The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
Japanese ukiyo-e writing records the secular life and art history of Japan from the 17th to the 19th century, and has had a profound impact on both modernist art and current culture.
On March 12th, the "Encounter with Ukiyo-Expo Edo – An Exhibition of The Original Ukiyo-e Ofe Paintings of the Edo Period" opened at the Today Art Museum in Beijing. The Paper saw at the scene that the exhibition focused on nearly 100 original ukiyo-e paintings that had never been exhibited in China and were created in the Edo and Meiji periods. One of the most famous is "Kanagawa Surfing Lane", one of the representative works of the Japanese Edo period painter Katsushika Hokusai. This painting is also one of the most ukiyo-e symbols.
《Kanagawa Chunamiri》
The Impressionist master Van Gogh once wrote in a letter to his brother Theo: "As you can see, the waves are like claws, firmly grasping the ship, you can clearly feel it." There is no doubt that this work has become the main visual logo of this exhibition.
Exhibition site
It is understood that all the exhibits on display this time are from the collection of the Asai family in Japan. Mao Qiang, a representative of the Asai family, said on the spot that this is the first time they have exhibited in China, and half of them are masterpieces. Due to the epidemic, the exhibition from planning to exhibition is also quite painstaking, the curator said: "The Asai family's ukiyo-e collection has a total of more than 30,000 pieces, they are different from other collectors, mainly the collection of works of famous artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, they are more based on historical themes, from the perspective of the real situation of the whole society, so they can better reflect the social landscape at that time." ”
The Edo period monk writer Asai wrote in the book "Ukiyo Story": "Life is for the sake of timely pleasure, focusing on appreciating the beauty of the moon, the sun, cherry blossoms and maple leaves, singing, drinking, throwing yourself into the floating world, even if you face poverty, don't care, don't be depressed, just learn to float with the waves, this is what we call 'ukiyo-e'." This passage also appears in the preface at the entrance of the exhibition hall this time.
The organizer told the "Surging News Art Review" that in the past, domestic ukiyo-e theme exhibitions generally enumerated the painting methods and schools of ukiyo-e in the form of chronicles, but the theme of the "Edo Period Ukiyo-e Original Collection Exhibition" was more distinct and concentrated: starting from the urban culture of Edo (renamed Tokyo in 1868), many works reflecting Edo's social style, customs and folklore, people's lives, and folklore were selected to form three major sections: "entering the city", "entering the room" and "entering the soul", combining art and culture through three temporal and spatial dimensions. Lead the audience to an in-depth reading of Japanese culture.
In addition to presenting the original ukiyo-e ancient paintings, the exhibition site restored a number of scenes such as the tea ceremony space and the cherry blossom forest for the audience to punch in and take photos. It is particularly worth mentioning that in order to facilitate office workers to see the charm of ukiyo-e, this exhibition specially opens a "night tour to see the exhibition" time on Friday and Saturday evenings. The exhibition in Beijing runs from March 12 to early May, after which it will also tour the rest of the country.
Enter the city, the city pillow water waves hundred dreams
Scenery of Takanawa, Edo Shinagawa, Tokyo, by The Second Generation Utagawa Kuniaki, written in the first year of Meiji in 1868. The coastal shoals shown in the picture have long been surrounded by the sea for farming. In the era when there was no photography, this work preserved the human fireworks of that time for future generations.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the shogunate and used the strength of the whole country to build Edo, attracting foreigners to gather here.
The first exhibition area of the "Edo Period Ukiyo-e Collection Exhibition", "Entering the Castle", is located on the first floor of the entire Hall 3. The "Entering the City" exhibition area allows the audience to overlook the whole view of Edo. By showing the intertwined waterways and alleys, bustling shopping streets, and cherry blossom festivals, we jointly weave a complete and three-dimensional Edo style. More than 30 paintings also allude to the city's residents weaving their own life memories in this bustling city in the change of spring flowers and autumn. Watching them come and go, gathering or leaving, the vivid and vivid daily life, as if you are on the streets of Edo, gives the picture a wonderful sense of realism.
