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.

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 ?

STUDY - XUE

 BEST wishes and blessings for those about to do HSC or other exams !

MENG HAO Ren's Spring Morning POEM

 #menhaoren #chinese poetry #spring morning

(If you are not seeing chinese characters you need to check why your browser and computers font and language settings are not reading the unicode I entered!)

MENG HAO RAN POEM

SPRING MORNING

Mèng Hào Rán - Chún Xiaŏ

Chún Mián Bù Jué Xiaŏ

春 眠 不 覺 暁

spring sleep not sense dawn

Chù chù Wén Tí Niaŏ

處 處 聞 啼 鳥

everywhere hear crying bird

Yè Laì Fēng Yŭ Shēng

夜 來 風 雨 聲

night came wind rain sound

Huā Luò Zhī Duō Shaŏ

花 落 知 多 少

flower fall know how many ?

This is not a full translation or notes 

( you can see a different but similar set notes over on my metousia patreon  and also get a pdf for your one usage)

I keep thinking of something different to write everytime I review my notes )

because I want you to think about the main meanings not compare this to the many other translation and consider what is possibly the most import word in the poem - the verb TI in the second line.

The birds are not singing or flying they are CRYING 

The next line wind rain sound invokes a storm 

which tells us why the birds are crying and maybe why the poet was slow to awake and rise 

and he finishes with a question to himself and us

how many flowers fell last night?

not how pretty spring plum is but how many flowers fall and unspoken what else was damaged if the birds are so upset he describes them as crying ?! 

That simple question makes this a work of genius 

You are welcome to suggest or recommend different translations !

The Four Seasons

 I'm just bumping and reposting an older work in the hope someone will comment on it? 

#kanji #hanzi #technozi #typography #inkscape

Do you think the colors gradients filters and textures I added reflect the character of the four seasons?

Subvert the Sage Three

 Don't forget to check my JVartndesign Patreon for more Subvert the Sage art you can download !

A note on Buffalos and other bovines

 #yanciping #waterbuffalo #Chinesepainting #yearofthemetalox

A note on buffalos and other bovines 

Yan Ciping

I have noticed over many years a tendency of any bovines in a Chinese painting to simply be labelled oxen or cattle regardless of what kind of bovines they are. For examples this painting's description does not mention this is a WATER BUFFALO COW with her CALF. 

In a couple of weeks its the year of the Cow / Ox / bovine in the East Asian and I'll be sharing images of bovines in East Asian art with you. AND I will try to remember to focus on actual oxen.

Yes Water buffalo are bovines of the GENUS BOS but they are a completely different species!

Korean Phoenix Vase

#Korean #phoenix #vase #ceramics #asianceramics #koreanceramics

 

This is not as elaborately detailed as some Chinese and Japanese depictions but it has grace and lightness and lines that curve with beauty across the surface of the vessel. 

It really shows the beauty of using cobalt pigment in place of ink !

More phoenixes next time! 

INktober and Monochrome Painting

 #inktober again so lets look at monochrome paintings this month

Here's a very famous Chinese painting of a horse.

Its possible there was originally some tinting given the age of this work but black is the dominant color and it certainly shows how a Chinese brush maestro could do with a limited palette but superb mastery of ink and gradients ranging from solid darks to lighter washes and lines.

Follow me this month for more masterworks using ink!

Yoshitsune 3

#yoshitsune #ukiyo-e #japaneseprints

one more Yoshitsune print ! This is by #Yoshitoshi and shows the famous fight between #Benkei and a very young Yoshitsune at Gojo Bridge in Kyoto.

Given that Benkei was suppoe to be a warrior monk and Yoshitsune exiled to a temple this is probably not the clothes they may have actually worn. This is what a 19th century artist believed a Heian warrior monk and a young male aristocrat would have worn. Most of the detail may be fairly accurate though given depictions in scrolls with earlier dating.

Yoshitoshi has definitely gone for the beautiful boy look and it is a consistent theme used in other prints that Benkei is shown as very macho in contrast to Yoshitsune.

