- XIX

P-0341

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 32.1; Larghezza: 54.8; Varie: Altezza montatura: 110 cm
Larghezza montatura: 66.8 cm

inchiostro e colori su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

The Japanese mountain par excellence is Mount Fuji (富士山, Fuji-yama), a 3,776 m high volcano located on the Japanese island of Honshū; At 3,376 m, it is the highest mountain in Japan and is considered one of the "three sacred mountains" (三霊山, Sanreizan) of the country together with Mount Tate and Mount Haku, so much so that Shintoists consider it a must to make at least one pilgrimage to its slopes once in their lifetime. Its summit is snow-capped for about 10 months of the year. Painting with original silk mount: ichimonji in kinran with a yellow-orange background with single-stemmed swirls of hōsōge flowers and foliage; chūberi and jōge given by a single hanging in monochrome blue-black donsu with large drawings of stylised plum blossoms; jikushi in turned ivory. The artist takes up the very famous image of Mount Fuji created by Hokusai for the series of ukiyo-e prints "Thirty-six Views of Fuji" (1830-1833); the mountain has a peak that stands out on the right and descends to the left in a gentle curved slope just like in Hokusai's prints. On the left side are depicted coniferous forests, as in one of Hokusai's variants "Red Fuji" and "White Fuji", while the ring-shaped cloud that wraps the slopes with a cap of snow that covers the peak are innovations of Hokkei. The author of the kyōka poem 狂歌, calligraphed on the left, is Garyōen Umemaro, head of the Hanazon-ren kyōka poetry circle. The lines read: Here is a mountain that knows no seasons Fuji is dressed in the snow of the summer robe In the warmth of the small sixth month (tenth month) (Signed) Garyōen Umemaro, eighth month, autumn of the Year of the Rooster, eighth of the Tempō Period. For Umemaro, Fuji wears “the snow of the summer robe” in the “warmth of the small sixth month,” a name formerly given to the tenth month of the traditional calendar, in which the calm and cool autumn days resembled those of early summer (of the sixth month). This Japanese poetic genre, which flourished mainly in the Edo period, is a form of humorous and satirical poetry, often characterized by puns and a playful tone. The meaning lies in playfully contradicting classical tradition, in particular by inverting the meaning of the ancient attribute 'toki shiranu Fuji', “the Fuji that knows no seasons”, an expression derived from a waka (Japanese poem) in the Ise Monogatari that describes Fuji as being perpetually covered in snow, even in summer.

- XVIII

P-0324

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 34.2; Larghezza: 471.4

inchiostro, colori e oro su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

Painted scroll with new silk mount: hyōshi in kinran on a blue-green background with a small geometric checkerboard pattern and leaf washers; mikaeshi in paper decorated with kin-sunago; jikushu in turned natural cherry wood decorated in makie lacquer with cherry blossoms and petals. Consisting of four scenes, the scroll opens with a plum tree in blossom, in front of which a traveling puppeteer surrounded by three children performs his show. Nearby, between a cherry tree in blossom and a pine tree, a manzai dressed in a light gray suō with green and blue designs, with the haberi eoshi headdress and a folding fan in his hand, dances to the sound of the saizō's shoulder tambourine and the shakuhachi flute of two komusō. Three young boys and a woman with three little girls watch the dance. The second scene consists of three groups: two elderly tea-utensil sellers carrying auspicious pine branches; two boys turning to look at a yamabushi who is playing a conch shell and is accompanied by an attendant carrying on his back an enormous lotus leaf-shaped hat; an elegant effeminate actor accompanied by a young boy and followed by a servant carrying a kimono. The opening of the third episode is marked by a red plum tree. A Shinto priest advances with a ritual staff with scrolls. He is approached by a courtesan holding a child by the hand and is followed by an effeminate boy and a maid with an infant on her shoulder. The group arouses the curiosity of a street vendor. A short distance away, followed by two maids carrying bundles, a lady advances covering her head with a mantilla and turns back in the direction of a man with an enormous Chinese lion mask who is about to begin a dance to the rhythm of the kankaradaiko. Nearby, two blind men and a child are listening, and a lute player is striding away, with his instrument wrapped in a white cloth on his shoulder. The fourth scene begins near some cherry trees in bloom. A woman with her hair wrapped in a gray cap walks with a boy and a girl, while in the opposite direction a Shinto priestess walks, accompanied by a servant carrying a box. Lastly come three Ōharame carrying bundles of firewood. A stream winding between grassy banks closes the composition.