Before entering the castle, look at Mt. Fuji. Japan has had the Belief in Fuji since ancient times, and many people aim to climb to the top of the mountain at an altitude of 3,776 meters. In the 1830s, the boom in private travel in Japan was booming, and road traffic and accommodation facilities along the way were becoming more and more perfect. Ukiyo-e artists also recorded the beautiful scenery around Edo Castle during their travels. One of the most famous is Mt. Fuji, which is more than 100 kilometers away. Created in the 3rd year of Tenpo (1832), the thirty-six views of Fugaku, the famous work of the late Edo period painter Katsushika Hokusai, also known as "Red Fuji", depicts the seasonal phenomena that appear in Mt. Fuji – it is said that from late summer to early autumn, according to the meteorological conditions at that time, the phenomenon of Mt. Fuji being dyed red is sometimes seen in the morning, which means good luck and high light.
"Thirty-six Views of Fugaku • Kaifeng Fast"
As a representative of the mature period of ukiyo-e, Katsushika Hokusai has been active in the creation of ukiyo-e for 90 years. Hokusai and Kazukazu were also active at the heyday of the Utagawa school led by the original Utagawa Toyokuni. Hokusai competed with Utagawa Toyokuni, the first Utagawa Kunisei, the first Utagawa Hiroshige, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and others, and engraved the Edo culture of the 19th period into ukiyo-e. "A View of the Upper Kyo Province of The Temple", written by the first Utagawa Hiroshige in the 4th year of Ansei (1858). As a master of landscape painting, the first generation of Utagawa Hiroshige painted six rare ukiyo-e paintings depicting maps from Edo to Ise and Kyoto in the form of a two-country game map. The work vividly shows the edo period, the Japanese society set off a wave of worship is the Ise Jingu Shrine. As can be seen in the picture, a large number of people travel to and from the Tokaido. The position of Mt. Fuji in the compositional painting can also be seen in the ingenuity of the painter's composition.
"A view of the upper kyodo of the palace"
The First Mountain map of the Three Kingdoms was created during the Jiayong period (1848-1854), and the "Three Kingdoms" refers to Tang (China), Tianzhu (India), and Japan. The author, Sadahide Utagawa, was a disciple of the original Utagawa Kuniseada, and in the era when drones were not yet available, he painted many wonderful aerial views, also known as "aerial painters". As far as Mt. Fuji is concerned, Sadahide also left behind many paintings depicting the exterior and details of the caves inside. He has also traveled all over Japan, using accurate methods of distance and proximity, leaving behind many wonderful landscape paintings. Similar to the narrative language of contemporary Japanese manga, the artist draws a white silk waterfall in the upper right corner of the entire painting, and the gray hill on the left is the Honaga Mountain that erupted in the 4th year of Honaga (1707) in the Edo period.
Map of the First Mountain of the Three Kingdoms
Since the Edo period, Nihonbashi has been the starting point of Japan's national road network, and the surrounding area has become a bustling commercial area. Many of the ukiyo-e works like to depict the neat, lively streets and alleys around Nihonbashi. The View of Tokyo Nihonbashi was written by Yoshihide Utagawa in Meiji 3 (1870). This painting depicts the nihonbashi scenery from the end of Edo to the beginning of the Meiji period, and the picture records a hundred scenes of all sentient beings. The high sign on the left side of the picture is a notice board to let the public know about the decree, and the bucket under the sign is a wooden bucket of water storage used to prevent fire in Edo Castle. Many details in the painting show the gradual infiltration of Western culture, and the Western carriages in many places in the picture, as well as the Western man riding a horse on the right side of the picture, embody the earliest Scene of Westernized Life in Edo Castle at that time, and is a precious ukiyo-e that embodies the changes in customs from Edo to the Meiji period.
《Tokyo Nihonbashi Landscape》
The westerly winds are gradually moving easterly. Yang Zhouyan's "Map of Asakusa Park" created in Meiji 24 (1891) can better reflect the changes in the style of the times. In this beautiful landscape, the kimono of the woman painted in the foreground is extremely exquisite, the woman in the grape swallow pattern kimono has a gentle face, and the maid next to her holds an umbrella for her, but it is no longer an umbrella but a parasol for European and American noblewomen. In the far distance of the center of the picture is the twelfth-story building built in Asakusa in Meiji 23 (1890), called Asakusa 12th Floor, also known as Lingyun Pavilion, which is 52 meters high, which was the tallest building in Japan at that time. Lingyun Pavilion was a landmark building in the Asakusa area at that time, and was once known as the "Eiffel Tower of Japan", and as long as it depicts the landscape of the Asakusa area, it will depict Lingyun Pavilion. In 1923, during the Great Kanto Earthquake, Lingyun Pavilion collapsed and tilted and caught fire, and was finally destroyed by the government explosion, which is a pity!
