Week 4
Discussion
From a fusuma painted by Kanō Sansetsu (1589–1651). See discussion.
Plum:
The Winter Shikunchi Subject
Shikunshi Subjects
The shikunshi subjects are the four painting subjects that are among the first that beginning sumi artists learn because they collectively use all of the basic strokes needed for sumi-e artwork. Each of the subjects is associated with a season.
Each of the shikunshi subjects is also capable of enough sophistication that accomplished artists can still find them challenging. An expression has it that the shikunshi subjects are the first learned but last mastered.
This week's painting subject includes plum; specifically the Japanese plum, or ume.
Ume: Japanese Plum (Prunus mume)
The English common name, Japanese Plum, is confusing because it is used for several plant species. The same plants are called Chinese Plum, and each has other common names, too. The specific flowering tree species meant by the Japanese word ume has the Latin name P. mume. Adding to the confusion is the fact that ume is actually more closely related to apricots than what is usually thought of as plums in the West. That is why another common name for ume is Japanese apricot.
The plum photo below was taken at Kairaku-en (Kairaku Garden) in Ibaraki prefecture.
Japanese are known for their admiration of sakura (cherry trees), especially when in bloom, but ume were originally more cherished than sakura. Beginning in the Nara Period (794 - 1185) after ume were imported from China, umemi (literally plum viewing) became a special annual event when ume came into bloom
A more general term for flower viewing is hanami, an unofficial holiday for viewing flowers and especially cherry trees in bloom. Umemi is a special form of hanami, specifically focused on ume. The photo below shows cherry trees in bloom (sakura), but it gives an idea of how serious Japanese are about their flower viewing.
There are hundreds of ume varieties, but in general, there are two major types based on the color of the blossoms. Ume with white blossoms are called hakubai.
Kōbai are ume with red or pink blossoms.
Koubai is an alternate English spelling for kōbai.
Ume blossoms appear in late winter, early spring in Japan. They bear fruit in the summer.
A favorite way to prepare ume fruit is to pickle it, creating umeboshi. It has a sour taste but goes well with rice.
Uguisu: Japanese Nightingale
Besides ume, this week's demonstration painting features an uguisue (Japanese nightingale). Japanese resources call the uguisu a type of nightingale, but English language searches bring up the Japanese bush warbler. Here in Canvas, I will use Japanese nightingale or uguisu.
Here is a photo of one.
As you will be able to see in my painting, my uguisu is green. That is the way I was taught to paint it. All of the photos I've found of it are brown like this one.
Haiku
My plum & nightingale demonstration is another haiga. This is the haiku that will accompany the painting. The author is Masazō. I have no information about that poet.
Artwork
Kanō Sansetsu (狩野 山雪, 1589–1651)
Sansetsu was one of the leaders of the Kanō school of art. The painted fusuma (sliding door) below titled The Old Plum (1645) is one of his masterpieces. It was originally located in Tenshōin, a subtemple of Myōshinji, a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyōto. Sold to a private collector for his home in the 1880s, the top was trimmed off to fit smaller dimensions. It may be a painting of a real, very old ume tree located at the Tenjin shrine at Kameido, a district of Edo. The tree had the fanciful name of Garyūbai (Crawling Dragon Plum). The aroma given off by its thousands of blossoms was said to be very powerful.
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865)
Kunisada was the most popular ukiyo-e artist of his time, exceeding the reputations of contemporaries like Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Kuniyoshi. He was especially known for his bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people). The print below is from a series titled 36 Views of the Pride of Edo (1864). This print is Stay in a Lush Plum Garden.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861)
Kuniyoshi was another very popular ukiyo-e artist known for his bijin-ga as well as other subjects, among them a love of ume. He painted the combination of the two several times, three of which are the triptychs shown below. All were done in the 1845 to 1850 time frame. The tree in the background has been identified as the same plum tree, Garyūbai (Crawling Dragon Plum), that was probably the subject of Sansetsu's fusuma shown above.
The triptych below is titled simply Another Plum Blossom.
Here is Plum Blossoms Blooming at Night.
The last is Plum Blossoms in the Evening Snow.
