Japan, 1600–1800 A.D.2
The Edo, also known as the Tokugawa, period is a time of relative peace and stability, following centuries of warfare and disruption. This era of calm leads to an extraordinary expansion in the national economy, including dramatic increases in agricultural production, transportation infrastructure, commerce, population, and literacy. Although the imperial court continues to exist and maintains nominal authority, the Tokugawa shogunate (bakufu), based in Edo, wields actual political power. Control of the country is divided between the shogunate, which directly administers about one-quarter of the country and the large cities, and approximately 270 regional military lords, daimyo, who owe fealty to the shogun while ruling their own domains (han). The bakuhan government is strong and conservative, enforcing strict social policies domestically and keeping a firm limitation on all trade and exchange abroad.
The merchant and artisan classes reap the greatest benefits from the Edo period's prosperity and urban expansion. Not only do well-established cities such as Osaka and Kyoto thrive, but new castle towns that serve as the administrative center for provincial daimyo and their samurai retainers are built and grow during this time. Using their wealth, city residents (chonin), who include the above-named classes as well as many samurai, temporarily escape official restrictions by enthusiastically patronizing the pleasure quarters established in all large cities, and the courtesans, entertainers, prostitutes, teahouses, theaters, and restaurants found there. New forms of highly entertaining drama, literature, painting, and printmaking cater to popular trends of the day, making the Edo period an active and innovative time for the arts.
• 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) wins the Battle of Sekigahara, defeating his most serious rivals and emerging as the most powerful military leader. Three years later, the royal court recognizes his dominance and grants him the title of shogun. Ieyasu solidifies his political position by establishing his military government in Edo (modern Tokyo) and begins to reassign land possession in favor of himself and his supporters. It is not until 1615, however, one year before his death, that Ieyasu finally defeats all his competitors, when he routs the last of the Toyotomi and captures Osaka castle.
• 1603 This is the traditional date for the first performance of kabuki, a popular form of theater involving music and dance and originally performed by women. Despite its initial wide appeal—troupes perform for the masses as well as for the imperial court—the bawdy performances incite boisterous disruptions among the audience. As a result, the bakufu outlaws first actresses and then the young male actors who succeed them. In the second half of the century, kabuki is performed by mature male actors only.
• 1615 The shogunate issues the first in a series of codes of conduct, known as Buke Shohatto, to regulate the behavior of daimyo, aristocrats, and religious institutions. These edicts reflect Confucian attitudes toward morality, proper behavior, and the relative social status of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants (listed in order of importance). An important corollary to these codes is the ordinance known as sankin kotai, or alternate residence. Every feudal baron, or daimyo, is required to maintain a household in Edo, as well as one in his home region. During the time that a daimyo is allowed to return to his own province, he is obliged to leave his family in Edo as virtual hostages.
• 1617 An officially controlled and sanctioned pleasure district is established in Edo to function as an outlet for hedonistic impulses otherwise banned by the shogunate's code of Confucian conduct. This enclosed area provides theater, musical, and sexual entertainment to people with sufficient money, regardless of class, and becomes the location of the new genre of paintings, prints, literature, and performance known as ukiyo, or "floating world."
• 1639 The shogunate passes its most extreme isolationist edict, solidifying its policy of sakoku, or closed country. All Westerners—except the Dutch—are expelled from Japan, nearly all trade with Europe is banned, and Christianity is outlawed. (Trade with China and Korea is still permitted but with restricted frequency.) Japanese citizens are not allowed to travel abroad, and thousands of Japanese and European Christians are persecuted. Despite these edicts, however, occasional and limited trade and dissemination of Western scholarship, especially in the areas of science, technology, and military tactics, continues, increasing in the next century.
• 1682 The poet and writer Ihara Saikaku (1642–1692) writes The Life of a Man Who Lived for Love (Koshoku ichidai otoko), the first of his novels on erotic and romantic love. Saikaku is one of the best writers of a new genre of fiction known as ukiyo-zoshi, entertaining, realistic, and trendy books about worldly pleasures in the urban centers. Thanks to an increased literacy rate, these books are bought and read by a larger percentage of the population.
• 1689 Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) embarks on a journey to northern Honshu, recorded in a travel journal containing his first refined haiku. These concise and expressive seventeen-syllable poems seek to capture the author's emotional response to the sites he encounters.
• 1703 The leading playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1724) authors The Love Suicides of Sonezaki (Sonezaki shinju), which becomes a very popular puppet, or bunraku, play. Dramatically sophisticated plays such as this raise bunraku to the level of a mature artistic form and usher in its period of greatest popularity.
• 1765 The artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725–1770) is the first designer of popular woodblock prints to use multiple colors to make nishiki-e, or brocade, prints. By using a series of blocks to apply different colors, Harunobu makes lively and decorative images of beautiful women, famous kabuki actors, and scenes of the "floating world."
• 1798 The scholar Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) completes his major opus, Kojiki den, a forty-four volume study of the eighth-century Kojiki, Japan's earliest literary classic. An important figure in the Kokugaku (National Learning) movement, Norinaga writes and teaches extensively on early Japanese literature, language, and culture. His ultimate goal is to discover and promote an indigenous Japanese culture, which he views as being essentially sensitive, emotional, and natural.
Noh costume (karaori) with cypress fans and yûgao blossoms, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th–early 19th century
Japan
Brocaded twill-weave silk with supplementary weft patterning in metallic thread
Overall 67 x 56 in. (170.2 x 142.2 cm)
Gift of Dorothy F. Rolph, in memory of her sister, Helen L. Beloussoff, 1961 (61.151.6)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This pattern of open cypress fans and blossoms from a gourd vine called yûgao unmistakably evokes Prince Genji's tragic affair with a mysterious young woman who answered his poem with a spray of such blossoms on a fan. This episode from "Yûgao," the fourth chapter of The Tale of Genji, inspired a Noh play of the same name attributed to Zeami (ca. 1364–ca. 1443). In the play, the young woman, who perished at the hands of the jealous spirit of Genji's wife, appears as a ghost who achieves peace and enlightenment through the power of the Lotus Sutra.
Karaori Noh costumes are usually worn as the outer garment for the roles of women. The woven textiles from which they are made, also called karaori, are characterized by long brocading wefts that resemble embroidery.
Noh costume (mizugoromo), 19th century
Japan
Plain-weave bast fiber
Overall 43 3/4 x 62 in. (111.1 x 157.5 cm)
Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2002 (2002.386)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The mizugoromo (literally, "water garment") is a type of three-quarter-length overgarment made specifically for the Noh stage, where it is worn for many types of roles: male and female, old and young, priest and layman. This mizugoromo, strikingly modern in appearance, is made of an intentionally distressed plain-weave cloth, termed yore in Japanese, which has a very open weave with displaced wefts that are not perpendicular to the warps. Mizugoromo jackets made of yore are frequently worn for the roles of the elderly, the poor, and the distressed.
Noh costume (nuihaku) with books and nandina branches, Edo period (1615–1868), second half of 18th century
Japan
Silk embroidery and metallic leaf on silk satin
Overall 65 3/4 x 56 3/4 in. (167 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul T. Nomura, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. S. Morris Nomura, 1989 (1989.367)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Books decorated with seasonal motifs and auspicious patterns scattered over tall nandina shrubs are intricately embroidered on a silk ground embellished by gold leaf to create a profusion of color, texture, and pattern. A nuihaku is a Noh costume decorated with embroidery and metallic leaf and is usually worn for the role of a woman. With its brilliant gold-leaf ground (dôhaku), this robe is an example of the most spectacular type of nuihaku, also termed dôhaku.
This sumptuous costume is depicted in color in the Ken'eirô gasô, a multivolume album of full-color paintings of fans, masks, props, and traditional costumes that was probably compiled by the Tayasu house, an offshoot of the shogunal Tokugawa family. The album's painted illustrations of the nuihaku, front and back, are inscribed with a date corresponding to 1838. The costume is said to have been used by the Hôshô troupe, which was patronized by the shogunate during the Edo period.
Noh costume (nuihaku) with scattered crests, Edo period (1615–1868), late 18th–early 19th century
Japan
Silk embroidery and gold leaf on silk satin
Overall 65 x 53 1/2 in. (165.1 x 135.9 cm)
Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, 1929 (29.100.541)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This costume's design of scattered crests (monzukushi) consists of twenty different crests of varying sizes, including both family crests and Buddhist symbols. In Noh robes, the monzukushi pattern is customarily seen on solid-colored satin grounds, and such costumes are generally worn by actors taking the roles of vengeful jealous women.
Nuihaku robes are decorated with both embroidery (nui-) and the application of metallic leaf (-haku). Usually for female roles, they are often worn turned down at the waist in a draping style called koshimaki (literally, "waist wrap").
Noh costume (surihaku) with Chinese bellflowers, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan
Gold and silver leaf on silk satin
Overall 68 1/4 x 57 1/4 in. (173.4 x 145.4 cm)
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1932 (32.30.5)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Blooming in the middle of the eighth lunar month, the Chinese bellflower (kikyô), with its star-shaped blossoms, is celebrated as one of the seven autumn grasses. The execution of the simple floral motif on this robe is reminiscent of background designs painted in gold and silver on poem cards and handscrolls by artists of the Rinpa school, beginning with Tawaraya Sôtatsu (d. ca. 1640).
