (cats. 91, 92). Having lived almost to own creativity. At the same time, the manual was astute
a history of rinpa

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