#hiroshige #japaneseprint

The year is drawing to a close and I have been using the Xmas break to research and plan blogs for next year

Coming next year The Lonely Fisherman theme along with Marici Year of the Pig and more 

DECEMBER SEMI_HIATUS

XMAS BREAK SCHEDULE

People  new TECHNOZI posts will be made over the next two weeks but at a reduced or erratic  frequency.

I have to finish and upload some Xmas specials to my Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/JVartndesign

and I'm behind due to the @#$%^&* building site across the street using some kind of equipment that interferes with wifi.
That and mid summer heat and humidity  means I can only post stuff from the laptop early morning or late evening in my time zone.
Please consider following me here or on G+ or my @JVartndesign twitter so you can get updates when I post !

Umbrellas and Ukiyoe

Here's a Ukiyo-e print featuring umbrellas We're expecting a summer storm this afternoon!

Note how most of the reds are in the foreground and the blues and ochre yellows lead the eye further into the image. There is no one central figure. Its a streetscape faraway from a Kano school sansui landscape reminding you how innovative Japanese art can be and how important prints were for preserving social and costume history before photography was introduced. 

Japanese Print Couple with a dog

The year of the Dog is coming to an end so to finish it here's an image of a young couple playing with a dog or throwing treats that look like rice balls to a dog? Whether this is a pet or a street stray I don't know. perhaps its not a couple but a brother guarding his sister while they walk to the shops or a temple? Perhaps.

Momiji again and Hoitsu

#hoitsu #japanesepainting #momiji

You might want to check my Kiitsu post and compare it to this one.

This is a painting in the pillar format

Note how Hoitsu balances the tones and colors and guides our sight through the painting using tonal and color variation. Darker tones at the bottom of the wash that forms the tree trunk then a lower branch that's orange and red paralleled above by a thicker darker branch and red leaves and more orange at the top.

No wonder the Ukiyo-e artists so quickly adapted to color printing with splendid examples of good color layout like this !

Hoitsu was not a Ukiyo-e artist and while this is a painting not a print painters from other schools could inspect and study works like this  at tea ceremonies or if they were displayed at temples or poetry parties.

Chiyo's Cicadas

#Chiyo #haiku #translation #cicadas #japanesepoetry

Taki no ne mo hosoru ya mine ni semi no koe 

sound of waterfall 
tapering off ! peak(s) location 
 voice of cicada 

the sound of water falling from or near a peak tapering off becoming less or is the waterfalls sound making the cicadas voice less?

Cicadas vary the volume of their chorus 

I don't how Japanese cicada behave 

I have this picture in my mind of Chiyo walking through a forest or trees full of cicadas and suddenly coming to a pool where water is falling noisily down the peaks and maybe sitting besides it to write this haiku after meditating or simply resting on a long walk to visit a Buddhist temple.

The sound of the waterfall 
lessening amongst the peaks 
The voice of the cicadas

amongst is too strong a translation of ni but works in English

I'm not sure of the best reading of mo here... and so though ?
hosoru should be thinning like a thread being spun but thinning doesnt work in modern English or Japanese where few people spin their own thread?

The voice of the cicadas however is just as strong !

Momiji - More autumn leaves

#japaneseart #kiitsu
#japanesepainting #momiji #autumn #silkscroll

More more autumn leaves
This one is a scroll by the artist #Kiitsu
Its almost #nanga or #kano in style

Note the very Japanese use of blank space and counterbalanced
colors and the careful way the ink wash is stronger at the edge
of the flowers and this is on sized silk NOT paper.

Looks simple but requires great skill with the brush

Ask any watercolorist who uses wet into wet washes

The japanese puddling technique is very similar !

Momiji

#Momiji #kanji #kokuji

The word MOMIJI meaning Autumn Foliage can be written with several combinations of Kanji and Kana in Japanese.

Most commonly it is written as a combination of 2 kanji meaning "red leaves" but also as a "kokuji NOT found in all dictionaries. I'm surprised Nelson does not include it when it does include other kokuji!

Kokuji are characters created n Japan and not used in China with a couple of exceptions that actually got borrowed back into Chinese.

Momiji sometimes gets translated as "maple" but can be used to describe autumn foliage and colros in general. Part of the reason for this seems to be the popularity of the Japanese "maple" Acer palmatum also known as KAEDE  in art and probably some idiot who was not a botanist thinking oh maple tree!

Another example of this is the character FENG or FU  Kaede used by both the Chinese and Japanese being translated as "maple"  however the Chinese maple is what we call Liquidambar a tree with leaves and autumn coloring very similar to a maple!

Send me feedback folks if you would rather download this in its full original size from DeviantArt or Patreon ?  I'm happy to share it as a freebie if you're using it for educational purposes!

