Dong Son Birds

Some more Dong Son Birds. #dongson #vietnam

Note that I had to do some edits on the images to emphasize details.
The original bronze artifacts have slightly different colors and tones.

The Dongson culture seems to have be fascinated by birds and other animals.

Next another look at the Ao Co myth and what that may tell us about that culture and its interactions with Ancient China?

Scroll back to the Red Bird of the South post if you missed it ! 

Please note I have not seen the originals as the largest holdings of Dongson artifacts seem to be in French museums I have not visited. 

An Avian Medley

#asianart #birds  #vietnamese #duck #ceramics #cormorants #chinesepainting #ukiyo-e #utamaro #roosters

A medley of three of my favorite pieces of bird theme art !

Vietnamese Ceramic Bowl Le Dynasty 

A page from an old calendar artist unknown. Early 20th century Chinese?

An Utamaro Design for a Book 

Birds at a Shrine

#shiki wrote a #haiku depicting #birds at a #shinto #shrine that can be read two ways

mi+yashiro ya
niwa hi ni tooki
ukine dori

depending on whether you read niwa and hi as one word or two
this reads

 prefix honorable shrine shinto

garden/yard/enclosed space light / fire being at distance tooki is a verb! toku !
floating - sleeping implied birds ukine = sleeping in a ship or floating object or uneasy sleep

Why are the birds sleeping in the shadows so far away from the light?

They should be safe on the grounds of a shrine?

I thought they were simply avoiding being disturbed and that Shiki was creating a word picture of birds barely visible but recently I found niwahi can also mean bonfire so there's a note of anxiety and sympathy ... the birds have perhaps moved as far as they can across a pond away from the noise of humans celebrating some kind of fire ritual?

Poor birds!

Birds, beasts, Blossoms, and Bugs.

I've owned this book for a about 20 years or longer?

I think I bought it as a xmas or birthday treat for myself.

Its an excellent work on Japanese Art showing the use of Animal Themes in several media, ceramics decoration, lacquer, and several styles of painting. 

I can highly recommend it as one worthwhile hunting down a second hand copy of on amazon or elsewhere.

The author is Harold P. Stern and it was published by Abrams in 1976.