Surihaku robes are decorated with patterns of gold or silver leaf affixed with paste to a plain-colored background. In Noh performances, they are worn as inner garments, often covered and seen only at the collar or shining almost imperceptibly through a gauzy cloak; sometimes, however, outer garments are draped or wrapped in such a way as to expose parts of the surihaku—the chest area, right sleeve, or even the entire upper portion of the robe.
The Old Plum, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1645
Attributed to Kano Sansetsu (Japanese, ca. 1589–1651)
Four sliding door panels (fusuma); ink, color, gold leaf on paper
H. 68 3/4 in. (174.6 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.48a-d)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The massive black trunk of an ancient plum tree with bending, twisting branches spans nearly sixteen feet across four gold-leafed sliding panels. The downward thrust of its principal branch is echoed by the parallel reverse movement of two young shoots. Supported on both sides by vertical and horizontal expanses of rock, the old reptilian tree sprouts blossoms, which convey the atmosphere of a cold, early spring and symbolize birth and renewal. This remarkable painting bears no signature or seal, but the exaggerated bends of the tree and the cubelike crispness of the geometric rocks are idiosyncrasies associated with the signed works of Kano Sansetsu. Sansetsu was a pupil and son-in-law of Kano Sanraku (1559–1635).
The panels originally formed one wall of a room in the Tenshoin, a subtemple of Myoshinji. On the reverse of these panels was a composition depicting the Chinese theme of Eight Daoist Immortals, which formed a wall in the adjacent room. This composition is now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
One Hundred Boys, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Kano Eino (Japanese, 1631–1697)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper
each 3 ft. 8 7/8 in. x 9 ft. 3 in. (1.1. x 2.8 m)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, Mary and James G. Wallach Foundation Gift, Gift of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, and Dodge Fund, 2009 (2009.260.1,2)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Kano Eino succeeded his father, Sansetsu, as the third head of the Kyoto-based branch of the preeminent Kano family workshop. The House of Kano served as official painters to the imperial and military elite for more than four centuries. In addition to excelling in the family style, Eino is widely known as the author of History of Painting in This Realm (Honcho gashi), the first major history of painting written in Japan. His text, based on drafts by his father, was heavily influenced by Chinese histories of the subject, reflecting a continental bias that is also evident in his and other Kano artists' paintings. While the felicitous theme of these handsome small-format screens, One Hundred Boys, first appeared in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), they are indebted to prototypes from the later Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the subject also appeared widely on ceramics and other decorative arts objects. The detail, variety, and sheer number of figures, executed in fine-quality pigments, indicate that the family who commissioned these screens was aristocratic. The signatures and red intaglio seals appearing in the corners of the screens read, respectively, "painted by Kano Nuidonosuke Eino" and "Sansei."
Otani Oniji II, dated 1794
Toshusai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95)
Polychrome woodcut print on paper
15 x 9 7/8 in. (38.1 x 22.9 cm)
Henry L. Phillips Collection, Bequest of Henry L. Phillips, 1939 (JP2822)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The actor Otani Oniji II is captured here in the role of Yakko Edobe. A yakko is a manservant often used by samurai to perform violent deeds. Otani Oniji's leering face, shown in three-quarter view, bristling hair, and groping outstretched hands capture the ruthless nature of this wicked henchman. Sharaku was renowned for creating visually bold prints that gave rare revealing glimpses into the world of kabuki. He was not only able to capture the essential qualities of kabuki characters, but his prints also reveal, often with unflattering realism, the personalities of the actors who were famous for performing them. Because kabuki plays have relatively simple plots, the acting style of the performer is central to the performance. As a result, successful kabuki actors enjoyed great celebrity status. Unlike earlier masters, Sharaku did not idealize his subjects or attempt to portray them realistically. Rather, he exaggerated facial features and strove for psychological realism.
Outer robe (uchikake) with theme of Mount Hôrai, Edo period (1615–1868), second half of 18th–first half of 19th century
Japan
Silk and metallic thread embroidery on silk satin damask with stencil-dyed details
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jonas M. Goldstone, 1970 (1970.296.1)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The ancient Chinese legend of Penglai, a spiritual mountain of eternal life located in the eastern seas, evolved in Japan into the fantasy island of Mount Hôrai, stylized as a gathering of cranes and tortoises in a bright landscape dominated by pine, bamboo, and blossoming plum. Suitable residents of Mount Hôrai, cranes and tortoises symbolize long life. Pine, bamboo, and plum constitute the auspicious "Three Friends of Winter," because they show signs of life even during the cold months of the year.
The theme of Mount Hôrai was very common in bridal garments.
Persimmon Tree, Edo period (1615–1868), late autumn 1816
Sakai Hoitsu (Japanese, 1761–1828)
Two-panel screen; ink and color on paper
56 1/2 x 64 in. (143.5 x 162.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.156.3)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
According to its inscription, this two-panel screen was painted in the late autumn of 1816. The solitary persimmon tree, bent and brittle with age, has already lost most of its leaves. At the center, a cluster of red fruit hangs heavy and overripe from a branch so frail that it seems to have snapped under the weight. Below grow two stalks of withered pampas grass and a few sparse weeds. The tree is crisply silhouetted against an unpainted paper ground that suggests the cold sky of a clear November day. The artist Sakai Hoitsu used this subject often on hanging scrolls and folding fans but never with the severity he displays here. The asymmetrical composition may have been complemented originally by a plum or cherry tree of early spring on a right-hand screen.
Hoitsu was born into a rich and powerful samurai family in Edo and had all the advantages of the finest education in poetry, Noh drama, tea ceremony, and painting. However, he became ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1797. He moved to Kyoto for a few years, and then returned to Edo in 1809 to form his own painting workshop and to immerse himself in the study of the life and art of Ogata Korin (1658–1716). His attraction to Korin, whose style he consciously sought to revive, is related to the fact that a century earlier Hoitsu's family had been among Korin's chief patrons, and numerous masterpieces by Korin were still preserved in their collection.
Plate with design of ladies with parasol, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1736
Japan
Design attributed to Cornelis Pronk (Dutch, 1691–1759)
Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration (Arita ware)
Diam. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm)
Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 2000 (2002.447.123)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Two graceful ladies attired in Japanese kimono have stopped to look at three birds that have crossed their path. An inner border encircles the scene with floral designs, while the outer border contains panels with images of birds and ladies, echoing the central motif. The design on this plate is a modified version of a drawing by a Dutch artist named Cornelis Pronk, originally depicting Chinese ladies in the same setting. Pronk was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to create a design for tea and dinner sets for Chinese potters to use as a model. At some point, this design made its way to Japan, where Pronk's original design was altered to reflect Japanese fashions instead of Chinese. However, the Japanese versions of this type were sold privately, not by the Dutch East India Company.
Plate, Edo period (1615–1868), 1760
Japan, Hizen Province, Arita kiln
Porcelain decorated with the figure of Ononokomachi in blue and brilliant enamels (Arita ware, Imari type)
H. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm), W. 8 in. (20.3 cm), L. 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm)
Gift of Mrs. V. Everit Macy, 1923 (23.225.144)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This unusual dish is in the shape of a Heian court lady, identified by her sumptuous, multilayered attire and flowing black hair. The Heian period occurred several centuries before this piece was made, but was remembered as a high point in Japanese culture. It was a time of vibrant court life, when court ladies were becoming involved in literary pursuits; the beauty Ono no Komachi was composing poetry at this time, and the author Murasaki Shikibu penned her famous novel The Tale of Genji. People of the Edo period, when this dish was made, would have recognized a Heian noblewoman's appearance from the beautiful handscrolls that depicted stories from that era.
Although this dish was produced at the Arita kilns, which are mainly associated with export porcelain, it was intended for a Japanese buyer. During the time this dish was made, in the mid-1700s, porcelain exports were slowing down and there was a focus instead on the domestic market. Additionally, the historical subject matter and unique shape suggest that this piece was privately commissioned by a Japanese customer. Several other dishes with similar designs are known, and it is believed that they have auspicious significance and were presented as gifts to children at holidays.
Poem page mounted as a hanging scroll, Momoyama period (1573–1615), dated 1606
Painting by Tawaraya Sotatsu (Japanese, active early 17th century); Calligraphy by Hon'ami Koetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637)
Ink on paper decorated with gold and silver
7 7/8 x 7 in. (20 x 17.8 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.59)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A classic poem has been inscribed by Hon'ami Koetsu on this square sheet of paper decorated by Tawaraya Sotatsu in a gold and silver design of clouds amid cherry blossoms. Now mounted as a hanging scroll, this is one of a set of similar poem pages probably intended to be pasted on a gold-leaf screen. The unusual dated signature, "the 11th day of the 11th month of Keicho [1606], Koetsu," makes this one of the earliest verifiable works by this influential calligrapher and arbiter of taste. The poem, from his favorite anthology of Japanese court poetry, the Shinkokinshu, is by Kamo no Chomei (1155–1216):
I sit staring,
Assailed by thousands of melancholy thoughts.
Is it for me alone that the wind in mountain pines
comes again this autumn?
Although the gorgeous spring decoration has no resonance in the poem's nostalgic melancholy, there is visual harmony between Sotatsu's bold design and Koetsu's personal version of Heian court script—a rhythmically modulated blending of thick dark characters with small fluid ones, connected by thin trails of his quickly moving brush. The collaboration between Koetsu and Sotatsu produced many similar works on individual sheets as well as on horizontal scrolls, and laid the foundation for a decorative artistic tradition, later called Rinpa, which gave fresh treatment to ancient yamato-e themes.