FOUR PURPLE HANZI and KANJI

Its Jacaranda time in Sydney but Jacaranda is not an Asian Plant.

Its actually an import from South America and yes it is very gorgeously purple an intense hue either dark or light and yes it looks like purple clouds when the trees are blossoming!

So I'm thinking about PURPLE when I look out my window as there are some magnificent trees nearby.

Also I'm thinking about #hanzi and #kanji

The primary word and character for the color purple in East Asian languages that use Sinitic characters or have loan words is surely

however there are a copy of other words 

and also 

finally Japanese poetry often mentions this plant with purple blossoms 

If you k ow of other words for purple please contribute via the comments box.

Lady Purple

#purple #murasaki #hanzi #kanji
Jacarandas are in full bloom in Sydney which makes me think of the color purple and hence of a certain Japanese poetess MURASAKI

The Print Making Shop

18th century EDO townsfolk were proud of their thoroughly modern printmakers and prints.

Here we see customers arriving to inspect the latest prints on offer and watch them being made.

Note the color layout with its superb balance using a limited palate.

These are townsfolk not samurai or geisha or courtesans or actors just fans of prints shopping!

Surimono in Production

#surimono #printing #japaneseprints

A Surimono print showing the process of carving and printing

The man is carving a page of text.

The woman is rubbing the color onto the paper 

Note how it is applied to the block first and then the paper is pressed and rubbed to absorb the colors.

Surimono were "limited editions" with extra care taken with the production!

Asian Inktober - Calligraphy Studio print

#asianinktober #inktober #kiyonaga #calligraphy  #japaneseprint

ASIAN INKTOBER 

To finish off Asian Inktober here's a Kiyonaga Print shwing a famous child calligrapher and also showing several calligraphy styles and a good view of an actual studio and its layout and equipment.
Note also the mastery of ink and tonal gradient. I often notice Kiyonaga prints because of his careful use of blacks and grays ranging from solid areas of black to subtle gray patterns contrasting with colors. He tends to limit his colors but note how in this print lighter colors in the background suggest depth and also the use of perspective without shadows!

Beautiful Brushes another Asian Inktober Image Medley

BEAUTIFUL BRUSHES #asianinktober #inktober #brushes

Let us enjoy a moment to contemplate the beauty of brushes

The Four Treasures of the Studio are the Inkstone the Inkstick the Brush often sold in boxed sets and not shown above Xuan paper

While I see claims a master needs only one brush most painters who use Asian style brushes for watercolors or calligraphy or what other purpose  have a variety of sizes. Ceramicists often prefer them for applying glazes and slips.

Inkstones

#inkstones

Once upon a time long ago Yan - inkstones were called something like either #ngien or #nge/an which became Yan 4 in Modern Chinese and in other dialects jin gian ngieng ngan jan

SinoViet has nghien and SinoJapanese has Ken or Gen but prefers the native term SUZURI

This is an unusually ornate deluxe example !

They come in a variety of forms and that deeper area at one end is to push the ink into as you grind hard the inkstick on the inkstone after applying water to the stone.

This is actually the blade guard of a samurai sword but its modelled on an inkstone and note the broken inkstick on one corner! 

Asian Inktober - The Beauty of Inksticks

#asianinktober #inksticks

While you can get Asain Ink in Bottle Purists like to grind down their own ink.

I must confess I have a few inksticks I have collected and never used cos the patterns are just so pretty!

Here's a medley of inkstick imagery to enjoy

Asian Inktober - More Ink and Brush

#asianinktober #inktober #mifei

The Brush is as Mighty as the Pen especially in Asian Art!

Simple works like this piece by Mi Fei had a great influence on later "scholar" style painters in China and Japan such as this Japanese work below.

and this Kano folding screen altho painted on gold and having accents of green shows the strong influence of #p'omo and #suibokuga 

ASIAN INKTOBER - Hasegawa's Pines

#hasegawa #inktober2018

Ink is used with brushes too.

There is a technique of brushing called P'o Mo in Chinese and Haboku in Japanese

"splashed ink" used in suibokuga, sumi-e, and zenga style monochrome paintings.

One of the finest examples of this is HASEGAWA TOOHAKU 's PINES

A Painting on a Byoobu a folding screen.

You can see and download the whole set of screens from Wikipedia but its a massive file so here's just part of it.

Elegantly simple and restrained it works because the painter has observed real pines in a mist and like many geniuses, Eastern or Western, while traditionally trained, experimented with and studied other techniques and schools.

Hasegawa came or was adopted into a family of dyers and showing talent as a painter was sent to Kyoto for further studies with the Kano school. He also studied the suiboku works of SESSHU.

Take a look at both artists!

