Chats on Japanese Prints

DOWN

OM

OF U

T

OF HIR

06-

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PERIOD: TH

maro to the Death of

men whose work retained few traces of the earlier greatness. And our serious interest in the art as a whole must end here. Were it not for the superb renaissa

he colour-print had gone somewhat out of fashion among its original public, and the people who now bought were chiefly of a lower and more ignorant class than the purchasers of Kiyonaga's day. To the less exacting but eager demands of this class the publishers cate

couth flaring designs of the textiles, the gross overladen coiffures, the excess of decoration that lay like a bli

create visions nobly and too dull to observe reality keenly attempted to conceal their double weakness by a double evasion-spoiling what claim their work had to idealistic imagination by touches of crude realism, and ruining it as realism by the most grotesque aberrations of fancy. In the sphere of

ool of

his better days. I do not regard it as profitable to wade, as some writers have done, through this wearying period of degenerate production and tabulate every fact obtainable about eve

Toyokuni II, was that same Toyokuni Gosotei of whom we shall treat under the heading of La

i I. This very undistinguished artist was one of the most prolific producers of the school. All that meaningless complexity of design, coarseness of colour, and carelessness of printing which we associate with the final ruin of the art of colour-prints finds full expression in him. Every tourist returning from Japan brings back dozens of crudely coloured prints by him or by the members of his school, under the misappre

ISA

heap analine colours, set one's teeth on edge with some of the most shrieking discords that I have ever encountered. The

Kunisada III and Kunimasa I

, who was influenced by Sharaku. Some of his work is very fine;

ttractive than the work of most of these men, for the reason that he had the good luck to die before the period of general disintegratio

pupil of Toyokuni. His work

I, Kunikane II, Kunitaka, Kunimune, Kunihiko, Kunitoki, Kuniyuki, Kunitsuma, Kunikiyo, Kunihana, Kunitohisa, Kunimichi I, Kunimichi II, Kuniao I, Kuniao II, Kunitora, Kunitaki, Kunitsugi I, Kunitsugi II, Kunitada, Kuninobu II, Kuniaki, Ki

Hokusai's. Born in 1831, he died very late in the century. He was a vigorous

AWA Y

sank even to imitating Kunisada. The flowing draperies of some of his prints of women are at first sight attractive to eyes not accustomed to the fine

of the Tor

ts in whom the once-great Torii S

ble from that of the first Kiyomitsu. He studied under Kiyonaga, and later adopted a style somewhat like th

d himself Kiyomitsu III and Kiyosada II. Other late members of this sc

saka

atement made earlier in this book-that the art of colour-printing was exclusively a Yedo art. Hokusai is known to have visited Osaka in 1818; and possi

may very possibly feel that the Osaka output was at least no worse. It included chiefly theatrical portraits, all done with a peculiar hardness of line and cold brilliance of colour, and printed as a rule very skilfully. These by no means approach the works of Sh

danobu, Sadakage, Kagetoshi, Sadafusa, Sadatora, Sadamasa, Sadamasu, Sadahiro, Sadayoshi, Ashikuni, Ashiyuki, Hirosada, Shunshi, H

ssance of

great days of the figure-print were over; but now, into an art filled with the second-rate followers of Utamaro and Toyokuni, came the fresh and brilliant landscape genius of Hokusai and

sa, Kiyonobu, and Masanobu-back, in fact, almost to the beginning of the art. But these earlier landscapes were, upon the whole, of subordinate importance; beside the figure-prints of the earlier masters,

mediate place; perhaps thus furnishing a reason why we Westerners so easily appreciate it. Its imagery and sentiment are elementary in the eyes of the native critics of Japanese high art. Its attempts at realism are in his eyes mere evidence of vulgarity. On the other hand these very qualities endear it to us. We can understand the first, without the long training in symbolism which is the essential of refinement to an educated man of the extreme Ea