Rough Waves, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1704–9
Ogata Korin (Japanese, 1658–1716)
Two-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper
57 11/16 x 65 1/8 in. (146.6 x 165.4 cm); folded: 60 x 32 x 2 1/4 in. (152.4 x 81.3 x 5.7 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1926 (26.117)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Many artists and poets of the East and West alike have striven to capture the transitory and fleeting image of swelling waves. Korin's rendition–one of Japan's most striking representations of this amorphous, ungraspable form—has a strangely menacing feel, due no doubt to the long, tentacle-like fingers of foam, punctured here and there by openings. Outlined in ink by the ancient Chinese technique of drawing with two brushes held together in one hand, the clawlike waves are peculiarly reminiscent of dragons.
The screen bears a seal reading "Dôsû," the name Korin adopted in 1704. A recent study has revealed that the screen was executed between 1704 and 1709, when Korin was residing in Edo (Tokyo). The immediate inspiration for the screen may have been an image by the famous Muromachi-period artist Sesson Shukei (1504–1589?), whose extant works include a number of dynamic and mysterious renderings of waves.
Scene from "The Ivy" (Yadogiri): Chapter 49 of The Tale of Genji, Edo period (1615–1868), early 17th century
Studio of Tawaraya Sotatsu (Japanese, died ca. 1640)
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
10 x 21 3/4 in. (25.4 x 55.2 cm)
Gift of Chizuko and Frank Korn, in honor of Miyeko Murase, 2006 (2006.570)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This painting is a section of a large painting cut from a pair of folding screens that featured scenes from the eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji. Remounted as a hanging scroll, this scene is from a chapter of the story known as "The Ivy." Kaoru, the son of the novel's main character, Genji, lies in bed, a folding screen shielding him from the evening wind in the hills of Uji. By the faint light of an oil lamp, a maidservant piques the young man's interest with word of a young woman named Ukifune. The bright, thickly applied pigments are considered a hallmark of Sotatsu's studio, to which the painting has traditionally been attributed.
Seven Gods of Good Fortune and Chinese Children, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th–18th century
Kano Chikanobu (Japanese, 1660–1728)
Six-panel folding screen; ink and color on paper; reverse side: ink, color, and gold on paper
69 1/4 x 153 in. (175.9 x 388.6 cm)
Signed: Chikanobu
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.498)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The Seven Deities of Good Fortune (Shichifuku-jin) and Chinese children are auspicious symbols of wealth and abundance. This screen illustrates, from right to left, three of the seven deities: Daikokuten, Hotei, and Ebisu. Another screen, originally paired with this one but now missing, must have included the remaining four deities: Bishamonten, Jurojin, Benzaiten, and Fukurokuju.
Daikokuten (Mahakala in Sanskrit), holding a wine cup and wearing his distinctive hood, is here depicted in a relaxed pose, though in other manifestations he is a ferocious protector of Buddhist Law. Combining his Buddhist role with that of an indigenous Japanese god, Daikokuten became one of the most popular gods of good fortune. Here he is accompanied by his attributes, including the sack with a mallet and a rice bale.
Ebisu, holding a large red snapper under his left arm, is the only deity of entirely native origin. He was originally a god of fisherman and, later, merchants hoping for success in trade. Since the sixteenth century, both Daikokuten and Ebisu have been widely worshipped as gods of wealth and prosperity and as household deities.
Hotei (Budai in Chinese), exposing his rotund belly and talking to Daikokuten, is a legendary Chinese eccentric monk of the tenth century, said to be an incarnation of Miroku (Maitreya in Sanskrit), the Buddha of the Future. His distinctive features, joyful smile, and large sack make him a representative member of the seven deities of good fortune. Because of his carefree nature, he is closely associated with children; he delights in playing with them.
In this composition, Chinese children play under the kindly eye of the Deities of Good Fortune. They pull a carriage abundant with flowers, gallop on hobby horses, and engage in a game of tag. The happy-go-lucky spirit of this painting is intended to evoke joy and bliss.
Kano Chikanobu, head of the Kobikicho branch of the Kano school, served the shogunate in Edo. In this most propitious painting, he displays what he learned from the discipline of the Kano academy, the elegant fusion of ink and vivid colors with versatile brushwork. Chikanobu's signature and seals appear on the reverse of the screen.
Six-lobed incense burner (akoda koro), first half of Edo period (1615–1868)
Japan
Black lacquer with decorations in ground gold, pear-skin sprinkling, line drawing, omitted line drawing, and needle drawing; metal rim and lattice work metal cover
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 in. (8.3 x 9.8 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1912 (12.134.29)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
With the rise of the warrior class to political power in the Momoyama period (1573–1615), a new style of lacquer ware called Kodaiji maki-e evolved. This technique included sprinkling of metal powder on lacquered architectural elements, tableware, and other types of objects that had not previously been decorated with maki-e (decoration of gold and/or silver sprinkled powder). The style originated in Kyoto, at the Kodai-ji temple, dedicated to the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598). His wife, O-ne, erected the temple to commemorate her husband. The temple's furnishings, which have black-lacquered surfaces decorated with autumn grasses in the maki-e technique, represent the quintessence of the new style. The delicately executed incense burner represents a later period and style of Kodaiji maki-e.
An autumn grasses pattern is depicted all around the body of the incense burner. The design includes chrysanthemum, bush clover, tail flower, arrowroot, pink, bellflower, and maiden flower. The seven grasses of autumn are mentioned in the earliest court anthologies of the Heian period (794–1185). Autumn comes with a certain sadness at the passing of summer days and the anticipation of cold winter, but nonetheless represents the beauty of changing nature.
The Sixth Patriarch of Zen at the Moment of Enlightenment, Edo period (1615–1868), 1635–45
Kano Tan'yu (Japanese, 1602–1674)
Ink on paper
40 x 9 1/2 in. (101.6 x 24.1 cm)
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallace Foundation Fund, 2006 (2006.174)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This small painting once belonged to the younger brother of the ninth Tokugawa shogun, Tayasu Munetake (1715–1771), a noted scholar and poet whose large seal is impressed below the colophon. It is accompanied by various documents of certification, authentication, and proof of provenance, reflecting its status as a specially valued possession of a shogunal family.
The painting was executed by Kano Tan'yu, the shogun's official painter, and was inscribed by Takuan Soho (1573–1645), one of the most prominent Zen monks in Japan's history. Copying a world-renowned early thirteenth-century painting by Southern Song Chinese master Liang Kai (Tokyo National Museum), Tan'yu described the historic moment in Zen legend when the sixth patriarch, Huineng (638–713), suddenly achieved enlightenment while performing the mundane task of splitting a bamboo branch for firewood. Datable to 1635–45 both from the artist's signature and because Takuan died in 1645, the painting vividly demonstrates the young Tan'yu's skill. With just a few animated brushstrokes in light ink, he captured the spirit of the Zen parable, his manipulation of the broad ink wash leaving much to the viewer's imagination. Though modest in scale, the painting nevertheless resonates with historical and artistic significance.
Standing figure, Edo period (1615–1868), late 17th century
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration (Hizen ware, Kakiemon type)
H. 15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm), W. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm), D. 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.528)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This type of brightly colored female figure is a popular example of exotica exported from Japan to Europe in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It was executed in the Kakiemon style, in which bright, overglaze enamels are applied to the white porcelain surface. This figure is dressed in a fashionable outfit of the day; she is draped in several layers of kimono, which are belted at the waist with a black obi. Characteristic of Japanese fashion, the contours of her body are obscured by the layers of fabric, but the material itself catches the viewer's eye. She wears a jovial expression, and one foot is slightly revealed at the hem of her garment, but her hands are held demurely by her body.
Depictions of such bijin, or beautiful ladies, were also becoming popular in Japan at this time in the newly budding art form of ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." Ukiyo-e woodblock prints showed various aspects of the pleasure quarters that flourished during this period, including courtesans and onnagata, male kabuki actors who played female roles. The fashions of the day were typically shaped by the denizens of the pleasure quarters, and this figure's attire is probably also styled on such a model.
Stationery box, Momoyama period (1573–1615), early 17th century
Japan
Lacquer, with sprinkled gold decoration in Kodaiji style, inlaid with gold and silver foil
H. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm), W. 17 15/16 in. (45.6 cm)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1987 (1987.82ab)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The bold designs and gorgeous floral decoration in sprinkled gold on the gold and black lacquerwork of this large box for writing paper are characteristic of lacquerware associated with Kodaiji. This temple, built in 1606 in memory of the great shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598) by his widow, is the epitome of the lavish taste of the Momoyama age. Despite several fires, the temple preserves a corpus of some thirty lacquer objects, which include architectural elements and utensils used in the fabled castles of the ostentatious Hideyoshi. Distinctive features of the Kodaiji style, in vogue from about 1568 until well into the early seventeenth century, are its naturalistic rendering of plant motifs, usually autumn grasses, in large forms on a ground frequently divided into alternating diagonal fields of black and sprinkled gold. The wisteria-laden pine and the bridge bordered by spring willows have classic literary associations appropriate to boxes of this type. Bridges—this one recalling the famous structure at Uji—were particularly favored as an artistic motif during the early seventeenth century. Technically, the making of Kodaiji lacquerware was not as complicated as were earlier and later works of the Koami school artisans, who simplified their traditional methods to produce the bold decorative effects and large quantities demanded by lavish Momoyama patrons. The sumptuous technique employed here, which includes the inlay of gold and silver sheets, suggests a date late in the Momoyama period.
