Discussion

From a painting by Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (1750 - 1835). See discussion

The two painting subjects this week may appear to be different, but there is a connection. Both the type of heron I plan to paint, egret, and the orchid are white. Further, alternative names for Japan's sagisō orchid is fringed orchid or white egret flower.

Here are a few more sagisō pictures:

White Heron -or- Shirasagi

Shirasagi doesn't refer to a specific heron species but to herons in general that happen to be white. There are 46 species of herons, sometimes called egrets or bitterns. There is not a firm rule for when a heron is called an egret except that the term is most often applied to white herons. The Japanese word for egret is sagi, ergo shirasagi means white heron. Sounds redundant. That is my painting subject this week, shirasagi or egret.

Snowy and some other egrets have decorative plumes during mating season. All herons are distinguished from similar birds like storks, ibises, spoonbills, and cranes by flying with their necks retracted like the egret above. The picture below of a great egret reveals that egrets do indeed have long necks that they stick up when they choose to do so.

I once spent a whole day watching egrets at the Wild Animal Park (now the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park) in preparation for a painting. Their necks were retraced almost all of the time, but if they became startled, showed interest in something, or were preparing to strike for food, up went the neck, sometimes straight and tall.

Great egrets differ from snowy egrets in their greater size--snowy egrets are medium size--and their yellow beak. Snowy egrets have black beaks.

Herons mate for life. Nesting sites are guarded from other birds while material is gathered. The male gathers the material; the female builds the nest.

Clutches are typically 3 to 5 bluish-green eggs. Both sexes share incubation duties for about 25 days. Chicks are fed until they are 7 to 8 weeks old.

The tricolored heron (technically, its color is black) below is standing very still and creating shade to attract fish food.

White Heron Dance (shirasagi no Mai)

During Japan's Heian period (794 - 1185), white herons were regarded as good luck symbols because of their mastery of air, land, and water. A dance honoring herons was created to drive out plague, purify sprits passing to the next world, and beckon bountiful harvests. Like many of Japan's ancient dances, shirasagi no mai had all but disappeared until the Asakusa Tourist Federation revived it in 1968 in honor of Tōkyō's 100th anniversary as Japan's capitol.

The dance is preceded by a parade that includes 3 warriors, 1 pole carrier, 1 feeder, 1 parasol carrier, 8 white herons, 19 musicians, ...

... and a lineup of guardian children.

The dance features elaborate costumes, and dancers imitate the stately steps used by herons.

Shirasagi no mai is performed twice yearly at Tōkyō's Sensoji Temple on the second Sunday of April and November 3rd, Culture Day (Bunka no Hi), a national holiday.

This young lady is posing for you.

Artwork

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (1750 - 1835)

Flourishing between 1799 - 1823, Ryūryūkyo was a student of Katsushika Hokusai's (1760 - 1849). This ukiyo-e is of an egret standing under a willow tree.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)

Along with Hokusai, Hiroshige helped to bring landscape painting and prints to the mainstream of Japanese art in the Edo period (1603 - 1868). Hokusai was also known for his kacho-ga (birds and flower prints), one of which is this 1837 White Herons and Iris print.

Ohara Koson (1877-1945)

Koson was a leader in the shin-hanga (new prints) movement to restore traditional values and subjects to Japanese art. These egrets, published in 1926, are flying under a willow tree. Willow trees seem to be common around egrets.