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.

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.

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 

Oranges and Cicadas

 ORANGES AND CICADAS

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

Original post 2022 

Reposted with some edits 2024 

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 seeing their glossy translucent wings made the poet think of summer gauzes those light silken under robes aristocrats might strip down to at home in the summer heat ? 

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

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 ! 

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 ? 

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! 

the problem of seasons - a medley

 The Problem of Seasons 

It may be late spring almost summer in the northern hemisphere but here its 

and yet we have green hills though with no temples amongst  them

so to start things off after the Easter hiatus I'm doing a stream of consciousness random reposts medley of older images such as getting back to autumn this image 

and finally 

be patient my fellow travellers amongst mountains and streams 

i have some new ideas for technozis and poem cards I will be sharing soon 

don't forget to visit my Patreon - JVartndesign  

easter break

Im on easter break but hopefully I have use that time to finish new translations or poem cards for us 

Scroll down n enjoy older posts 

Cherry Blossoms are a lesson

#densutejo #haiku #sakura #japanesepoetry

HANA WA YO NO

TAMESHI NI SAKU YA

HITOSAKARI 

Den Sutejo

Flowers for this world 

a lesson their blossoming

Brief prosperity

The translation is mine

(copyright J.Vaux 2022)

Hana is flowers and usually in haiku cherry blossom sakura

Yo here is world not leave

I take the no as being for not of in English 

It can function as both in Japanese

Tameshi can mean example precedent experience test trial 

Saku the verb to blossom 

I think an example being a lesson works best in English due to the final line.

Hitosakari hito plus sakari is one of those words that could be translated by a whole sentence! Something that prospers flourishes is at its best just once or for a brief time.

Sakari is probably from the verb sakaru rather than saku.

This seems to be a choice invoking the word sakura without actually using it?

One translaor has this as temporary prosperity but I hope brief is allowable and its usage along with lesson actually enabled me to have it be meaningful in English and follow the 5 - 7 - 5 format of Japanese!

SPRING FLOWERS by SHUNMAN - A surimono

 #spring flowers #surimono #Shumman #shunman

Surimono get less attention than other forms of Japanese prints possibly because they were more likely to be in private collections or printed on paper meant to be folded and stored away 

The use of red on this print is deliciously exquisitely skilled with the painter and printmaker combining their skills in a perfect union of skill and design.

RAIN ON AZALEAS

 #Densutejo #sutejo #haiku #azaleas #rain 

RAIN ON AZALEAS

Den Sutejo 1633 - 1698 was a woman haiku poet who was a student of Basho and of Pure Land and later Zen Buddhism under Bankei eventually setting up a small nunnery for women.

Nure iro ya

Ame no shita teru 

Himotsutsuji 

wet color ! rain from down / under shining  / princess azalea 

Nure from nuru to paint or coat  Iro - color 

A search for princess azaleas brings up the name of several modern varieties that could quite possibly be hybrids or cultivars from whatever type of japanese azalea is being referred to ?

When you think probably of rain drops on azaleas shining and dripping bear in mind even princesses did not wear much in the way of jewellery and its possible Sutejo is not thinking of beads  but perhaps some expensive imported "watered" silk or satin or brocade over robe and the pattern the rain drops are forming on azaleas both flowers and foliage ? 

Hokusai on Cherry Blossoms

 This is one of Hokusai's final prints #Hokusai has depicted the famous #cherryblossoms of #yoshino as a cloud like mass as thick as mist dominating the landscape and perhaps irony the humans are not spectators or tourists or pilgrims but travellers carrying loads  and the man near the centre not viewing the scenery but checking his packhorse who may have hoof troubles ?

Cherry Blossoms Again

 Its nearly #sakura #cherryblossom time again !

Here's a simple but elegant #japaneseprint by #Shinsai 

Note the technique of representing rain as vertical lines over a gray gradient contrasting with the more traditional "brush stroke" rendering of the tree trunk

Rengetsu and the war dead 2

RENGETSU also wrote another poem about the war dead 

Kiku mama ni 

Sode koso nurure 

Michi nobe 

Sarasu kabane wa

Ta ga ko naruran 

Hearing reports about recent event

This sleeves of mine are wet with tears

Along the road abandoned 

Corpses pushed to one side like trash

Whose child were they ? 

