On the Laws of Japanese Painting Part 2

There are still other schools (RYUGI) which might be mentioned, including that of the NANGWA, or Chinese southern painters, of Chinese origin and remarkable for the gracefulness of the brush stroke, the effective treatment of the ma.s.ses and for the play of light and shade throughout the composition. Among the great NANGWA painters are Taigado, Chikuden, Baietsu _(Plate VIII)_ and Katei. To this school is referred a style of painting affected exclusively by the professional writers of Chinese characters, and called BUNJINGWA. To these I will allude further on. The versatile artist, Tani Buncho, created a school which had many adherents, including the distinguished Watanabe Kwazan and Eiko of Tokyo, lately deceased, one of its best exponents.

The art of painting is enthusiastically pursued at the present time in Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. In Tokyo, Hashi Moto Gaho was generally conceded to be, up to the time of his death in 1908, the foremost artist in j.a.pan. Although of the Kano school, he greatly admired European art, and the treatment of the human figure in some of his latest paintings recalls the manner of the early Flemish artists.

My first meeting with Gaho was at his home. While waiting for him, I observed suspended in the _tokonoma,_ or alcove, a narrow little _kakemono_ by Kano Moto n.o.bu, representing an old man upon a donkey crossing a bridge. A small bronze vase containing a single flower spray was the sole ornament in the room. This gave the keynote to Gaho's character-cla.s.sic simplicity, ever reflected in his work. He had many followers. His method of instruction with advanced pupils was to give them subjects such as "A Day in Spring," "Solitude," "An Autumn Morning,"

or the like, and he was most insistent upon all the essentials to the proper effect being introduced. His criticisms were always luminous and sympathetic. He advised his students to copy everything good, but to imitate no-one,-to develop individuality. He left three very distinguished and able pupils-Gyokudo, Kan Zan and Boku Sen.

[Chickens in Spring, by Mori Tessan. Plate III.]

Chickens in Spring, by Mori Tessan. Plate III.

Since Gaho's death, Kawabata Gyokusho, an Okyo artist, is the recognized leader of the capital. In Kyoto, Takeuchi Seiho, an early pupil of Bairei, now occupies the foremost place, although Shonen and Keinen, pupils of Hyakunen, still hold a high rank.

Recurring to the time of Tosa, there is another school beginning under Matahei and perpetuated through many generations of popular artists, including Utamaro, Yeisen and Hokusai, and coming down to the present date. This is the _Ukiyo e_ or floating-world-picture school. It is far better known through its prints than its paintings. The great painters of j.a.pan have never held this school in any favor. At one time or another I have visited nearly every distinguished artist's studio in j.a.pan, and I know personally most of the leading artists of that country. I have never seen a j.a.panese print in the possession of any of them, and I know their sentiments about all such work. A print is a lifeless production, and it would be quite impossible for a j.a.panese artist to take prints into any serious consideration. They rank no higher than cut velvet scenery or embroidered screens. I am aware that such prints are in great favor with many enthusiasts and that collectors highly value them; but they do not exemplify art as the j.a.panese understand that term. It must be admitted, however, that the prints have been of service in several ways. They first attracted the world's attention to the subject of j.a.panese art in general.

Commencing with an exhibition of them in London a half century ago, the prints of Ukiyo or genre subjects came rapidly into favor and ever since have commanded the notice and admiration of collectors in Europe and America. Many people are even under the impression that the prints represent j.a.panese painting, which, of course, is a great mistake. There have been artists in j.a.pan who, in the _Ukiyo e_ manner, have painted _kakemono_, BYOBU and _makimono_. The word _kakemono_ is applied to a painting on silk or paper, wound upon a wooden roller and unrolled and hung up to be seen. _Kakeru_ means to suspend and _mono_ means an object, hence _kakemono_, a suspended object. BYOBU signifies wind protector or screen; _makimono_, meaning a wound thing, is a painting in scroll form.

It is not suspended, but simply unrolled for inspection. Such original work by Matahei and others is extant. But most of the _Ukiyo e_, or pictures in the popular style, are prints struck from wood blocks and are the joint production of the artist, the wood engraver, the color smearer and the printer, all of whom have contributed to and are more or less ent.i.tled to credit for the result; and that is one reason why the artist-world of j.a.pan objects to or ignores them; they are not the spontaneous, living, palpitating production of the artist's brush. It is well known that artists of the _Ukiyo e_ school frequently indicated only by written instructions how their outline drawings for the prints should be colored, leaving the detail of such work to the color smearer. Apart from the fact that the colors employed were the cheapest the market afforded, and are found often to be awkwardly applied, there is too much about the prints that is measured, mechanical and calculated to satisfy j.a.panese art in its highest sense. Frequently more than one engraver was employed upon a single print. The engravers had their specialties; some were engaged for the coiffure or head-dress _(mage),_ other for the lines of the face, others for the dress _(kimono),_ others still for pattern (MOYO), et cetera. The most skilful engravers in Yedo were called _kashira bori_ and were always employed on Utamaro and Hokusai prints.