Surcoat (jimbaori), Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Japan
Silk, felt, metallic thread, lacquered wood
H. 38 3/8 in. (97.3 cm)
Purchase, Charles and Ellen Baber Gift, 2006 (2006.95)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A high-ranking samurai would have worn a jimbaori like this over his armor not only for protection against the elements but also as a highly visible display of his status and his mon (family crest). The mon appliquéd at the top of the back of this outstanding example identifies its original owner as a member of the Makino family, who were daimyos (lords) of Tanabe (modern Kyoto Prefecture).
Jimbaori are derived from a jacket known as a dofuku, which was worn by important samurai beginning in the late sixteenth century and often incorporated fabric imported from China or Europe. Beginning in the early seventeenth century, dofuku developed into two types: a short coat with sleeves called a haori and the sleeveless jimbaori. Jimbaori have broad lapels, to display the rich fabric of the lining, and a single slit up the back. The lively and highly original design of tossing waves on this jimbaori was rendered in appliqués of subtly shaded silks embroidered with highlights in gold and silver thread. The unusual motifs, the high quality of the materials and workmanship, and the relatively early date make it one of the finest jimbaori in the Museum's collection.
Suzu, 17th century
Miwa, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Wood, metal
L. 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm), Diam. 4 in. (19 cm)
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889 (89.4.94)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 680 Last Updated September 14, 2012
The term suzu refers to two Japanese instruments associated with Shinto ritual: (1) a single large crotal bell similar in shape to a sleigh bell and having a slit on one side; and (2) a handheld bell-tree with small crotal bells strung in three levels on a spiraling wire. The larger form may be hung from a rafter in front of a Shinto shrine and sounded by a robe or ribbons that hang within reach of the worshipper. The smaller suzu seen here is supported atop a handle and is held by female shrine attendants (miko) costumed in traditional robes, white-powered faces, and wearing Heian-period coiffure during performances of kagura dance. Kagura (music for the gods) is a term encompassing Shinto instrumental music, songs, and dances performed at shrines and at court. It was formalized as early as 773, when it appeared in the palace repertoire. These small bells, ritual implements of great antiquity, may also be grouped together in bundles for folk and ceremonial performances.
The Museum's rare seventeenth-century suzu contains twelve barrel-shaped crotal bells whose slits terminate at its ends with a heart-shaped cutout. A five-lobed metal hand guard with flower motifs and openwork hearts bears a hidden inscription on its underside. It reveals the history and use of the instrument, stating that this Shinto instrument was used by priestess Kuriyama Kamiko for the worship of the Miwa Miyojin deity at Miwa, a town in Soe County, Nara Prefecture. It also bears a date of 1699.
Sword guard (tsuba), 19th century; Edo period (1615–1868)
Inscribed by Ishiguro Masayoshi (Japanese, 1772–after 1851)
Japanese
Shakudo, gold, shibuichi, copper
2 7/8 x 2 5/8 in. (7.3 x 6.7 cm)
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936 (36.120.79)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 378 Last Updated September 14, 2012
Tsuba were originally utilitarian fittings, made to protect the hand from the cuts of an opponent's sword. From the sixteenth century onward, however, more decorative tsuba became the specialty of some craftsmen. By the nineteenth century, when this tsuba was made, there were many well-defined schools and styles of tsuba making. Tsuba were interchangeable and were often made as part of sets of matching sword fittings, which could be mounted with blades of various types and dates.
The Tale of Genji and Genji cards, Edo period (1615–1868)
Reisai (Japanese, 18th–19th century)
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
7 x 6 1/2 in. (17.8 x 16.5 cm)
Signed: Reisai
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP2187)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This limited-edition New Year's greeting card (surimono) has a playful, symbolic-laden composition. The image shows a set of woodblock-printed books, the Kogessho, which is an annotated edition of the Tale of Genji published around 1673. Next to it, scattered playing cards depict two chapters from the Tale of Genji: the Kobai (Rose Plum) and the Wakamurasaki (Lavender), both illustrated with not only their usual pictorial depictions, but "Genji-crests" (Genji-mon) as well. The two chapters are related to the incense culture and the Genji-crest is a symbol used in the Genji-ko incense game. The poem on the print mentions the two chapters and the dawn of the New Year in Edo. Classical literature, incense, poetry, and the traditions of the incense game are all captured in one composition.
Tea caddy (seitaka), Edo period (1615–1868)
Nonomura Ninsei (Japanese, active ca. 1646–94)
Stoneware with red, brown, and black glazes
H. (with lid) 6 in. (15.2 cm); Diam. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936 (36.120.559a–f)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This small, thin jar was used in the tea ceremony to hold powdered green tea known as matcha. It was made by Nonomura Ninsei, one of the most famous Japanese potters. He is known for being the first potter to sign his name to his work. Ninsei worked at a kiln he established outside Ninnaji temple, near Kyoto. His style, which is typically ornate and refined, set a standard that would define the appearance of Kyoto ceramics from that point on. This tea caddy is different from his usual work, in that there are no designs painted on the surface and the colors are subdued. However, even a less showy piece such as this one reveals the sophistication of Ninsei's eye.
Tobacco pouch and pipe, 18th century
Japanese
Pouch and pipe case: embossed leather, silver foil, color; clasp: gold, shakudô, shibuichi; ojime: gold; netsuke: freshwater pearl, gold; pipe: metal
Silver over oak; hand: bronze-gilt; appliqué plaques: silver-gilt, niello and cabochon stones
pouch: H. 4 in. (10.2 cm), W. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); pipe case: L. 9 in. (22.9 cm); pipe L. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm); netsuke: Diam. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.843a,b)
When the Portuguese arrived on Japan's shores in the mid-sixteenth century, they brought with them the practice of pipe smoking. In order to carry the necessary accoutrements, the Japanese suspended tobacco pouches and pipe cases on cords from their obi sashes, anchored by a netsuke.
This set, produced from expensive and exotic materials such as embossed leather, gold, copper and silver alloys, and a freshwater pearl netsuke embedded in gold, proclaims the wealth of its owner.
Water jar (mizusashi) with design of pine trees, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1720
Japan
Stoneware with underglaze iron-oxide and lacquer cover (Kenzan style)
H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm), Diam. 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.614a,b)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 229 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This mizusashi is a container that would have been used in the tea ceremony to hold fresh water to rinse the tea bowls or fill the kettle. The potter coated the dark clay ground of this jar in a white slip, providing a light background for painting. The trunks of the stylized pine trees were painted in almost calligraphic strokes, while the leafy tops seem almost like puffs of clouds.
The style is that of Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743), though this jar was probably produced by one of his followers. Kenzan was an amateur painter and potter active in the Edo period, and was known for his painterly, decorative wares.
Water pot, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1625
Japan
Bizen pottery; lacquer cover; called Daruma-shape
H. 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.215.47a,b)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The potter achieved the deformed, asymmetrical shape of this water jar by altering the soft clay after forming the basic shape on a potter's wheel. Such an effect was purposefully created to coincide with an aesthetic associated with the tea ceremony which favored somewhat imperfect forms. The lacquer lid was custom-made for the oddly shaped vessel. Lacquer was a precious substance in Japan, and the contrast between the glossy black lid and the earthy body of the vessel would have been much appreciated within the context of the tea room. In the tea ceremony, this vessel was used as a mizusashi, a container that holds fresh water to rinse the tea bowls or fill the kettle.
Wine bottle, Edo period (1615–1868), first half of 17th century
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue (Hizen ware, early Imari type)
H. 6 3/8 in. (16.1 cm), Diam. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.477)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The flower pattern on this delicate bottle was painted with soft brushstrokes, resulting in a fluid appearance and pale coloring. The focus on an isolated motif from nature is characteristic of early Imari porcelain, a style that differed from Chinese porcelain, which would later have a profound effect on Japanese wares.
This porcelain vessel would have been used as a wine bottle for sake, Japanese rice wine. It belongs to the category of early Imari, which is the first type of porcelain produced in Japan. Works considered early Imari were made from the 1610s to the 1660s. After this point, the style of Japanese porcelain changed drastically due to the stimulation of the industry by the Dutch East India Company, when it began to buy Japanese wares and export them to Europe.
Yukihira and the Salt Maidens, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1716–35
Okumura Masanobu (Japanese, 1686–1764)
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
33 1/8 x 12 7/8 in. (84.1 x 32.7 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.126)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The young man strolling with an alluring courtesan plucks a whisker in the stylish hedonism affected by bon vivants of eighteenth-century Edo. In this painting, Okumura Masunobu, one of the most versatile artists to portray the theater and brothels in woodblock prints, gives an irreverent twist to a classical theme in an urbane parody of a story immortalized by the poet and statesman Ariwara no Yukihira (818–893). Two of Yukihira's poems tell of his love for the sisters Matsukaze and Murasame, who, like him, were brought by misfortune to the lonely shores of Suma. Their love for Yukihira, during his three-year exile there, their heartbreak at his departure, and his parting gift of court robe and hat were well known through several popular kabuki plays.
Here, draped on the fabled pine of Suma, is the stylish coat and cap of an Edo bourgeois—not Yukihira's court hat, which is seen in the crest on his sleeves. Erotic Heian and Edo motifs decorate the couple's robes; the samisen on hers symbolizes the accomplished geisha, while the lattice and bamboo blinds on his evoke the secrecy of Heian romances. A palette of primary colors and gold heightens the contrast between their hedonistic world and that of the ink-painted shores of Suma.
