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By the same token, when other celebrated nihonga art- traditional forms and motifs when Japanese artists travel-
ists such as Yokoyama Taikan (1868 – 1958) and Hishida ing abroad during the Meiji period (1868 – 1912) encoun-
Shunsō (1874 – 1911) were either praised or reviled for using tered Art nouveau applied arts and furniture. The 1900
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the so-called mōrōtai (“vagueness style”), which relies on Exposition Universelle in Paris, where Art nouveau as an
amorphous washes of ink as a primary compositional artistic movement first attraced international attention,
device, the Rinpa technique of tarashikomi inevitably can be viewed as a pivotal moment in the recognition of a

comes to mind. Rinpa aesthetic in Japan, since many of the Japanese
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craftspeople saw the new trends in Western decorative arts
the rinpa aesthetic and a rt nouveau on view as echoing their indigenous design tradition.
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The late nineteenth-century phenomenon known as The cloisonné enamels of Kawade Shibatarō (1861 –
Japonisme is usually understood as the result of Western 1921) and Hattori Tadasaburō (d. 1939) manifest this blur-

artists’ encounter with ukiyo-e and its bold, graphic pre- ring of lines between East and West, Art nouveau and
sentation of human and landscape forms in the woodblock- Rinpa. Kawade, chief of the Andō Cloisonné Company
print medium. Although that view is entirely valid, we in nagoya, was instrumental in bringing the floral motifs

must recognize the degree to which this formulation of of the Art nouveau-cum-Rinpa modality to fruition.
Japonisme is bound up with the Rinpa aesthetic. Both He was responsible for designing and supervising the pro-
ukiyo-e and Rinpa share many common elements, such as duction of such works as a pair of vases presented by the
an emphasis on a flattened picture plane, unconventional Meiji emperor to Henry Mayer (1868 – 1953), a well-known
perspectival schemes, graphic presentations of figures and political cartoonist (cat. 96). The imperial household also

landscapes, avoidance of shadowing, simplified plant and commissioned a presentation vase from Hattori (cat. 97),
animal motifs, and the frequent use of bold coloration. who likewise became one of the proponents of the style.
To that extent, both may be seen as underlying the Japan- Hattori even styled himself “Kōrin,” demonstrating that

inspired design movement in Europe and America around he identified with his artistic ancestor from two centu-
the turn of the twentieth century. ries before. 64
In the prevailing spirit of Japonisme, Post-Impressionist
painters in Europe found resonance in ukiyo-e with their Meiji textile pattern Books
own experimentations in abstracted, graphic composition, As discussed above, in the early eighteenth century the

innovative cropping, and novel approach to color. Similarly, “Kōrin style” was disseminated widely through woodblock-
in the area of applied arts, practitioners in both East and printed books, a phenomenon that continued into the mod-
West found congruencies among their aesthetic sensibili- ern era. Among the impressive publications from the

ties. Especially in the ceramics and cloisonné of the fin de Meiji period to draw on the lexicon of Rinpa motifs are
siècle through the early twentieth century, we can observe Kōrin Patterns (Kōrin moyō), compiled by Furuya Kōrin designing nature
a reciprocity of influence between the aethestics of Art (1875 – 1910) and published by Unsōdō in 1907. (Like Hattori
nouveau and Rinpa. There was, for example, a revival of Tadasaburō, Furuya styled himself “Kōrin” after the earlier

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