17th century Kosode Cherries and Mountains

#kosode #kimono #sakura #cherry #textileart

Weaving as ART. 

This beautiful17th century Japanese short sleeve kimono or kosode is a picture created mainly by weaving plus a bit of embroidery not stencil or painting. 

SAKURA PDF

I HAVE UPLOADED MY SAKURA PDF TO PATREON

#patreon #update #sakura #cherry blossom #hokusai #print #yoshino

This months technozi pdf has just been uploaded to my https://www.patreon.com/JVartndesign

It has poetry translations and art and here's one example of the art posted.

One of Hokusai's late prints -a view of Yoshino's cherry blossoms.

I ended up with TOO MANY IMAGES so you'll be getting more cherry art and poems for the next  couple of weeks and then our May theme will be the pretty boys well dressed warriors and men of fashion of Ukiyo-e prints.

COMING SOON 7 ODD ZHI

Hoping soon - well this week - an #E-book #pdf called

7 ODD ZI 

This will be a medley of images of art  

my own and others plus info and stories and sheer speculation about 7 of my favorite ZI

It will be published via my 

JVartndesign Patreon midweek 

Shigenobu's Dragon Princess

#Shigenobu #ukiyo-e #cosplay

The Ukiyo-e Artist Shigenobu is known for Bijinga and Shunga and landscapes but also created a unique and wonderful record of a famous geisha costume procession held in Osaka in which Geisha dressed as famous people from both Chinese and Japanese or at least how they thought such characters dressed. It was perhaps more an ancestor of cosplay?

This woman choose to dress as Otohime a Dragon Princess with a Dragon head-dress and a costume with an outer robe patterned to suggest scales.

I managed to find another image showing a close up.

Bizarre yet Beautiful. 

More Nezumi - Prints!

#Nezumi #prints #japaneseprints

Here's some NEZUMI on Japanese Prints!

Shigenobu New year print -  a woman confronting a mouse or rat. Its white so about an escaped pet?

Here's a #surimono format print with the image of the rat serving as an introduction or maybe the top page of the print when folded since Japanese texts were read from right to left.

The last print is by Seiho - 1937 of a rat exploring a top hat. 

Kawaii but also iki ? 

When Meguro was a Green Hill 2 views by Hiroshige

#Hiroshige seems to have been like many #Edo residents fond of visiting #Meguro

#japaneseprints #landscapeprints

When Meguro was a Green Hill 

The building in the lower right corner is a teahouse. Nowadays I've read Meguro is more noted for coffee and laneways with small shops. 

Another view by Hiroshige. The river is still there though partly canalized and smaller. 

How things have changed over the years and centuries! 

There are other prints by Hiroshige and others on this theme. These seem to be 2 of the best?

Sute-jo's Higurashi Haiku

#sute-jo #higurashi #haiku

SUTE-JO'S HIGURASHI HAIKU

This poetess become a nun in later life and was part of the Basho lineage of Haiku writers

Higurashi ya!

Sutete oite mo 

Kururu hi wa 

Oh higurashi 

Abandoned Left behind 

By the sun 

I have read but not experienced Higurashi singing mainly in the evening but sometimes in the morning or if the weather suddenly becomes overcast and cloudy. I have taken some liberties with the string of verbs in the middle shifting to the passive in English.

Sutete may be a pun on' Sute-jos name "abandoned wife"  

Oite is a shortened form of okite used when it was combined with other verbs?

Kururu is not kuru - come but an older literary form of kureru ! 

The last line could also be translated as darkens day 

This is the sort of haiku in which the Japanese is so compact and dense you have to make the lines longer or shorter in English. The closest I can get to the assonance of suteTE oiTE is aBandoned left Behind By ...

Orange Technozi

You may remeber I blogged last year on #orange the fruit and the hanzi used to write the word.

I have a new RED BUBBLE design that I'ld appreciate your support of even if its just a RT or other share

Please consider a visit and do feedback? I want your comments as I'm currently (july 2019) stuck in or rather on bed with a bad ankle sprain ...

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 !

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.