I have read too much into sarasu but it has more than one meaning

The ta in the last line is a very archaic variant of tare / dare 

Rengetsu and the Dead Warriors

The Meiji Restoration and end of the rule by the Tokugawa Shoguns involved several battles and one of them was just south of Kyoto 

Rengetsu once trained in martial arts being from a samurai family and probably having friends and acquaintances on both sides  wrote a waka about it 

Ada mikata 

Katsu mo makuru mo

Aware nari

Onaji mikuni no

Hito to omoeba

Enemy or friend 

Win or lose 

I bear in mind they were people of this realm

Tiger on a Kimono

 This #japanese #ukiyoe #print shows an actor in character wearing what is probably a handpainted kimono perhaps a special creation just for one play? I suspect hand painting rather than stencilled cloth even that this is a theatrical costume and the way the tiger curves around the robe probably so the audience could see the design on all sides as the actor moved across the stage.

I'm not sure even the most boldest Tokyo male 18th c. fashionistas would have dared to copy this as street wear?

Korean Tiger

 Traditional  Korean art also has Tigers. One wonders if the scholar painter might have seen a tiger from a distance as this is somewhat more accurate than depictions based on seeing a tigerskin rug?

Tibetan Art - a White Tiger

#tibetan #manuscript #tiger #whitetiger  

This is a page from a #Tibetan manual of geomancy 

I can't read Tibetan but its a good example of Tibetan script and one of the few images I could find of white tigers that are pre-modern

Strange Southern Tigers

 STRANGE SOUTHERN TIGERS

Its the year of the Water Tiger so lets look at the character used to write the word and the word itself.

So why did I know this post strange southern tigers

Experts know or can made a reasonable hypothesis that while a tiger is called HU in Modern Chinese it probably had an older form of ho or hwo 

Tiger is Ho or Hwo in SinoKorean Ko in SinoJapanese and Vietnamese has SinoViet Ho but also Khai 

Cantonese and Hakka have fu 

Thai has khla Burmese kya but older inscriptions have the word as kla and Khmer has klaa 

WE know form changes in other languages an a becoming o is not unusual but while Burmese is a SinoTibetan language Thai has a much looser connection and Khmer and Vietnamese are AustroAsiatic.

So what do the similarities mean?

Let us guess that once upon a time some thousands of years ago there was a word perhaps #khaal or khlaa or kla used to name tigers. Some later languages dropped the L others changed kh to k and then h 

(Historical linguistics yes this is meant to be a very simple explanation for beginners hence the lack of special symbols - I'm trying to "sketch" a general outline) 

So this means three possibilities 

 there was a proto language proceeding SinoTibetan and AustroAsiatic spoken across China and SEasia 

or the speakers of ProtoAustrasiatic and ProtoSinoTibetan lived in communities close enough together to allow regular trading despite the mountainous terrain. 

or that southwards migration of certain groups begun earlier than currently thought and that Austroasiatic languages were spoken in Southern China until a much later date than currently thought

or all three possibilities are linked 

All that possibilities suggested by one word?

possibilities ...

Rosetsu Tiger

 #rosetsu #tiger #yearofthetiger

If there's one subject Chinese and Japanese painters did not excel at sadly it's depicting tigers.

This is a South Chinese Tiger 
Thank you whoever added this to Wikimedia Commons!

BUT 

Chinese artists even centuries ago when the tiger population was much larger do not seen to have studied tigers in the wild or captivity?

There are various reasons for this.

Tigers are usually nocturnal hunters that hunt as individuals for in VERY small family groups and seem to prefer forests though its possible this is an adaptation to avoiding humans. 

In China the South China tiger population was shrinking for centuries and took a further down turn during the Qing dynasty when rifles were introduced and there's an ongoing debate as to how many Tigers survive in ANY part of CHINA in the wild. Some probably do. The ones who have learnt to avoid humans!

There were probably tigers in some parts of the north but again forest clearing and hunting by humans.

I do wonder if there were once "white" tigers in the parts of China near Tibet given the White Tiger of the West?

Tigers despite the Japanese having a word for tiger don't seem to have ever lived in Japan. 

However Japanese artists seen to have seen imported tiger skins but thought of tigers as very large cats?

You may have seen other cropped photos of this painting by Nagasawa Rosetsu that do not show how large the screen painting is. Rosetsu's tiger is a splendid energetic beast indeed larger than life but no more housecat though with this and other images I suspect a study of house cats.

As its the year of the Tiger I will be sharing more Tiger Art as I find it.

Do consider following me for more ?

the year of the tiger is coming

The Goddess of Fortune

The goddess of Fortune and Wealth from a Kyoto temple