The merchant and artisan classes reap the greatest benefits from the Edo period's prosperity and urban expansion. Not only do well-established cities such as Osaka and Kyoto thrive, but new castle towns that serve as the administrative center for provincial daimyo and their samurai retainers are built and grow during this time. Using their wealth, city residents (chonin), who include the above-named classes as well as many samurai, temporarily escape official restrictions by enthusiastically patronizing the pleasure quarters established in all large cities, and the courtesans, entertainers, prostitutes, teahouses, theaters, and restaurants found there. New forms of highly entertaining drama, literature, painting, and printmaking cater to popular trends of the day, making the Edo period an active and innovative time for the arts.
• 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) wins the Battle of Sekigahara, defeating his most serious rivals and emerging as the most powerful military leader. Three years later, the royal court recognizes his dominance and grants him the title of shogun. Ieyasu solidifies his political position by establishing his military government in Edo (modern Tokyo) and begins to reassign land possession in favor of himself and his supporters. It is not until 1615, however, one year before his death, that Ieyasu finally defeats all his competitors, when he routs the last of the Toyotomi and captures Osaka castle.
• 1603 This is the traditional date for the first performance of kabuki, a popular form of theater involving music and dance and originally performed by women. Despite its initial wide appeal—troupes perform for the masses as well as for the imperial court—the bawdy performances incite boisterous disruptions among the audience. As a result, the bakufu outlaws first actresses and then the young male actors who succeed them. In the second half of the century, kabuki is performed by mature male actors only.
• 1615 The shogunate issues the first in a series of codes of conduct, known as Buke Shohatto, to regulate the behavior of daimyo, aristocrats, and religious institutions. These edicts reflect Confucian attitudes toward morality, proper behavior, and the relative social status of samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants (listed in order of importance). An important corollary to these codes is the ordinance known as sankin kotai, or alternate residence. Every feudal baron, or daimyo, is required to maintain a household in Edo, as well as one in his home region. During the time that a daimyo is allowed to return to his own province, he is obliged to leave his family in Edo as virtual hostages.
• 1617 An officially controlled and sanctioned pleasure district is established in Edo to function as an outlet for hedonistic impulses otherwise banned by the shogunate's code of Confucian conduct. This enclosed area provides theater, musical, and sexual entertainment to people with sufficient money, regardless of class, and becomes the location of the new genre of paintings, prints, literature, and performance known as ukiyo, or "floating world."
• 1639 The shogunate passes its most extreme isolationist edict, solidifying its policy of sakoku, or closed country. All Westerners—except the Dutch—are expelled from Japan, nearly all trade with Europe is banned, and Christianity is outlawed. (Trade with China and Korea is still permitted but with restricted frequency.) Japanese citizens are not allowed to travel abroad, and thousands of Japanese and European Christians are persecuted. Despite these edicts, however, occasional and limited trade and dissemination of Western scholarship, especially in the areas of science, technology, and military tactics, continues, increasing in the next century.
• 1682 The poet and writer Ihara Saikaku (1642–1692) writes The Life of a Man Who Lived for Love (Koshoku ichidai otoko), the first of his novels on erotic and romantic love. Saikaku is one of the best writers of a new genre of fiction known as ukiyo-zoshi, entertaining, realistic, and trendy books about worldly pleasures in the urban centers. Thanks to an increased literacy rate, these books are bought and read by a larger percentage of the population.
• 1689 Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) embarks on a journey to northern Honshu, recorded in a travel journal containing his first refined haiku. These concise and expressive seventeen-syllable poems seek to capture the author's emotional response to the sites he encounters.
• 1703 The leading playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1724) authors The Love Suicides of Sonezaki (Sonezaki shinju), which becomes a very popular puppet, or bunraku, play. Dramatically sophisticated plays such as this raise bunraku to the level of a mature artistic form and usher in its period of greatest popularity.
• 1765 The artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725–1770) is the first designer of popular woodblock prints to use multiple colors to make nishiki-e, or brocade, prints. By using a series of blocks to apply different colors, Harunobu makes lively and decorative images of beautiful women, famous kabuki actors, and scenes of the "floating world."
• 1798 The scholar Motoori Norinaga (1730–1801) completes his major opus, Kojiki den, a forty-four volume study of the eighth-century Kojiki, Japan's earliest literary classic. An important figure in the Kokugaku (National Learning) movement, Norinaga writes and teaches extensively on early Japanese literature, language, and culture. His ultimate goal is to discover and promote an indigenous Japanese culture, which he views as being essentially sensitive, emotional, and natural.
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Noh costume (karaori) with cypress fans and yûgao blossoms, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th–early 19th century
Japan
Brocaded twill-weave silk with supplementary weft patterning in metallic thread
Overall 67 x 56 in. (170.2 x 142.2 cm)
Gift of Dorothy F. Rolph, in memory of her sister, Helen L. Beloussoff, 1961 (61.151.6)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This pattern of open cypress fans and blossoms from a gourd vine called yûgao unmistakably evokes Prince Genji's tragic affair with a mysterious young woman who answered his poem with a spray of such blossoms on a fan. This episode from "Yûgao," the fourth chapter of The Tale of Genji, inspired a Noh play of the same name attributed to Zeami (ca. 1364–ca. 1443). In the play, the young woman, who perished at the hands of the jealous spirit of Genji's wife, appears as a ghost who achieves peace and enlightenment through the power of the Lotus Sutra.
Karaori Noh costumes are usually worn as the outer garment for the roles of women. The woven textiles from which they are made, also called karaori, are characterized by long brocading wefts that resemble embroidery.
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Noh costume (mizugoromo), 19th century
Japan
Plain-weave bast fiber
Overall 43 3/4 x 62 in. (111.1 x 157.5 cm)
Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2002 (2002.386)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The mizugoromo (literally, "water garment") is a type of three-quarter-length overgarment made specifically for the Noh stage, where it is worn for many types of roles: male and female, old and young, priest and layman. This mizugoromo, strikingly modern in appearance, is made of an intentionally distressed plain-weave cloth, termed yore in Japanese, which has a very open weave with displaced wefts that are not perpendicular to the warps. Mizugoromo jackets made of yore are frequently worn for the roles of the elderly, the poor, and the distressed.
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Noh costume (nuihaku) with books and nandina branches, Edo period (1615–1868), second half of 18th century
Japan
Silk embroidery and metallic leaf on silk satin
Overall 65 3/4 x 56 3/4 in. (167 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul T. Nomura, in memory of Mr. and Mrs. S. Morris Nomura, 1989 (1989.367)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Books decorated with seasonal motifs and auspicious patterns scattered over tall nandina shrubs are intricately embroidered on a silk ground embellished by gold leaf to create a profusion of color, texture, and pattern. A nuihaku is a Noh costume decorated with embroidery and metallic leaf and is usually worn for the role of a woman. With its brilliant gold-leaf ground (dôhaku), this robe is an example of the most spectacular type of nuihaku, also termed dôhaku.
This sumptuous costume is depicted in color in the Ken'eirô gasô, a multivolume album of full-color paintings of fans, masks, props, and traditional costumes that was probably compiled by the Tayasu house, an offshoot of the shogunal Tokugawa family. The album's painted illustrations of the nuihaku, front and back, are inscribed with a date corresponding to 1838. The costume is said to have been used by the Hôshô troupe, which was patronized by the shogunate during the Edo period.
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Noh costume (nuihaku) with scattered crests, Edo period (1615–1868), late 18th–early 19th century
Japan
Silk embroidery and gold leaf on silk satin
Overall 65 x 53 1/2 in. (165.1 x 135.9 cm)
Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, 1929 (29.100.541)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This costume's design of scattered crests (monzukushi) consists of twenty different crests of varying sizes, including both family crests and Buddhist symbols. In Noh robes, the monzukushi pattern is customarily seen on solid-colored satin grounds, and such costumes are generally worn by actors taking the roles of vengeful jealous women.
Nuihaku robes are decorated with both embroidery (nui-) and the application of metallic leaf (-haku). Usually for female roles, they are often worn turned down at the waist in a draping style called koshimaki (literally, "waist wrap").
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Noh costume (surihaku) with Chinese bellflowers, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan
Gold and silver leaf on silk satin
Overall 68 1/4 x 57 1/4 in. (173.4 x 145.4 cm)
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1932 (32.30.5)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Blooming in the middle of the eighth lunar month, the Chinese bellflower (kikyô), with its star-shaped blossoms, is celebrated as one of the seven autumn grasses. The execution of the simple floral motif on this robe is reminiscent of background designs painted in gold and silver on poem cards and handscrolls by artists of the Rinpa school, beginning with Tawaraya Sôtatsu (d. ca. 1640).
Surihaku robes are decorated with patterns of gold or silver leaf affixed with paste to a plain-colored background. In Noh performances, they are worn as inner garments, often covered and seen only at the collar or shining almost imperceptibly through a gauzy cloak; sometimes, however, outer garments are draped or wrapped in such a way as to expose parts of the surihaku—the chest area, right sleeve, or even the entire upper portion of the robe.
