Discussion

This week's demonstration painting combines two subjects in the same composition, Japanese pampas grass and pinks. But first, here is something about moon viewing.

Moon Viewing

Moon viewing was a Chinese custom adopted by the Japanese aristocracy during the Heian Period (794 – 1185). Traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar, a time loosely associated with autumn harvest festivals, nobles would embark on boats and appreciate the beauty of the full moon's reflection while reciting poetry. The celebration was picked up by commoners during the Edo Period (1603 – 1868), and today, though not a formal holiday, Tsukimi (moon viewing) is a major cultural event. This year, Tsukimi occurs on September 26.

Kitagawa Utamaro (1753 – 1806)

The ukiyo-e print below showing a moon viewing party was published in Utamaro's book, Flowers of the Four Seasons (1801). Utamaro, one of the great masters of Japanese ukiyo-e art, is known primarily for his bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people) prints, especially courtesans of Edo's Yoshiwara district. Notice the Japanese pampas grass near the figure on the left.

Tsukimi Foods

One of the ways that Tsukimi is celebrated in homes is by serving special foods associated with the celebration. A very popular food is tsukimi-dango, rice balls. It is often eaten with anko (sweet red bean paste) or a sweet soy glaze. They are traditionally served stacked in the way shown in the photo.

Notice the immature Japanese pampas grass blossoms in the photo along with the tsukimi-dango. Sometimes harvest items like sweet potatoes, taro bulbs, chestnuts, or edamame are displayed alongside the tsukimi-dango.

Among other popular Tsukimi foods are noodle dishes with a raw or soft cooked egg in the middle, symbolizing the moon.

Tsukimi Floral Displays

Another Tsukimi festival practice is the display of flowers. Such tsukimi floral displays almost always include Japanese pampas grass. The reason is because of the association of the Tsukimi moon viewing celebration with autumn harvest festivals. Rice is Japan's most important crop, and Japanese pampas grass blossoms resemble ripe rice stalks, ready for harvest. Japanese pampas grass is a symbolic stand-in for rice in floral displays.

Japanese folklore also says that Japanese pampas grass acts as a protective charm to ward off evil spirits and bad luck from homes.

There is no rigid rule about what kind of plants and flowers go into tsukimi floral displays, but the most common ones besides Japanese pampas grass are from the group that Japanese call the seven flowers of autumn. Japanese pampas grass is one of the seven. The other six are bush clover, kudzu or arrowroot, patrinia or golden lace, thoroughwort or mist flower, Chinese bellflower, and fringed pink or maiden pink or just plain pink.

This print by an unknown artist shows all seven of them.

Here is a tsukimi floral display. There is nothing special about the plants in it other than the Japanese pampas grass. The pink blossoms are not from pink plants. They are cosmos blossoms.

apanese Pampas Grass (Miscanthus sinensis)

Common names for Japanese pampas grass are eulalia grass, Chinese silver grass or elephant grass. Japanese call it obana or susuki. (Note that susuki is not the same spelling or pronunciation as Suzuki a common Japanese name and the name of an automobile company.) Susuki typically grow from 3 to 7 feet tall in the spring and summer.

There are several plants in various parts of the world that are commonly called pampas grass with similar appearances. Japanese pampas grass (susuki) is native to most of East Asia where it is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. It is part of a different genera than true pampas grasses like those found in South America. As shown in the photo, it grows in clumps from a rhizome, a type of horizontal underground stem. Its blossoms are those yellow-brownish feathery-looking things that drop thousands of tiny seeds in the fall. Susuki spread much more rapidly from seeds than from rhizomes.

The bright green susuki leaves turn straw colored in the winter and remain upright until new shoots begin to appear in the spring.

No part of the Japanese pampas grass is edible by humans, though dried or young grass is sometimes used as livestock fodder. Traditional medicine has used extracts from the rhizome to treat fevers and promote urination. Dried susuki has sometimes been bundled as thatch for roofing material in traditional homes. Susuki has become an important biofuel source with multiple uses.

Hanami is a Japanese word that means flower viewing. Japanese love to go on outings to admire plants in bloom; most famously in the spring when cherry trees are in bloom. Autumn has its attractions, too. The Sengokuhara Japanese Pampas Grass Field near Hakone in the western part of Kanagawa Prefecture is a popular tourist destination in the fall.

Here is another view of it.

Pinks (Dianthus superbus)

Pinks are members of the Dianthus genus of over 300 pinks and carnation species. The Japanese name for pinks is nadeshiko, a name that generally applies to all pinks. The Japanese wild pink is called yamato-nadeshiko. Its species name is Dianthus superbus. Its petals, shown below, are deeply fringed.

Nadeshiko plants in general can grow to over 30 inches tall, and the blossoms are 1 to 2 inches across. They are produced in branched clusters at the top of stems from early to late summer. Yamato-nadeshiko blossoms always have five petals, but some other nadeshiko species can have a different number. The pinks shown below are a different species of nadeshiko. One can tell because the petals are not as deeply fringed.

The natural color of nadeshiko flowers is pink like its common name, but through cultivation, varieties with white to red to purple, usually with a green center, have been produced. Young leaves can be eaten when boiled. The plant contains toxins, but not enough to harm humans. Tea can be brewed from the flowers which contains sweet nectar. It is used in Chinese medicine as a contraceptive, diuretic, and antibiotic. 

Nadeshiko buds are shown below.

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865)

Kunisada was the most popular, prolific, and commercially successful ukiyo-e artist in his time. The majority of his prints featured kabuki actors, though he did many bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people), too. The print below is from a series titled Ten Flowers Currently in Full Bloom. This one, published in 1858, is titled Pink. It features the kabuki actor Ichikawa Shinsha and another unidentified actor who appears to be an onnagata, a male actor playing a female character.

Imao Keinen (1845 – 1924)

From the age of 12, Keinen received a comprehensive education in various styles of Japanese art, print making, and calligraphy. His professional career advanced until he became a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Keinen was a major figure in the shin-hanga (new prints) movement which was an attempt to restore traditional Japanese subjects, values, and techniques to Japanese art. He is best remembered today for his Keinen Kachō Gafu, a book of kachō-ga published in 1892. His Wild Pink and a Blue Dragonfly was published sometime in the 1890s.

Keinen's Japanese Waxwing and Pampas Grass appears to have been part of his book.

Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945)

Koson was another master of shin-hanga and of kachō-ga. Koson painted triptychs depicting scenes of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905 to fulfill the public's demand for visual news and for propaganda purposes. He achieved international fame for his kachō-ga which sold well overseas, especially in the United States, but he remained largely obscure in Japan until around 1970. Japanese museums needed to seek sellers overseas in order to acquire works of his. His Grasses and Flowers at Full Moon was published sometime around the 1900 to 1910 time period.