Thursday 28 July 2022

Hagoromo in Ukiyo-e

 #ukiyo-e #hagoromo #japanese prints 


HAGOROMO in Ukiyo-e 



Hiroshige has focused on the maiden herself suggesting she is changing into a bird and showing us some of the foreshore at TAGO which is still a popular picnic spot partly because of this legend but also for the views across the bay of FujiSan 


Chikanobu however seems to have thinking of both the Noh play the original legend and his love of detailed costumes though his Celestial Maiden seems to be wearing Chinese fabrics and the feathers drape over branches as if they were fabric. 

I wonder if someone had done a Kabuki version of the Noh play?

Don't forget to scroll back to the partner post to this one showing photos of Noh actor costumes.





Sunday 24 July 2022

Angel Robes

HAGOROMO 

There is a #Noh play called #HAGOROMO about the ancient legend of the fisherman who found a celestial maiden bathing and took her feathered over robe.

This is mentioned in poems and depicted in prints.

Prints I'll save for the next 

Here are some images of Noh  costumes.




Note the plumage pattern in gold and consider how it would have shimmered in a stage lit only by daylight or lanterns if an evening performance.



On this costume the gold dominates but this makes the darker outlines of feathers emphasize the actors movements on stage.


Finally while this is not a photo it shows yet another costume design and I wanted to group these together as the ukiyo-e artists take a different approach to the story.



Note how all three costumes feature a phoenix in or on the headdress as well as the plumage pattern along the top and down over most of the robe and a fan. The pine tree is a reminder of the foreshore pines at TAGO that the maiden spread her robes over. 


Next post ; how did ukiyo-e artists depict this story.

Saturday 16 July 2022

hiatus Again

I have no ideas for themes for the end of July and August 
Okay one vague idea but it needs more research 
In a week or two come back 
Meanwhile scroll down n enjoy older posts 

Wednesday 29 June 2022

Oranges and Cicadas

 ORANGES AND CICADAS

#waka #cicada #tachibana #hagoromo #japanesepoetry #oranges


I was looking for poems about tachibana and trying to avoid the usual cliches about the scent of orange blossom. The Japanese grow tachibana mainly for the scent. Other types of citrus are grown for fruit.

Its an odd plant in that its described as "native" to Japanese but its a hybrid of a hybrid of a sub species that somewhat made it to Japan and its not quite the same plant as the Chinese version.


This is by Fujiwara Takanobu 


Noki chikaki 

Hanatachibana ni 

Kaze sugite 

Nioi o nokosu 

Semi no hagoromo 


Close by my (house) eaves(from) the orange tree the breeze leaves behind its scent (on) the cicadas robes (or wings) 

Probably he was sitting on a verandah facing a garden with a tachibana tree nearby and he could see a cicada nearby or hear it and imagines the scent also drifting on the breeze onto the cicada but wait!

Hagoromo is it robes or wings ? Hagoromo is literally feathered garment but the word is also used to describe wings and plumage. Cicadas have wings but no feathers and I wonder if their glossy translucent wings is making the poet look of summer gauzes  light silken under  robes aristocrats might strip down to at home in the summer heat ? 

This was written as part of a poetry competition with summer as a theme. 


Monday 20 June 2022

Thoughts on Citrus and Orange Blossom

Thoughts on Citrus 

A favorite theme of Japanese poetry is the scent of orange blossom specifically the scrnt of Tachibana which doesnt actually have edible.

But like the rest of the world the Japanese got their citrus fruits from China. 

While the ancestors of most of the many varieties of citrus fruit seem to derive from one or two or three species so closely genetically similar they could be crossed by accident or intent to make fertile hybrids it seems to have been Chinese gardeners and orchardists who developed Citrons Buddhas Hand Yuzu Mandarins Bitter Oranges Sweet Oranges Lemons Limes Pomelos Tangerines Kumquats and more.

Oh and the Mediterranean citrus fruits probably reached Europe via the Arabs importing seed or trees from India and China or hybridizing those imports with a local variant of the Citron.

Those Japanese and other orchardists in California ?
Those varieties are hybrids.

Enjoying a so called sumo fruit or tangelo or a blood orange.

Thank some ancient traveller from SE Asia who brought the seeds or fruit to China ! 

Wednesday 8 June 2022

the moss path

The Moss Path 
#RENGETSU 
Furu dera no 
Koke ji wa ato mo 
Nakari keri
Yona yona goto ni 
Tsuki wa toe domo 

Literally 
Old temple of
Moss path subject remains though 
No more / gone away
Nb 2 verbs nakari plus keri  completely 
night night every ni as time marker 
Moon toe seems to be an abbreviated form of hitoe only 
Domo possibly adverb here or idea of moon as only companion 

My translation 
At the old temple 
Only a trace left
Of the moss path
Night after night
However the Moon visits 

Some further notes
 nakaru not to be 
Keri is not a filler word to complete the syllable count here but suggests the disappearance of the path under moss is recent ? 
Moss can grow very quickly 
While there is a now famous moss temple this could have been any of dozens of smaller temples up in the hills around Kyoto 
Perhaps its the rainy season and the priest or gardener monk put off clearing the path 
It seems Rengetsu glimpsed the path by moonlight ? 
Perhaps she was hoping to moon view or perhaps that temple banned women even nuns ? 


Thursday 2 June 2022

Li Shu on a painting

I went to a recent book fair a charity sake of used books and found a copy of late 1980s copies of Chinese Literature a magazine you used to see in some libraries or leftwing bookshops. 
I used to buy an issue now n then if I was in the city from one particular ship now closed because I also visited for the chinese art materials and the translations of chinese poetry 
No not Wills Quills at Chatswood but a store down in Sydneys version of Chinatown 
Anyway the mnagazine had an article on a 20th century chinese painter and tbis one i m age caught my eye because it featured the Li Shu script variant of Chinese characters.
The illustration was printed on a rather shiny paper so the image is not perfect.

Hers another image showing most of the painting as illustrated in the magazine. 
I t didnt say whether he used paper or silk.

Huang Qiu Yuan is the painter and the Chinese literature issue was Spring 1987

Sorry if I havnt posted for a while but I want to have something special to share 

Next time probably Haiku again!