ku

ellous of eye, magic o

o'er many a gulf where c

rth or sky escaped the

ster of all, the master

runkards roll-where in th

harvest rice, or fishe

land field, or winter

or bird or flower find

ncy, rapt in the live

ry poise; and in tha

ed fierce passion for

llibly-O master with

ering shores behold th

e plain, and the plain

trembling sands unleash

rling waste with awe

mult poured; each slope

e scattered rout one vis

elming wave in which all

ath of God-O monkey

Who shall praise or blame

ock and wraith, each for

all our days, we could n

ision ends, nor where b

ape. He was regarded as the one culminating and all-inclusive genius among Japanese painters and print-designers. At precisely the same time, he was esteemed b

and regards him as unrivalled. Deeper experience brings him the conviction that much of this magical dexterity is somewhat in the nature of a juggler's antics in a vaudeville, and that his first burst of

KU

be seen by the eye or invented by the brain of a Japanese." His "Mangwa," that vast twelve-volume collection of drawings, includes sketches of a whole

His vigorous power of observing and recording faces and attitudes is almost unparalleled. Fantasy, whimsical conc

esigns whose stark brilliance and originality of composition is unsurpassed. And at least once, in the noblest of his print

CROSS THE TAMA RIVER,

Views of Fuji." Size 10? × 15.

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that I created prior to my seventieth year. At the age of seventy-three I, for the first time, began to grasp the true forms and nature of birds, fishes, and plants. It follows that at the age of eighty I shall have made still greater progress; at ninety I shall be able to create all objects; at a hundred I shall certainly have attained to still higher, unimaginable power; and when I finally reach my one hundred

name of Shunro. Under this name he produced actors in the orthodox Shunsho manner and melodramatic illustrations for the popular romances of the day. About 1786 a quarrel with S

fancy and vigour; but perhaps the finest works of this, his conventional period, are the very wide prints and surimono in which, against a delicately suggested landscape, move extraordinarily graceful women's figures not unlike those of Utamaro. Already he was a master of drawi

rned from the styles of his predecessors and launched into a hitherto unknown journalistic realism. With a lively sense of the comic and the burlesque, and an i

k, river, and sea, in endless profusion and with inexhaustible ingenuity. And though we grant our admiration to the enthusiasm, sharp vision, and clever draughtsmanship of these sheets, we may still find in this undiscriminating passion a quality incompatible with the highest reaches of artistic greatness. There is something vulgar, childish, under-developed in the mental attitude revealed; it seems a coarse greed for all experience, unlighted by the power to judge and reject, or by any con

have evoked from the heterogeneous welter of the seen world. But just this welter is at this time Hokusai's theme. "A debauch of sketches," Fenollos

etters, and drew according to the dictates of his heart." True: and this was his curse. No man has ever lived with heart profound and subtle enough for such emancipation. Nor have the supreme artists ever attempted it. In Hokusai's case this ups

een things, and he created those visions which constitute his lasting glory. Between 1823 and 1830 he issued those series, "The Thirty-six Views of Fuji," "The Brid

t with infinite variety. He depicts Fuji, the sacred mountain, in storm and calm, in mist and sunlight-sometimes dominating the colossally empty frame of the design, sometimes receding to a mere s

ROM THE PASS OF MISHI

ews of Fuji." Size 10? × 15. Sig

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sonally seen that he evoked a new style in landscape. Much it borrowed from tradition; but the flavour was Hokusai's. These designs are, primarily, magnificent studies in linear composition. The great sweep of Fuji's slope is related to the rhythm of

e 50) the calm sublimity of nature and the infinitely minute, vermin-like aspect of man is superbly expressed. In the "Tama River" (Plate 49) Hokusai gives us a sweep of wave and shore, mist and mountain, that his g

e the sharp composite of each design; and it is to use the term in its technical Platonic sense, the Idea of the scene that he flashes before us. Herein lies the abnormal vitality that emanates from these

le of the classic masters; and remains, because of its high seriousness of mood and its sweeping magnificence of composition, at the very top of all Hokusai's work. Of

ith continued efforts. In 1849, at t

famous prints have been reproduced, and the collector must be on his guard against these worthless sheets. One of the best-known judges in Europe was recently deceived by a fraudulent set of the "Poets." Hokusai's fine bird-and-flower designs a

