Week 2
Discussion
About Shunran, a Shikunshi Subject
and Lady Slippers
Orchids
There are roughly 28,000 different kinds of orchids, and horticulturalists have created over 100,000 hybrids. This week, two of them are painting subjects; spring orchid (shunran) and lady slipper (atsumorisō). There is a succulent called lady slipper, too, but that is not this week's subject. Shunran is the more important of the two for beginning sumi-e artists because it is one of the shikunshi subjects discussed last week.
Shunran (Spring Orchid)
Shunran are similar to cymbidiums, but they are not the same plant. For one thing, shunran have only one blossom per stem while cymbidiums often have many. Native to east Asia, shunran in Japan grow wild in satoyama, forested border regions between flat lands and mountains. The shape of the blossom provides a stable platform supporting cross pollination by insects. It has been cultivated since the Edo period (1603 - 1868). Its blossom is edible. Shunran are used in Japan to celebrate happy occasions.
Japanese like to collect shunran in their native habitat, but they are so popular that they are endangered in the wild.
Lady Slipper (atsumorisō)
Lady slipper is one of the common names of Cypripedioideae, a subfamily of orchids. Cypripedioideae has 6 genera and about 165 species. One of the genera, C. Cypripedium, is found in much of North America as well as parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is Minnesota's state flower.
One of its characteristics is the pouch, shaped like a lady's slipper, on the bottom front of the blossom. Insects falling into the pouch have to crawl out, picking up pollen from the stamen on the way.
The pink lady slipper is the official flower of Prince Edward Island, a Canadian province, where it is sometimes known as the moccasin flower.
Artwork
Tesshū Tokusai
Tesshū was a 14th century Zen monk who traveled to China to study. His hanging scroll of Orchid, Bamboo, Briar and Rock was painted in the 1330s. The poem reads:
Thousands of miles now
from the River of Chu,
My thoughts multiply—
I wonder, could there be anything
As redolent as the solitary orchid?
Kanō Tsunenobu (1636–1713)
Tsunenobu was a master painter of the Kanō school, and became its head in 1674. Among his works is the Album of Copies of Chinese Paintings, one of which is the orchid picture below, based on an original painting by a Chinese artist named Kongshan.
Kōno Bairei (1844 – 1895)
Bairei was a painter, book illustrator, and art teacher. Working mostly with ukiyo-e woodblocks, he was a master kacho-ga (birds and flowers) artist. Here is his lady slipper.