《Map of Asakusa Park Tour》
Cherry blossom romance into the soul
In the late Edo period, a Kabuki theater was gathered in The town of Saraka near Asakusa, and The new Yoshihara was relocated to the neighborhood, and Asakusa was also named "Two Evil Places of Edo (Entertainment Venues)" and became an entertainment town for the people of Edo. Utagawa Sadahide's "Map of the Full Glory of Higashito-Shin-Yoshihara", composed by Sadahide Utagawa during the Tenho period (1830-1844), is an exquisite ukiyo-e depicting the prosperity of Yoshihara in the Edo period. In Nakanocho, Yoshihara Chuo Street, cherry blossoms are transplanted in the spring and autumn leaves are transplanted, creating a lively and beautiful scene. The painting used the most advanced multicolor printing techniques of the time, challenging to paint in a more diverse variety of colors than ever before, and it was vivid and eye-catching. As can be seen from the paintings, shin Yoshihara was built with many yokiya (shops that recruit high-class geisha from the Seilou to play), and Kicho, Full Sleeve, Owurato, and Kisegawa are all legendary beauties.
《Higashito Shin Yoshihara Full Cherry Blossom Map》
From the outside in, the second floor of the exhibition hall presents the "entering the room" and "entering the soul" exhibition area. "Entering the House" is intended to draw the audience into the floating city life of Edo, and experience the Edo spirit of thriving and timely entertainment in different life scenes such as theaters, sumo wrestling, boudoirs, and festivals. Among them, "The Map of Acting in the Middle of the Year of Edo Sashiko and Shangmi" depicts the solemn scenes and customs and rituals when people celebrate the Shangmi Festival. This painting was created by Yang Zhouyan in Meiji 18 (1885). July 7 is known as Tanabata. It is recorded in China since the Han Dynasty, and it is said that it was introduced to Japan during the Nara period and has become one of the traditional summer festivals in Japan. The difference between the Tanabata Festival in Japan and the Tanabata Festival in China is that in Japan, the Tanabata Festival is more about girls having a good craft. Legend has it that from the Edo period onwards, wishes were written on poetry and hung on bamboo, and tributes were placed in order to ask Vega to bless the girls with the progress of their calligraphy and tailoring skills. In this painting, colorful wish-making signs sway in the wind, giving it a festive atmosphere.
《Edo Sunako Annual Event • Kamiminojo》
In fact, not only Tanabata, dragon boat festivals, Chongyang and other festivals are also transmitted from China to the east, although the meaning after landing is generally similar, Japan has also done a lot of localization ritual transformation. During the Heian period, the Dragon Boat Festival became one of the five festivals in Japan, and because the word "calamus" and "Shangwu" in Japanese are pronounced the same, this festival is associated with the spirit of Shangbu in Japan. Created in 1885 (1885), Edo Sand's Mid-Year Journey and The Dragon Boat Festival, by Yang Zhouyan, reflects the lively scene of the Dragon Boat Festival from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji period. In the painting, you can see a large carp flag in the upper right, which is said to have been formed from the Kanto region of the Edo period. Originally, the Dragon Boat Festival and Children's Day were two different festivals, and since 1948, they have been praying for the health of children. The Japanese government has designated May 5 as Children's Day.
"Edo Sand's Mid-Year Behavior : Diagram of the Dragon Boat Festival"
The understanding of an era, like the understanding of the individual, goes from the surface to the inside, from the shallow to the deep. The many sentient beings of the Edo period lived in the social environment of that time and shaped this environment through themselves. Looking at the development trajectory of ukiyo-e, it originated from the people, from the original printmaking signed picture book, to the folk circulation of the monthly calendar "paint calendar", to the "beauty painting", "landscape painting", and "servant painting" with Kabuki actors as the picture content. Ukiyo-e were everyday works of lighthearted, intimate, and decorative nature among the populace of the time. Rather than recording and depicting the Edo-e landscape, it is better to say that the thoughts and thoughts of Edo sentient beings give ukiyo-e a unique vitality.
