2 Edo Hakkei by Toyohiro

#ukiyoe #japaneseprints

Harunobu and Hiroshige were not the only artists to do #EdoHakkei in response to the #OmiHakkei theme

Hiroshiges teacher #Toyohiro also did them!

This is Utagawa Toyohiros Ueno Temple Bell print

Note Toyohiro seems to prefer pinks and reds and less blues than Hiroshige

Sunset on Awazu became sunset at the Ryogoku bridge in the Edo Hakkei theme

The river is the Sumida

Early Omi Hakkei Prints

So you love #ukiyo-e ?
 You've heard of #omihakkei #hakkei and seen copies of the famous set by #hiroshige ?

Did you know he was not the first artist to do prints on that theme?

This is by Utagawa Toyoharu 

He's tried to fit all of the Hakkei onto one print and has rather distorted the proportions to include everything. The Ishiyamadera was further down the river that flows out from Lake Biwa and he has included an old castle that has since been destroyed tho a small park marks its site. Otsu ss shown as a village which is now a suburb of the modern city. Curiously though the the site of the moorings for the trade ships and barges is still a marina.

Other artists who dealt with the Hakkei theme often did so indirectly. Study the background in this Harunobu print. It is actually an Edo scene but refers to the Omi Hakkei tradition by depicting boats.

The tradition of comparing Edo scenes to those of the Omi Hakkei is also used by Hiroshige himslef in this print. Thats not geese returning to Katata. That's Umida !

Whereas this is Katata !

ZEN SEAL

My latest #redbubble design Zen Seal was made by applying #gimp filters and color and texture edits over a scan of the small seal script form of the #hanzi #kanji meaning ZEN or CHAN

You can view products with this design on my RED BUBBLE SHOP

A Hiroshige Medley of Sails

#hiroshige #ukiyo-e #boats #sails #ships

A view of Edo Bay 

Yabase Lake Biwa

Ume ga ka ni - 3 Haiku

Here are 3 translations of #haiku on the #ume ga ka ni theme.

#Basho

Ume ga ka ni notto hi no deru yamaji

 Plum blossom fragrance
Suddenly the sun rising
On a mountain path

You can smell the fragrance  KA before you see it.

Basho or Yaba his pupil

Ume ga ka ni mukashi ichiji aware nari

Plum blossom fragrance
Just the character mukashi
invokes nostalgia

#Mukashi means once upon a time or formerly or long ago and can be written as one KANJI

The phrase ume ga ka ni was first used in Japanese poetry by the Heian waka writers.

Finally a haiku by #Buson who was also a noted painter

Ume ga ka ni yuugure hayaki fumoto kana

Plum blossom fragrance Early Twilight on the foothills

Fumoto can be either the foothills or lower slopes of mountains.

All of these haiku have linked art on my #patreon   JVartndesign 

in the $1 $5 and open to all tiers

If you have been downloading art from the blog please remember to use the tip jar occasionally?

SHIBA STORY - SAILS AND SHORELINES

#shiba #tokyo #ukiyo-e #japaneseprints

SHIBA STORY

SAILS AND SHORELINES

I've mentioned before that the Eight views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers a traditional subject for Chinese painting was adopted by Japanese painters and poets. However in Japan the Konoe family promoted an Omi Hakkei, a set of 8 views of scenic spots near Lake Biwa and Otsu, and this in turn led to other sets of views, extending to sets of 8 Views of Edo, and later sets of 36 or 100.

Now the Edo Hakkei substituted local scenes and in this print the Sails Returning to Yabase theme has become Sails returning to Shiba. Shiba is now INLAND and that entire shore line replaced by landfill and artificial islands apart from one section to the north adjacent to two famous gardens ad thats fronted by embankments.

Its very Ukiyo-e that the boats are mainly cargo ships The print by the way is by Eisen!

I doubt you could see Fuji from Shiba or even out in Tokyo bay nowadays as clearly as this so not only is it a beautiful landscape print but also a useful historical record of Tokyo's changed shorelines and an image of older style shipping and how wooden sail ships worked so there's a good view of the rudder and rigging. 

ENJOY 

Sails returning

The scenes of lonely fishermen or tiny riverside hamlets found in Chinese art and poetry influenced various reactions in Japan such as the paintings of imagined landscapes by artists of several schools, Kano, Rimpa, and Nanga, but the Ukiyo-e artists supported the Eight Views of Omi and sometimes parodies of them.

There is an implied critique even a subversive of formal Kano aesthetics in this scene.
These are real boats and the sails dominate the composition as much as the mountains and water and the vastness of the lake is a place of significant human activity fishing and trading boats.

Next time more Hakkei ...