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The Old Plum, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1645
Attributed to Kano Sansetsu (Japanese, ca. 1589–1651)
Four sliding door panels (fusuma); ink, color, gold leaf on paper
H. 68 3/4 in. (174.6 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.48a-d)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The massive black trunk of an ancient plum tree with bending, twisting branches spans nearly sixteen feet across four gold-leafed sliding panels. The downward thrust of its principal branch is echoed by the parallel reverse movement of two young shoots. Supported on both sides by vertical and horizontal expanses of rock, the old reptilian tree sprouts blossoms, which convey the atmosphere of a cold, early spring and symbolize birth and renewal. This remarkable painting bears no signature or seal, but the exaggerated bends of the tree and the cubelike crispness of the geometric rocks are idiosyncrasies associated with the signed works of Kano Sansetsu. Sansetsu was a pupil and son-in-law of Kano Sanraku (1559–1635).
The panels originally formed one wall of a room in the Tenshoin, a subtemple of Myoshinji. On the reverse of these panels was a composition depicting the Chinese theme of Eight Daoist Immortals, which formed a wall in the adjacent room. This composition is now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
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One Hundred Boys, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Kano Eino (Japanese, 1631–1697)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper
each 3 ft. 8 7/8 in. x 9 ft. 3 in. (1.1. x 2.8 m)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, Mary and James G. Wallach Foundation Gift, Gift of Dr. Mortimer D. Sackler, Theresa Sackler and Family, and Dodge Fund, 2009 (2009.260.1,2)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Kano Eino succeeded his father, Sansetsu, as the third head of the Kyoto-based branch of the preeminent Kano family workshop. The House of Kano served as official painters to the imperial and military elite for more than four centuries. In addition to excelling in the family style, Eino is widely known as the author of History of Painting in This Realm (Honcho gashi), the first major history of painting written in Japan. His text, based on drafts by his father, was heavily influenced by Chinese histories of the subject, reflecting a continental bias that is also evident in his and other Kano artists' paintings. While the felicitous theme of these handsome small-format screens, One Hundred Boys, first appeared in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), they are indebted to prototypes from the later Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the subject also appeared widely on ceramics and other decorative arts objects. The detail, variety, and sheer number of figures, executed in fine-quality pigments, indicate that the family who commissioned these screens was aristocratic. The signatures and red intaglio seals appearing in the corners of the screens read, respectively, "painted by Kano Nuidonosuke Eino" and "Sansei."
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Otani Oniji II, dated 1794
Toshusai Sharaku (Japanese, active 1794–95)
Polychrome woodcut print on paper
15 x 9 7/8 in. (38.1 x 22.9 cm)
Henry L. Phillips Collection, Bequest of Henry L. Phillips, 1939 (JP2822)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The actor Otani Oniji II is captured here in the role of Yakko Edobe. A yakko is a manservant often used by samurai to perform violent deeds. Otani Oniji's leering face, shown in three-quarter view, bristling hair, and groping outstretched hands capture the ruthless nature of this wicked henchman. Sharaku was renowned for creating visually bold prints that gave rare revealing glimpses into the world of kabuki. He was not only able to capture the essential qualities of kabuki characters, but his prints also reveal, often with unflattering realism, the personalities of the actors who were famous for performing them. Because kabuki plays have relatively simple plots, the acting style of the performer is central to the performance. As a result, successful kabuki actors enjoyed great celebrity status. Unlike earlier masters, Sharaku did not idealize his subjects or attempt to portray them realistically. Rather, he exaggerated facial features and strove for psychological realism.
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Outer robe (uchikake) with theme of Mount Hôrai, Edo period (1615–1868), second half of 18th–first half of 19th century
Japan
Silk and metallic thread embroidery on silk satin damask with stencil-dyed details
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Jonas M. Goldstone, 1970 (1970.296.1)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The ancient Chinese legend of Penglai, a spiritual mountain of eternal life located in the eastern seas, evolved in Japan into the fantasy island of Mount Hôrai, stylized as a gathering of cranes and tortoises in a bright landscape dominated by pine, bamboo, and blossoming plum. Suitable residents of Mount Hôrai, cranes and tortoises symbolize long life. Pine, bamboo, and plum constitute the auspicious "Three Friends of Winter," because they show signs of life even during the cold months of the year.
The theme of Mount Hôrai was very common in bridal garments.
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Persimmon Tree, Edo period (1615–1868), late autumn 1816
Sakai Hoitsu (Japanese, 1761–1828)
Two-panel screen; ink and color on paper
56 1/2 x 64 in. (143.5 x 162.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.156.3)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
According to its inscription, this two-panel screen was painted in the late autumn of 1816. The solitary persimmon tree, bent and brittle with age, has already lost most of its leaves. At the center, a cluster of red fruit hangs heavy and overripe from a branch so frail that it seems to have snapped under the weight. Below grow two stalks of withered pampas grass and a few sparse weeds. The tree is crisply silhouetted against an unpainted paper ground that suggests the cold sky of a clear November day. The artist Sakai Hoitsu used this subject often on hanging scrolls and folding fans but never with the severity he displays here. The asymmetrical composition may have been complemented originally by a plum or cherry tree of early spring on a right-hand screen.
Hoitsu was born into a rich and powerful samurai family in Edo and had all the advantages of the finest education in poetry, Noh drama, tea ceremony, and painting. However, he became ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1797. He moved to Kyoto for a few years, and then returned to Edo in 1809 to form his own painting workshop and to immerse himself in the study of the life and art of Ogata Korin (1658–1716). His attraction to Korin, whose style he consciously sought to revive, is related to the fact that a century earlier Hoitsu's family had been among Korin's chief patrons, and numerous masterpieces by Korin were still preserved in their collection.
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Plate with design of ladies with parasol, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1736
Japan
Design attributed to Cornelis Pronk (Dutch, 1691–1759)
Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration (Arita ware)
Diam. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm)
Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 2000 (2002.447.123)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Two graceful ladies attired in Japanese kimono have stopped to look at three birds that have crossed their path. An inner border encircles the scene with floral designs, while the outer border contains panels with images of birds and ladies, echoing the central motif. The design on this plate is a modified version of a drawing by a Dutch artist named Cornelis Pronk, originally depicting Chinese ladies in the same setting. Pronk was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to create a design for tea and dinner sets for Chinese potters to use as a model. At some point, this design made its way to Japan, where Pronk's original design was altered to reflect Japanese fashions instead of Chinese. However, the Japanese versions of this type were sold privately, not by the Dutch East India Company.
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Plate, Edo period (1615–1868), 1760
Japan, Hizen Province, Arita kiln
Porcelain decorated with the figure of Ononokomachi in blue and brilliant enamels (Arita ware, Imari type)
H. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm), W. 8 in. (20.3 cm), L. 11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm)
Gift of Mrs. V. Everit Macy, 1923 (23.225.144)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This unusual dish is in the shape of a Heian court lady, identified by her sumptuous, multilayered attire and flowing black hair. The Heian period occurred several centuries before this piece was made, but was remembered as a high point in Japanese culture. It was a time of vibrant court life, when court ladies were becoming involved in literary pursuits; the beauty Ono no Komachi was composing poetry at this time, and the author Murasaki Shikibu penned her famous novel The Tale of Genji. People of the Edo period, when this dish was made, would have recognized a Heian noblewoman's appearance from the beautiful handscrolls that depicted stories from that era.
Although this dish was produced at the Arita kilns, which are mainly associated with export porcelain, it was intended for a Japanese buyer. During the time this dish was made, in the mid-1700s, porcelain exports were slowing down and there was a focus instead on the domestic market. Additionally, the historical subject matter and unique shape suggest that this piece was privately commissioned by a Japanese customer. Several other dishes with similar designs are known, and it is believed that they have auspicious significance and were presented as gifts to children at holidays.
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Poem page mounted as a hanging scroll, Momoyama period (1573–1615), dated 1606
Painting by Tawaraya Sotatsu (Japanese, active early 17th century); Calligraphy by Hon'ami Koetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637)
Ink on paper decorated with gold and silver
7 7/8 x 7 in. (20 x 17.8 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.59)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A classic poem has been inscribed by Hon'ami Koetsu on this square sheet of paper decorated by Tawaraya Sotatsu in a gold and silver design of clouds amid cherry blossoms. Now mounted as a hanging scroll, this is one of a set of similar poem pages probably intended to be pasted on a gold-leaf screen. The unusual dated signature, "the 11th day of the 11th month of Keicho [1606], Koetsu," makes this one of the earliest verifiable works by this influential calligrapher and arbiter of taste. The poem, from his favorite anthology of Japanese court poetry, the Shinkokinshu, is by Kamo no Chomei (1155–1216):
I sit staring,
Assailed by thousands of melancholy thoughts.
Is it for me alone that the wind in mountain pines
comes again this autumn?
Although the gorgeous spring decoration has no resonance in the poem's nostalgic melancholy, there is visual harmony between Sotatsu's bold design and Koetsu's personal version of Heian court script—a rhythmically modulated blending of thick dark characters with small fluid ones, connected by thin trails of his quickly moving brush. The collaboration between Koetsu and Sotatsu produced many similar works on individual sheets as well as on horizontal scrolls, and laid the foundation for a decorative artistic tradition, later called Rinpa, which gave fresh treatment to ancient yamato-e themes.