EY BRIDGE-TWILIGH

6?. Signed

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Followers

master, though several of them produced designs of great interest. As a bod

ique of colour-printing. The number of blocks was lavishly multiplied; the most subtle gradations of colour were contrived; and the effect was heightened by every variety of gauffrage, gold, silver, and bronze powders, and mother-of-pearl dust. Yet in spite of all this effort, the surimono is, in the opinion of many collectors, not as a rule very

KU

urimono of any that we know. His work in this field was voluminous and

o, closely in the manner of Hokusai. Some of his landscapes, pr

nge semi-European style, with angula

KK

somewhat in doubt, notably the well-known leaping fish and the moon-and-bridge scene, both from the "Harimaze Han"; Mr. Happer has brought forward evidence that these are by Taito, but many authorities still hold to the idea that they are the work of Hokusa

osh

men from Ea

ls of pur

that alien he

cloths of

e gulfs of

us pinions

e from the

eyond the W

ay the sail

uess their n

st roam that

ds whisper and st

Fuji's sn

with sky o

re torrents

t toss again

nd hill-girt p

the rice-fields

ed above a

here cloud and

s enter to

y passion wo

bride in rad

lowed the sum

gave thee

s, secret fr

g walks the

grey with c

when the Sout

to bloom. On

dwells thou

mortal be

d morn on B

ands and l

mountain's

dusk round Y

neath the M

River's bro

on some To

worlds of l

g race is

restless wi

on its to

r wonder o

mid the so

us in a va

at half of h

that is w

hom the wor

pathways th

and seas and

r weary me

cherry-tre

ng on some b

s dusky sw

iyama's a

g marvels o

hides the to

o'er the s

ts haunted

ou laidst th

g journey

yond the W

onderful land

zuma, loos

onds, made f

couldst not

hee to thy

aven could h

world of k

ith such de

e loveline

throngs in

d travellers

fronting hi

perilous-

Buddha

e wondering

Fuji, cha

e world aro

ING GEESE AT K

us Views of Lake Biwa." Size

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OSH

brilliant sharpness; but Hiroshige, less rigid in his treatment, seems chiefly intent upon the more delicate and transitory appearances of cloud and mist, rain and snow, sunrise and dusk, that give to a landscape at each moment so much of its specific character. These atmospheric effects of his are justly famous. Few landscape painters of any race have succeeded in rendering so finely the mood of a

Bow-

orrent leap

ging cliffs

ey and ru

ragged for

oss the c

ssamer bri

from gulf

Bow-Moon

hickening wh

ses veil

into twili

trains of

tern slope

n trancè

ost of heav

pent day c

crags on e

orth her f

ike some l

e halls of

of the r

er thy l

im is trou

ow-Moon hau

o not miss the multitude of details which he purposely omits. A strongly dominant unity of impression is the result. His finest designs convey a sense of personal feeling that even the Barbizon artists at their best do not surpass. With the limited resources of the wood block, he achieved subtle renderings of distance, aerial perspe

our at the bottom of the design, bringing the whole sheet into the picture and not leaving the upper portion as a mere margin above the landscape proper. It also creates depth and atmosphere, setting the brightest part of the design, the middle, back into the frame created by the upper

freshness and loveliness; a unique and idyllic charm emanates

nst the em

let songst

a branch,

height and

swings; an

howered with

ure, of a

tirs what was

ht to earth a c

e small sweet

s richer f

music, gra

s droop bene

ss finds vo

nt run with sno

eirs who thy

glow to the

tured its sum

st wrought a

ne mood of

and tiny li

poise in wo

hand, the th

rs best the

hrough the t

scuds where the

ngs and a g

rd in uncon

chanted bi

known the s

it, thou has

bonds of mo

he spirit-

world of

d poise and

ose realm is

k in his p

hat rush acr

sleepy ow

ong-the-tre

her that da

reeds of

red humming-b

re delicat

s that on

ve-crest sw

at shores of

t skies o

ERRY, KUWANA, AT THE MOUT

Post Stations of the Tokaido Road

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rced him to enter the studio of the less popular but more subtly gifted Toyohiro. Here he studied landscape, a branch in which he was destined far to outstrip his master. That delicate genius which was Toyohiro's cannot but