"Picture Book Taikaku Ji • The Order of Ni Cape • Takechi Hikari Show"
Kabuki is a typical japanese folk performing art, with songs, representing music; dance, representing dance, and trick refers to representing performing techniques. Kabuki originated in the early Edo period in the 17th century, and by the time of the Genroku period (1688-1704), Kabuki was largely fixed. Servants refer specifically to actors who perform Kabuki performances, so "servant paintings" refer to paintings that depict Kabuki actors, as well as Kabuki stages, props, etc. that are used as repertoire reports. Toyohara Kunisei's Picture Book Taikaku Noji No.1 Takechi Mitsuhide (Meiji 16, 1883) tells a killing story similar to the Chinese court's "candlelight axe shadow"—the scene in which Takeshi (Wise) Mitsuhide, after killing his lord Oda Harunaga (Oda Nobunaga), is unavoidable in a duel with Makoto Kuyoshi (Hideyoshi Hashiba), and Mitsuhide in the Nizaki Nunnery feels that the figure behind the door is Hisagi and prepares to stab the other party with a bamboo gun. However, it was Mitsuhide's mother who was stabbed by the bamboo gun. The painting was performed during the Meiji era, but it did not record the characters by their real names in accordance with the purpose of the performance in the Edo period. Painted in September 16, Meiji, the fourth generation Nakamura Shiba played the starring performance in the city village seat.
The song is sung in a chant, telling nothing more than a story that is not new to the whole world. In ukiyo-e, when a figure is drawn, most of them involve secrets that are inconvenient to tell publicly. The "Into the Soul" exhibition area shows the spiritual world of people in the Edo period full of imagination and faith. Through the display of various heroic legends and historical anecdotes, it also reflects the Japanese folk beliefs and spiritual culture. Among them, Utagawa Kuniyoshi's work", "Soma's Guneri" (Culture Year 1804-1818), depicts a shocking battle of magic with a strange imagination. In Japanese culture, the image of a "yokai" is sometimes endowed with a fear of the unknown, a lament of past situations, and even an irony of the ruling class. With the increase of social openness, yokai-themed ukiyo-e works have also been given the meaning of riddling the past and the present and ridiculing reality.
"Guneli of Soma"
If there are monsters, there will be warriors who will exorcise demons for Skywalker and slay demons. In Japanese myths and legends, yokai are the culprits of long-term illness. The appearance of the Divine Soldier Heavenly General defeated the youkai, defended the emperor, and enabled the inhabitants of the city to overcome diseases and restore their health. At a time when the world is suffering from the impact of the new crown epidemic, the curators in China and Japan agree that at the end of the exhibition, they should borrow the whimsical paintings of ukiyo-e to express people's gratitude to medical workers and people's friendly expectations for healthy life.
"Asakusa Kaneyoshi No.1 Gensan Raisei"
The original Utagawa Kuniseada's Asakusa Kanseyoshi Gensan Raisei (1818-1830 during the Bunsei period) tells the story of Genrai Masao's elimination of the Rakshasa. It is a monster with a monkey face, a tanuki cat body, a tiger with hands and feet, and a snake-like tail. Coincidentally, Utagawa Kuniyoshi presents this story in "Sixty-Nine Times kisho-ji Kyoto Oio" (Kayaga period 1848-1854): Genraimi's descendant, Genrai Masa, who is good at making bows and arrows, waits in ambush at the Emperor's imperial palace, and at night, black smoke begins to envelop the sky and emit terrible cries. Lai Zheng pulled Genji's ancestral bow and arrow and shot towards the shouting point, and a huge shadow fell on the north side of Nijo Castle. Lai Zheng's men arrived and dealt a fatal blow to the monster bird...
"Kiso Kaido 69th Okuto Shio Kyoto"
"Meet ukiyo-expo Edo : Edo period ukiyo-e original collection exhibition"
Duration: 2021.3.12-2021.5.6
Venue: Today Art Museum, Hall 3
Editor-in-Charge: Li Mei