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