actors, and two very fine horizontal landscape series. These were the "Toto Meisho," or earliest series of Yedo views, distinguished by curious long red cl

tes, "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido," completed about 1834. This remains his best-known and unsurpassed work. Plate 53 is from this series. Each picture records with unfailing vividness and originality some famous sce

ost important can be named here. All are of

of Osaka-chiefly crowde

o; a varied and delightful seri

ILLAGE OF FUJI K

aido Series. Size 13? ×

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Lake Biwa; the most poetic and possibl

s of the Inlet of Kanazawa; distinguis

mous Views of Yedo; a series of

the Forty-seven Ronin; fine dramatic compositio

fifty different series of Yedo views were issued by dif

hi, ten views of th

ow upright panels of Yedo; se

iews of the Si

s of

e on full-sized sheets, others very narrow; uneve

th landscapes

courtesan prints was forbidden. The effect of this was to redouble the demand for landscape prints;

Maruzei; next best to the "

maller than the "Great Series"; when well-print

Sanoki, half-plate size; in

isai Yeisen collaborated, producing twenty-three of the seventy plates. Many of the plates are uninte

doned to a certain extent the delicate drawing of his Great Tokaido and Yedo

lateral prints of his earlier days and adopted the upright shape. In t

a fine series when well printed, but the la

he finer, is distinguished by having five seals on the face of each plate. It co

BANKMENT, ON THE SUMIDA

dred Views of Yedo." Size

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light View of Kanazawa, and Snow Mountains on the

Bridge and the Snow Gorge of the Fuji R

119 plates, including, besides much

upon the whole, to his earlier work. There a

n's hand. Doubtless the distinction between the work of the two artists cannot always be drawn with certainty; but as a general rule we may regard the work as that of Hiroshige II if we find the figures stiff and wooden, if the composition is lacking in any central unity, or if some large ugly object is thrust into the foreground with

"Thirty-six Views of Fuji" completed. One of the collector's treasures is a striking memorial portrait by Kunisada that was issued shortly

pressions produced without proper attention to the difficult problem of printing. The rush occasioned by Hiroshige's popularity naturally led to slighted work. Even in these poor copies a certain fascination of design generally appears; but it is only in the carefully printed copies, where the register is accurate and the colours are delicately graded, luminous, and soft, that the full beauty of Hiroshige's conception is made clear. Familiarity with the finer

: BIRD AN

Signed Hiro

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John Stewart Happer (Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge, London), which is the present foundation for any real study of the subject. A valuabl

ond Hir

some of the master's last work. After Hiroshige's death the pupil assumed the master's name, previous to tha

ight prints signed Hiroshige. Mr. Happer has once for all

hat is admirable. But he lacked originality, and at his best merely trod in the footsteps of his master. Most of his designs are flat and uninspired. About 1865

1896-a wholly commonplace and unimportant ar

Contemporaries

his contemporaries. His landscapes, however, are his most interesting work. Many of these follow Hiroshige tamely; but a few, in the older Kano manner, are surprising and splendid d

IS

wa Series," each plate of which has a large purple panel at the top. The artist's original name was Toyoshige. Born in 1777, he became the adopted

s sometimes have dramatic force of a rather fine kind; but the majority of them are crude. His landscapes are his greatest claim to fame.

IYO

, besides ordinary figure-prints, a few gracefu

6, reproduces a print of his that is nothing more than a replica of one of Hiroshige's "Sixty-nine Province Series"; and the Victoria

e mentioned among the unimportant landscape desig

work bears the obvious stamp of having been produced for the tourist and the foreign market, and has not a trace of that vigour and integrity which marked the prints of the great masters, whose inspiration sprang from and spoke to the heart of the Jap