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Rough Waves, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1704–9
Ogata Korin (Japanese, 1658–1716)
Two-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper
57 11/16 x 65 1/8 in. (146.6 x 165.4 cm); folded: 60 x 32 x 2 1/4 in. (152.4 x 81.3 x 5.7 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1926 (26.117)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Many artists and poets of the East and West alike have striven to capture the transitory and fleeting image of swelling waves. Korin's rendition–one of Japan's most striking representations of this amorphous, ungraspable form—has a strangely menacing feel, due no doubt to the long, tentacle-like fingers of foam, punctured here and there by openings. Outlined in ink by the ancient Chinese technique of drawing with two brushes held together in one hand, the clawlike waves are peculiarly reminiscent of dragons.
The screen bears a seal reading "Dôsû," the name Korin adopted in 1704. A recent study has revealed that the screen was executed between 1704 and 1709, when Korin was residing in Edo (Tokyo). The immediate inspiration for the screen may have been an image by the famous Muromachi-period artist Sesson Shukei (1504–1589?), whose extant works include a number of dynamic and mysterious renderings of waves.
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Scene from "The Ivy" (Yadogiri): Chapter 49 of The Tale of Genji, Edo period (1615–1868), early 17th century
Studio of Tawaraya Sotatsu (Japanese, died ca. 1640)
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
10 x 21 3/4 in. (25.4 x 55.2 cm)
Gift of Chizuko and Frank Korn, in honor of Miyeko Murase, 2006 (2006.570)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This painting is a section of a large painting cut from a pair of folding screens that featured scenes from the eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji. Remounted as a hanging scroll, this scene is from a chapter of the story known as "The Ivy." Kaoru, the son of the novel's main character, Genji, lies in bed, a folding screen shielding him from the evening wind in the hills of Uji. By the faint light of an oil lamp, a maidservant piques the young man's interest with word of a young woman named Ukifune. The bright, thickly applied pigments are considered a hallmark of Sotatsu's studio, to which the painting has traditionally been attributed.
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Seven Gods of Good Fortune and Chinese Children, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th–18th century
Kano Chikanobu (Japanese, 1660–1728)
Six-panel folding screen; ink and color on paper; reverse side: ink, color, and gold on paper
69 1/4 x 153 in. (175.9 x 388.6 cm)
Signed: Chikanobu
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.498)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The Seven Deities of Good Fortune (Shichifuku-jin) and Chinese children are auspicious symbols of wealth and abundance. This screen illustrates, from right to left, three of the seven deities: Daikokuten, Hotei, and Ebisu. Another screen, originally paired with this one but now missing, must have included the remaining four deities: Bishamonten, Jurojin, Benzaiten, and Fukurokuju.
Daikokuten (Mahakala in Sanskrit), holding a wine cup and wearing his distinctive hood, is here depicted in a relaxed pose, though in other manifestations he is a ferocious protector of Buddhist Law. Combining his Buddhist role with that of an indigenous Japanese god, Daikokuten became one of the most popular gods of good fortune. Here he is accompanied by his attributes, including the sack with a mallet and a rice bale.
Ebisu, holding a large red snapper under his left arm, is the only deity of entirely native origin. He was originally a god of fisherman and, later, merchants hoping for success in trade. Since the sixteenth century, both Daikokuten and Ebisu have been widely worshipped as gods of wealth and prosperity and as household deities.
Hotei (Budai in Chinese), exposing his rotund belly and talking to Daikokuten, is a legendary Chinese eccentric monk of the tenth century, said to be an incarnation of Miroku (Maitreya in Sanskrit), the Buddha of the Future. His distinctive features, joyful smile, and large sack make him a representative member of the seven deities of good fortune. Because of his carefree nature, he is closely associated with children; he delights in playing with them.
In this composition, Chinese children play under the kindly eye of the Deities of Good Fortune. They pull a carriage abundant with flowers, gallop on hobby horses, and engage in a game of tag. The happy-go-lucky spirit of this painting is intended to evoke joy and bliss.
Kano Chikanobu, head of the Kobikicho branch of the Kano school, served the shogunate in Edo. In this most propitious painting, he displays what he learned from the discipline of the Kano academy, the elegant fusion of ink and vivid colors with versatile brushwork. Chikanobu's signature and seals appear on the reverse of the screen.
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Six-lobed incense burner (akoda koro), first half of Edo period (1615–1868)
Japan
Black lacquer with decorations in ground gold, pear-skin sprinkling, line drawing, omitted line drawing, and needle drawing; metal rim and lattice work metal cover
3 1/4 x 3 7/8 in. (8.3 x 9.8 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1912 (12.134.29)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
With the rise of the warrior class to political power in the Momoyama period (1573–1615), a new style of lacquer ware called Kodaiji maki-e evolved. This technique included sprinkling of metal powder on lacquered architectural elements, tableware, and other types of objects that had not previously been decorated with maki-e (decoration of gold and/or silver sprinkled powder). The style originated in Kyoto, at the Kodai-ji temple, dedicated to the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598). His wife, O-ne, erected the temple to commemorate her husband. The temple's furnishings, which have black-lacquered surfaces decorated with autumn grasses in the maki-e technique, represent the quintessence of the new style. The delicately executed incense burner represents a later period and style of Kodaiji maki-e.
An autumn grasses pattern is depicted all around the body of the incense burner. The design includes chrysanthemum, bush clover, tail flower, arrowroot, pink, bellflower, and maiden flower. The seven grasses of autumn are mentioned in the earliest court anthologies of the Heian period (794–1185). Autumn comes with a certain sadness at the passing of summer days and the anticipation of cold winter, but nonetheless represents the beauty of changing nature.
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The Sixth Patriarch of Zen at the Moment of Enlightenment, Edo period (1615–1868), 1635–45
Kano Tan'yu (Japanese, 1602–1674)
Ink on paper
40 x 9 1/2 in. (101.6 x 24.1 cm)
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallace Foundation Fund, 2006 (2006.174)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This small painting once belonged to the younger brother of the ninth Tokugawa shogun, Tayasu Munetake (1715–1771), a noted scholar and poet whose large seal is impressed below the colophon. It is accompanied by various documents of certification, authentication, and proof of provenance, reflecting its status as a specially valued possession of a shogunal family.
The painting was executed by Kano Tan'yu, the shogun's official painter, and was inscribed by Takuan Soho (1573–1645), one of the most prominent Zen monks in Japan's history. Copying a world-renowned early thirteenth-century painting by Southern Song Chinese master Liang Kai (Tokyo National Museum), Tan'yu described the historic moment in Zen legend when the sixth patriarch, Huineng (638–713), suddenly achieved enlightenment while performing the mundane task of splitting a bamboo branch for firewood. Datable to 1635–45 both from the artist's signature and because Takuan died in 1645, the painting vividly demonstrates the young Tan'yu's skill. With just a few animated brushstrokes in light ink, he captured the spirit of the Zen parable, his manipulation of the broad ink wash leaving much to the viewer's imagination. Though modest in scale, the painting nevertheless resonates with historical and artistic significance.
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Standing figure, Edo period (1615–1868), late 17th century
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration (Hizen ware, Kakiemon type)
H. 15 5/8 in. (39.7 cm), W. 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm), D. 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.528)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This type of brightly colored female figure is a popular example of exotica exported from Japan to Europe in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It was executed in the Kakiemon style, in which bright, overglaze enamels are applied to the white porcelain surface. This figure is dressed in a fashionable outfit of the day; she is draped in several layers of kimono, which are belted at the waist with a black obi. Characteristic of Japanese fashion, the contours of her body are obscured by the layers of fabric, but the material itself catches the viewer's eye. She wears a jovial expression, and one foot is slightly revealed at the hem of her garment, but her hands are held demurely by her body.
Depictions of such bijin, or beautiful ladies, were also becoming popular in Japan at this time in the newly budding art form of ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." Ukiyo-e woodblock prints showed various aspects of the pleasure quarters that flourished during this period, including courtesans and onnagata, male kabuki actors who played female roles. The fashions of the day were typically shaped by the denizens of the pleasure quarters, and this figure's attire is probably also styled on such a model.
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Stationery box, Momoyama period (1573–1615), early 17th century
Japan
Lacquer, with sprinkled gold decoration in Kodaiji style, inlaid with gold and silver foil
H. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm), W. 17 15/16 in. (45.6 cm)
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1987 (1987.82ab)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The bold designs and gorgeous floral decoration in sprinkled gold on the gold and black lacquerwork of this large box for writing paper are characteristic of lacquerware associated with Kodaiji. This temple, built in 1606 in memory of the great shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598) by his widow, is the epitome of the lavish taste of the Momoyama age. Despite several fires, the temple preserves a corpus of some thirty lacquer objects, which include architectural elements and utensils used in the fabled castles of the ostentatious Hideyoshi. Distinctive features of the Kodaiji style, in vogue from about 1568 until well into the early seventeenth century, are its naturalistic rendering of plant motifs, usually autumn grasses, in large forms on a ground frequently divided into alternating diagonal fields of black and sprinkled gold. The wisteria-laden pine and the bridge bordered by spring willows have classic literary associations appropriate to boxes of this type. Bridges—this one recalling the famous structure at Uji—were particularly favored as an artistic motif during the early seventeenth century. Technically, the making of Kodaiji lacquerware was not as complicated as were earlier and later works of the Koami school artisans, who simplified their traditional methods to produce the bold decorative effects and large quantities demanded by lavish Momoyama patrons. The sumptuous technique employed here, which includes the inlay of gold and silver sheets, suggests a date late in the Momoyama period.