Many of the colors of these prints in their soft, neutral shades, are rapturously extolled by foreign connoisseurs as evidence of the marvelous taste of the j.a.panese painter. But, really, time more than art is to be credited with toning down such tints to their present delicate hues. In this respect, like Persian rugs, they improve with age and exposure. An additional objection to most of the prints is that they reproduce trivial, ordinary, every-day occurrences in the life of the ma.s.s of the people as it moves on. They are more or less plebian. The prints being intended for sale to the common people, the subjects of them, however skilfully handled, had to be commonplace. They were not purchased by the n.o.bility or higher cla.s.ses. Soldiers, farmers, and others bought them as presents _(miage)_ for their wives and children, and they were generally sold for a penny apiece, so that in j.a.pan prints were a cheap subst.i.tute for art with the lower cla.s.ses, just as Raspail says garlic has always been the camphor of the poor in France. The practice of issuing _Ukiyo e_ prints at very low prices still continues in Tokyo, where every week or two such colored publications are sprung up in front of the book-stalls and are still as eagerly purchased by the common people as they were in Tokugawa days.

The prices the old prints now bring are out of all proportion to their intrinsic value, yet, such is the crescendo craze to acquire them that j.a.pan has been almost drained of the supply, the number of prints of the best kind being limited, like that of Cremona violins of the good makers.

Prints are genuine originals of a first or subsequent issue, called respectively, SHO HAN and SAI HAN, or they are reproductions more or less cleverly copied upon new blocks, or they are fraudulent imitations (GANBUTSU) of the original issues, often difficult to detect. The very wormholes are burnt into them with SENKO or perfume sticks and clever workmen are employed to make such and other trickery successful. A long chapter could be written about their dishonest devices. Copies of genuine prints (HON KOKU), made from new blocks after the manner of the ancient ones, abound, and were not intended to pa.s.s for originals. Yedo, where the print industry was chiefly carried on, has had so many destructive conflagrations that most of the old _Ukiyo e_ blocks have been destroyed.

At Nagoya the house of To Heki Do still preserves the original blocks of the MANGWA or miscellaneous drawings of Hokusai, but they are much worn.

Prints are known by various names, such as _ezoshi_ (ill.u.s.trations), _nishiki e_, _edo e_ (Yedo pictures), _sunmono_ and INSATSU. It may be of interest to know that the print blocks, when so worn as to be no longer serviceable for prints, are sometimes converted into fire-boxes _(hibachi)_ and tobacco trays _(tobacco bon)_ which, when highly polished, are decorative and unique.

Perhaps a useful purpose prints have served is to record the manners and customs of the people of the periods when they were struck off. They show not only prevailing styles of dress and headdress, but also the pursuits and amus.e.m.e.nts of the common folk. They are excellent depositaries of dress pattern (MOYO) or decoration, upon which fertile subject j.a.pan has always been a leading authority. In the early Meiji period print painters frequently delegated such minute pattern work to their best pupils, whose seals (IN) will be found upon the prints thus elaborated. The prints preserve the ruling fashions of different periods in combs and other hair ornaments, fans, foot-gear, single and multiple screens, fire-boxes and other household ornaments and utensils. They also furnish specimens of temple and house architecture, garden plans, flower arrangements _(ike bana),_ bamboo, twig and other fences. Again, they reproduce the stage, with its famous actors in historical dramas; battle scenes, with warriors and heroes; characters in folk-lore and other stories, and wrestling matches, with the popular champions; and we will often find upon the face of the print good reproductions of Chinese and j.a.panese writing, in poems and descriptive prose pieces. Hokusai ill.u.s.trated much of the cla.s.sic poetry of China and j.a.pan, as well as the SENJIMON, or Thousand Character Chinese cla.s.sic, a work formerly universally taught in the j.a.panese schools. The original characters for this remarkable compilation were taken from the writings of Ogishi. The prints have aided in teaching elementary history to the young; the knowledge of j.a.panese children in this connection is often remarkable and may be attributed to the educational influence of the _Ukiyo e_ publications.