Asian Inktober - INK

Its #Inktober and what would East Asian paintng and calligraphy without #INK
So as an educational tie-in the a #technozi on INK

Copyright J. Vaux 2018
You can copy and share for educational purposes though

Asian Inktober Two - A medley for Inspiration

#inktober #ink

ASIAN INKTOBER TWO

Let us consider the beauty of plain ink on white paper with this medley

ENSO A #Zenga #calligrapghy exercise 

remember this was originally black on white 

yes it is a japanese print but modelled on a brush painting 

eight basic strokes used by both calligraphers and painters 

Asian Inktober One

ANNOUNCEMENT 

For INKTOBER 2018 I'm be posting about Asian Ink painting 

and related topics like Inksticks and Inkstones

The Dancer

THE DANCER

I'm finishing the kimono clothing series with one particularly glorious print.

Yes its another #chikanobu 

Just enjoy it 

I feel commentary would only mar its splendour 

As its #inktober my next series throughout october will be about INK inkstones inkstones and other related topics.

more big sleeves

#kimono #japanese costume

Todays post is a reminder kimono sleeves were once very plain and simple.

This is Prince Shotoko famous Buddhist

A thousand plus years later costumes for high ranking courtiers aristocrats and officials were still very similar than there's a fan instead of a tablet no sword and the cap is secured by strings. The sleeves are bigger and he wears geta but ... 

Finally a work showing costumes halfway between both styles. 

All three images reflect Chinese influences yet ate uniquely Japanese.

Last time I'm going to show you some extravagant splendid stage costumes for men !

Then its back to the ladies !

My work roster hasn't been set yet for this week so consider following me if  you want to be notified when and on what day I do post.

More Kimono Big and Small Sleeves !

#kimono #japanesecostume #japaneseprint

Some more kimono

I've used this fan print again but I wanted to show it again because while its a parody of a Edo street scene it shows several types of kimono wore by both sexes and several classes.

This black and white sketch by #hokusai shows the effects of a strong wind on clothes.

Finally a work showing Komuso Monks version of Kimono as a reminder Kimono with short or narrow or long or big sleeves was a basic garment with other kimono or loin cloths wore under it.

More next time so if you love Japanese prints or kimono follow !

Big Sleeves! Small Sleeves! Kimono Sleeves!

#Kimono #sleeves come in a variety of styles!
Here's some examples from Japanese art.

But first a reminder kimono have several parts.

Here is a shape shifting fox disguised as a priest who's so overwhelmed by the beauty of the moon he's started to shift back to his true form

We tend to think of women as wearers of kimono thought kimono just means clothing for both sexes.

Note how she is wearing one kimono as a cloak over her other layers of robes / kimono.

Note also the long sleeves.

Heian era courtiers wore kimono with BIG loose sleeves.

This print shows a Heian male courtier in a robe based on /chinese costume but with big japanese style sleeves while the woman wears the short sleeve kimono of a later era.

I'll end with something closer to the modern era  a print showing 3 women plum blossom viewing.

Fragrance on sleeves

#waka #orangeblossom #tachibana

There is an "anonymous" poem in the KoKinshu KKS III 139 about orange blossom.

Satsuki natsu 

hanatachibana no

ka (w)o kageba

mukashi no hito no

sode no ka zo suru

Fifth lunar month summer

flower(ing) orange of 

fragrance (or possibly this) scent verb causal 

past / long ago / of people / person of

sleeve(s) of scent note that suru can mean does make or leave trace 

In the fifth month summer orangeblossom the / this scent of  causes me ( to think of ) from the past people 

because of traces of scent on sleeves.

A note since Heian aristocrats did not to my knowledge use a orange blossom scented perfume or incense the scent of the sleeves may be a sachet placed with clothing in storage.

Its summer perhaps some low ranking courtier has been tasked with taking clothing out of storage.

The screen doors are open. The scent of orange blossom is wafting indoors from trees outside and inside this is reinforced by the traces of scent on sleeves.

Scent and memory.  

Tachibana "Orange"

Tachibana Orange

#tachibana #citrus #orange #kitsu #mandarin

Modern #Chinese uses this #hanzi to describe Tangerines and Oranges and Mandarins and probably just small oranges in earlier time? 

In #Japanese though the #kanji is Tachibana a subspecies of Citrus.

However in Vietnam if I can trust my dictionaries the archaic form *gwuit developed a semantic split with one word used to describe the citrus fruit we call kumquats and the other pronunciation for mandarin oranges.

Part of the reason are this is the quest for a small edible sweet orange. 

Citrus growers in China and Japan hybridised varieties to create the range of fruits we have today.

Apparently the native Tachibana "mandarin" / orange was grown for its peel and flowers with the peel and rind used for medicines and the flowers for their scent. 

I will be sharing some poems about the scent of orange blossom in the next posts. 

Summer Heat

Two characters for Summer and Summer Heat