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Surcoat (jimbaori), Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Japan
Silk, felt, metallic thread, lacquered wood
H. 38 3/8 in. (97.3 cm)
Purchase, Charles and Ellen Baber Gift, 2006 (2006.95)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A high-ranking samurai would have worn a jimbaori like this over his armor not only for protection against the elements but also as a highly visible display of his status and his mon (family crest). The mon appliquéd at the top of the back of this outstanding example identifies its original owner as a member of the Makino family, who were daimyos (lords) of Tanabe (modern Kyoto Prefecture).
Jimbaori are derived from a jacket known as a dofuku, which was worn by important samurai beginning in the late sixteenth century and often incorporated fabric imported from China or Europe. Beginning in the early seventeenth century, dofuku developed into two types: a short coat with sleeves called a haori and the sleeveless jimbaori. Jimbaori have broad lapels, to display the rich fabric of the lining, and a single slit up the back. The lively and highly original design of tossing waves on this jimbaori was rendered in appliqués of subtly shaded silks embroidered with highlights in gold and silver thread. The unusual motifs, the high quality of the materials and workmanship, and the relatively early date make it one of the finest jimbaori in the Museum's collection.
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Suzu, 17th century
Miwa, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Wood, metal
L. 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm), Diam. 4 in. (19 cm)
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889 (89.4.94)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 680 Last Updated September 14, 2012
The term suzu refers to two Japanese instruments associated with Shinto ritual: (1) a single large crotal bell similar in shape to a sleigh bell and having a slit on one side; and (2) a handheld bell-tree with small crotal bells strung in three levels on a spiraling wire. The larger form may be hung from a rafter in front of a Shinto shrine and sounded by a robe or ribbons that hang within reach of the worshipper. The smaller suzu seen here is supported atop a handle and is held by female shrine attendants (miko) costumed in traditional robes, white-powered faces, and wearing Heian-period coiffure during performances of kagura dance. Kagura (music for the gods) is a term encompassing Shinto instrumental music, songs, and dances performed at shrines and at court. It was formalized as early as 773, when it appeared in the palace repertoire. These small bells, ritual implements of great antiquity, may also be grouped together in bundles for folk and ceremonial performances.
The Museum's rare seventeenth-century suzu contains twelve barrel-shaped crotal bells whose slits terminate at its ends with a heart-shaped cutout. A five-lobed metal hand guard with flower motifs and openwork hearts bears a hidden inscription on its underside. It reveals the history and use of the instrument, stating that this Shinto instrument was used by priestess Kuriyama Kamiko for the worship of the Miwa Miyojin deity at Miwa, a town in Soe County, Nara Prefecture. It also bears a date of 1699.
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Sword guard (tsuba), 19th century; Edo period (1615–1868)
Inscribed by Ishiguro Masayoshi (Japanese, 1772–after 1851)
Japanese
Shakudo, gold, shibuichi, copper
2 7/8 x 2 5/8 in. (7.3 x 6.7 cm)
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936 (36.120.79)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 378 Last Updated September 14, 2012
Tsuba were originally utilitarian fittings, made to protect the hand from the cuts of an opponent's sword. From the sixteenth century onward, however, more decorative tsuba became the specialty of some craftsmen. By the nineteenth century, when this tsuba was made, there were many well-defined schools and styles of tsuba making. Tsuba were interchangeable and were often made as part of sets of matching sword fittings, which could be mounted with blades of various types and dates.
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The Tale of Genji and Genji cards, Edo period (1615–1868)
Reisai (Japanese, 18th–19th century)
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
7 x 6 1/2 in. (17.8 x 16.5 cm)
Signed: Reisai
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP2187)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This limited-edition New Year's greeting card (surimono) has a playful, symbolic-laden composition. The image shows a set of woodblock-printed books, the Kogessho, which is an annotated edition of the Tale of Genji published around 1673. Next to it, scattered playing cards depict two chapters from the Tale of Genji: the Kobai (Rose Plum) and the Wakamurasaki (Lavender), both illustrated with not only their usual pictorial depictions, but "Genji-crests" (Genji-mon) as well. The two chapters are related to the incense culture and the Genji-crest is a symbol used in the Genji-ko incense game. The poem on the print mentions the two chapters and the dawn of the New Year in Edo. Classical literature, incense, poetry, and the traditions of the incense game are all captured in one composition.
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Tea caddy (seitaka), Edo period (1615–1868)
Nonomura Ninsei (Japanese, active ca. 1646–94)
Stoneware with red, brown, and black glazes
H. (with lid) 6 in. (15.2 cm); Diam. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Gift of Howard Mansfield, 1936 (36.120.559a–f)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This small, thin jar was used in the tea ceremony to hold powdered green tea known as matcha. It was made by Nonomura Ninsei, one of the most famous Japanese potters. He is known for being the first potter to sign his name to his work. Ninsei worked at a kiln he established outside Ninnaji temple, near Kyoto. His style, which is typically ornate and refined, set a standard that would define the appearance of Kyoto ceramics from that point on. This tea caddy is different from his usual work, in that there are no designs painted on the surface and the colors are subdued. However, even a less showy piece such as this one reveals the sophistication of Ninsei's eye.
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Tobacco pouch and pipe, 18th century
Japanese
Pouch and pipe case: embossed leather, silver foil, color; clasp: gold, shakudô, shibuichi; ojime: gold; netsuke: freshwater pearl, gold; pipe: metal
Silver over oak; hand: bronze-gilt; appliqué plaques: silver-gilt, niello and cabochon stones
pouch: H. 4 in. (10.2 cm), W. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm); pipe case: L. 9 in. (22.9 cm); pipe L. 10 1/2 in. (26.7 cm); netsuke: Diam. 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.843a,b)
When the Portuguese arrived on Japan's shores in the mid-sixteenth century, they brought with them the practice of pipe smoking. In order to carry the necessary accoutrements, the Japanese suspended tobacco pouches and pipe cases on cords from their obi sashes, anchored by a netsuke.
This set, produced from expensive and exotic materials such as embossed leather, gold, copper and silver alloys, and a freshwater pearl netsuke embedded in gold, proclaims the wealth of its owner.
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Water jar (mizusashi) with design of pine trees, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1720
Japan
Stoneware with underglaze iron-oxide and lacquer cover (Kenzan style)
H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm), Diam. 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.614a,b)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 229 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This mizusashi is a container that would have been used in the tea ceremony to hold fresh water to rinse the tea bowls or fill the kettle. The potter coated the dark clay ground of this jar in a white slip, providing a light background for painting. The trunks of the stylized pine trees were painted in almost calligraphic strokes, while the leafy tops seem almost like puffs of clouds.
The style is that of Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743), though this jar was probably produced by one of his followers. Kenzan was an amateur painter and potter active in the Edo period, and was known for his painterly, decorative wares.
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Water pot, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1625
Japan
Bizen pottery; lacquer cover; called Daruma-shape
H. 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.215.47a,b)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The potter achieved the deformed, asymmetrical shape of this water jar by altering the soft clay after forming the basic shape on a potter's wheel. Such an effect was purposefully created to coincide with an aesthetic associated with the tea ceremony which favored somewhat imperfect forms. The lacquer lid was custom-made for the oddly shaped vessel. Lacquer was a precious substance in Japan, and the contrast between the glossy black lid and the earthy body of the vessel would have been much appreciated within the context of the tea room. In the tea ceremony, this vessel was used as a mizusashi, a container that holds fresh water to rinse the tea bowls or fill the kettle.
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Wine bottle, Edo period (1615–1868), first half of 17th century
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue (Hizen ware, early Imari type)
H. 6 3/8 in. (16.1 cm), Diam. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.477)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The flower pattern on this delicate bottle was painted with soft brushstrokes, resulting in a fluid appearance and pale coloring. The focus on an isolated motif from nature is characteristic of early Imari porcelain, a style that differed from Chinese porcelain, which would later have a profound effect on Japanese wares.
This porcelain vessel would have been used as a wine bottle for sake, Japanese rice wine. It belongs to the category of early Imari, which is the first type of porcelain produced in Japan. Works considered early Imari were made from the 1610s to the 1660s. After this point, the style of Japanese porcelain changed drastically due to the stimulation of the industry by the Dutch East India Company, when it began to buy Japanese wares and export them to Europe.
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Yukihira and the Salt Maidens, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1716–35
Okumura Masanobu (Japanese, 1686–1764)
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
33 1/8 x 12 7/8 in. (84.1 x 32.7 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.126)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The young man strolling with an alluring courtesan plucks a whisker in the stylish hedonism affected by bon vivants of eighteenth-century Edo. In this painting, Okumura Masunobu, one of the most versatile artists to portray the theater and brothels in woodblock prints, gives an irreverent twist to a classical theme in an urbane parody of a story immortalized by the poet and statesman Ariwara no Yukihira (818–893). Two of Yukihira's poems tell of his love for the sisters Matsukaze and Murasame, who, like him, were brought by misfortune to the lonely shores of Suma. Their love for Yukihira, during his three-year exile there, their heartbreak at his departure, and his parting gift of court robe and hat were well known through several popular kabuki plays.
Here, draped on the fabled pine of Suma, is the stylish coat and cap of an Edo bourgeois—not Yukihira's court hat, which is seen in the crest on his sleeves. Erotic Heian and Edo motifs decorate the couple's robes; the samisen on hers symbolizes the accomplished geisha, while the lattice and bamboo blinds on his evoke the secrecy of Heian romances. A palette of primary colors and gold heightens the contrast between their hedonistic world and that of the ink-painted shores of Suma.