So there are certainly good words to be said for the prints, but they are not j.a.panese art in its best sense, however interesting as a subordinate phase of it, and in no sense are they j.a.panese painting.

If limited to a choice of one artist of the _Ukiyo e_ school, no mistake would be made, I think, in selecting Hiroshige, whose landscapes fairly reproduce the sentiment of j.a.panese scenery, although the prints bearing his name fall far short of reproducing that artist's color schemes.

Hokusai's reputation with foreigners is greater than Hiroshige's, but j.a.panese artists do not take Hokusai seriously. His pictures, they declare, reflect the restlessness of his disposition; his peaks of Fuji are all too pointed, and his manner generally is exaggerated and theatrical. Utamaro's women of the Yoshiwara are certainly careful studies in graceful line drawing,-as correct as Greek drapery in marble.

Iwasa Matahei, the founder of the popular school, was a pupil of Mitsunori, a Kyoto artist and follower of Tosa. Matahei disliked Tosa subjects and preferred to depict the fleeting usages of the people, so he was nicknamed Fleeting World or _Ukiyo_ Matahei, and thus originated the name _Ukiyo e_ or pictures of every-day life. There are no genuine Matahei prints. He dates back to the seventeenth century. Profile faces in original screen paintings by him have an a.s.syrian cast of countenance, the eye being painted as though seen in full face.

Hishikawa Moron.o.bu was his follower and admirer. He was an artist of Yedo. Nishikawa Suken.o.bu belonged to the Kano school and was a pupil of Kano Eiko. He adopted the _Ukiyo e_ style and depicted the pastimes of women and the portraits of actors. He lived two hundred and twenty years ago and in his time prints came greatly into vogue. Torii Kyon.o.bu painted women and actors and invented the kind of pictured theatrical powers which are still in fashion, placarded at the entrance to theaters and showing striking incidents in the play.

Suzuki Harun.o.bu never painted actors, preferring to reproduce the feminine beauties of his time. It was to his careful work that was first applied the term _nishiki e_ or brocade pictures, on account of the charm of his decorative manner. He lived one hundred and thirty years ago.

Among the many able foreign writers on j.a.panese prints Fenollosa stands prominent. He resided for a long time in j.a.pan, understood and spoke the language, and lived the life of the people. He was in great sympathy with them and with their art and enjoyed exceptional opportunities for seeing and studying the best treasures of that country. Had he possessed the training necessary to paint in the j.a.panese style I do not think he would have devoted so much time to j.a.panese woodcuts. Visiting me at Kyoto, where I was busily engaged in painting, "Ah!" he cried, "that is what I have always longed to do. Sooner or later I shall follow your example."

But he never did. Instead, he issued a large work on j.a.panese prints.

His death was a real loss to the art literature of j.a.pan. During eight years he was in the service of the j.a.panese government ransacking, cataloguing and photographing the mult.i.tudinous art treasures, paintings, _kakemono_, _makimono,_ and BYOBU (pictures, scrolls and screens), to be found in the various Buddhist and other temples and monasteries scattered throughout the empire. The last time we met, he remarked, "How can one willingly leave this land of light? j.a.pan, to my mind, stands for whatever is beautiful in nature and true in art; here I hope to pa.s.s the remaining years of my life." Such was his genuine enthusiasm, engendered by a long acquaintance with art and everything else beautiful in that country. j.a.pan impresses in this way all who see it under proper conditions, but unfortunately the ordinary traveler, pushed for time, and whose acquaintance is limited to professional guides, never gets much beyond the sights, the shops and the curio dealers.

[Snow Scene in Kaga, by Kubota Beisen. Plate IV.]

Snow Scene in Kaga, by Kubota Beisen. Plate IV.

The question is often asked, "Is there any good book on j.a.panese painting?" I know of none in any language except j.a.panese. The following are among the best works on the subject:

A History of j.a.panese Painting (HON CHO GASHI), by Kano Eno.

A Treasure Volume (BAMPO ZEN SHO), by Ki Moto Ka Ho.

The Painter's Convenient Reference (GOKO BEN RAN), by Arai Haku Seki.

A Collection of Celebrated j.a.panese Paintings (KO CHO MEIGA SHU E), by Hiyama Gi Shin.

Ideas on Design in Painting (TO GA KO), by Saito Heko Maro.

A Discourse on j.a.panese Painting (HONCHO GWA SAN), by Tani Buncho.

Important Reflections on All Kinds of Painting (GWA JO YO RYAKU), by Arai Kayo.

A Treatise on Famous j.a.panese Paintings (FU SO MEI GWA DEN), by Hori Nao Kaku.

Observations on Ancient Pictures (KO GWA BI KO), by Asa Oka Kotei.

A Treatise on Famous Painters (FU SO GWA JIN), by Ko s.h.i.tsu Ryo Chu.

A Treatise on j.a.panese Painting (YAMATO NISHIKI KEM BUN SHO), by Kuro Kama Shun Son.

A Treatise on the Laws of Painting (GWAFU), by Ran Sai, a pupil of Chinanpin. The work is voluminous and is both of great use and authority.

CHO CHU GWA FU, by Chiku To.

SHA ZAN GAKUGWA HEN, by Buncho.

Translations of all these works into English are greatly to be desired.

There is much that has been sympathetically written and published about j.a.panese paintings both in Europe and America, but however laudatory, it might be all summed up under the t.i.tle, "Impressions of an Outsider."

Such writings lack the authority which only constant labor in the field of practical art can confer. A j.a.panese artist, by which I mean a painter, is long in making. From ten to fifteen years of continuous study and application are required before much skill is attained. During that time he gradually absorbs a knowledge of the many principles, precepts, maxims and methods, which together const.i.tute the corpus or body of art doctrine handed down from a remote antiquity and preserved either in books or perpetuated by tradition. Along with these are innumerable art secrets called _hiji_ or _himitsu,_ never published, but orally imparted by the masters to their pupils-not secrets in a trick sense, but methods of execution discovered after laborious effort and treasured as valued possessions. It is obvious, then, how incapable of writing technically upon the subject must anyone be who has not gone through such curriculum and had drilled into him all that varied instruction which makes up the body of rules applicable to that art.

I have read many seriously written appreciations of j.a.panese paintings published in various modern languages, and even some amiable imaginings penned for foreigners by j.a.panese who fancy they know by instinct what only can be acquired after long study and practice with brush in hand.

All such writers are characterized in j.a.pan by a very polite term, _shiroto_-which means amateur. It also has a secondary signification of emptiness.

[Chapter 3 Head-Band: The design called "Dew on the Gra.s.s and b.u.t.terflies"

(tsuyu, kusa ni cho).]

CHAPTER THREE. LAWS FOR THE USE OF BRUSH AND MATERIALS

Upon a subject as technical as that of j.a.panese painting, to endeavor to impart correct information in a way that shall be both instructive and entertaining is an undertaking of no little difficulty. The rules and canons of any art when enumerated, cla.s.sified and explained, are likely to prove trying, if not wearisome reading. Yet, if our object be to acquire accurate knowledge, we must consent to make some sacrifice to attain it, and there is no royal road to a knowledge of j.a.panese painting.

We have little or no opportunity in America, excepting in one or two cities, to see good specimens of the work of the great painters of j.a.pan.

Furthermore, such work in _kakemono_ form is seen to much disadvantage when exhibited in numbers strung along the walls of a museum. j.a.panese _kakemono_ (hanging paintings) are best viewed singly, suspended in the recess of the _tokonoma,_ or alcove. A certain seclusion is essential to the enjoyment of their delicate and subtle effects; the surroundings should be suggestive of leisure and repose, which the j.a.panese word _shidzuka,_ often employed in art language, well describes.

The j.a.panese technique, by which I understand the established manner in which their effects in painting are produced, differs widely from that of European art. The j.a.panese brushes _(Jude_ and _hake),_ colors and materials influence largely the method of painting. The canons or standards by which j.a.panese art is to be judged are quite special to j.a.pan and are scarcely understood outside of it. Since the subject is technical, to treat it in a popular way is to risk the omission of much that is essential. I will endeavor, at any rate, to give an outline of its fundamental principles, first saying a word or two about the tools and materials.

In j.a.panese painting no oils are used. _Sumi_ (a black color in cake form) and water-colors only are employed, while Chinese and j.a.panese paper and specially prepared silk take the place of canvas or other material.

j.a.panese artists do not paint on easels; while at work they sit on their heels and knees, with the paper or silk spread before them on a soft material, called _mosen,_ which lies upon the matting or floor covering.

After one becomes accustomed to this position, he finds it gives, among other things, a very free use of the right arm and wrist.

Silk _(e ginu)_ is prepared for painting by first attaching it with boiled rice mucilage to a stretching frame. A sizing of alum and light glue (called _dosa)_ is next applied, care being taken not to wet the edges of the silk attached to the frame, which would loosen the silk.

It has been found that paper lasts much longer than silk, and also can be more easily restored when cracked with age.