- XIX

P-0316

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 55; Larghezza: 119; Varie: Altezza montatura: 168.3 cm
Larghezza montatura: 128.3 cm

inchiostro e colori su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

The Seven Sages are seven Chinese Taoist scholars of the third century who, rejecting Confucian thought and Wu shamanic practices, retired to a hermitage to be independent and perpetuate the Wuwei philosophy. From the eighteenth century onwards, in Japan, parodic depictions of this theme began to appear, where the seven sages were replaced by seven beautiful women or courtesans, as in this case. These women, from different social backgrounds, are each depicted in a pose that best highlights the strong points of each dress (from the sumptuous dress of the courtesan decorated with a tiger, through elegant kimonos to simple bath robes, yukata) which suggests that the painting was commissioned by a tailor shop as a sales gimmick, to show the quality and wide range of products on sale, accessible to all classes. The woman in the center, holding a teacup, wears a casually blue yukata robe with stylized blue bats in flight. The fact that the artist and the patron decided to publicize this motif is evidence of how popular and in demand it was. Painting with original Tamato rinbo silk mount: ichimonji in polychrome atsuita with geometric Bishamon-kikkō motif; chūberi in blue-ground patterned fabric with swirls and peonies; jōge in ivory-colored satin; jikushu in wood and brown urumi urushi lacquer inlaid with thin iridescent mother-of-pearl with hōsōge flowers. The work depicts seven women in a large room closed at the corner on the left side by a large two-panel screen, painted in ink with some bamboo plants near a stream. Four figures are seated while the rest are standing. It is a parodic representation of the Seven Philosophers of the Bamboo Forest. The subject is used as a pretext to represent female types from different social backgrounds: an oiran, a city girl who is busy writing a poem on a tanzaku scroll, a geisha with a shimasen, the wealthy wives of a merchant and a craftsman, two maids.

- XIX

P-0277

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 103.7; Larghezza: 33.1; Varie: Altezza montatura: 182 cm
Larghezza montatura: 44 cm

inchiostro e colori su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

Of ancient Chinese origin, the theme of the tiger among the bamboos symbolizes the strong who find shelter with the weak and is based on a popular saying according to which only this animal is able to penetrate the thick of a bamboo forest. Since the tiger is not an animal native to Japan, painters could not observe it in real life, which is why the way in which the tiger is represented here is not realistic: the local iconography is partly derived from Chinese and Korean painting, partly immagineted. A symbol of strength and courage in Chinese tradition, the tiger is believed to be capable of fighting and deflecting negative powers and is the bearer of a legendary, mythological and cosmological physiognomy. Listed among the shishin, the "Four Sacred Creatures" (the other three are the dragon, the vermilion bird, the turtle with a snake), in archaic cosmography (which included the cardinal points, the seasons, the colors, the natural elements and the stars) the tiger is associated with the West, autumn, the color white, the wind and the constellations of Orion, Taurus and Andromeda. Furthermore, in the zodiac it is the third eponymous animal of the sub-cycles of twelve years, which is why the dating of the painting is oriented around 1818, the year of the tiger and the last year of the Bunka era. Painting with original Yamato hyōgu mount in silk: ichimonji and fūtai in kinran with a hazelnut background with drawings of onagadori in flight alternating with flowers; chūberi in two-tone donsu on a green background with ivory-colored designs of asaro stems and leaves; jōge in cream-colored shikeginu; jikushu in turned ivory. The work depicts a tiger crouching near two bamboo canes arranged diagonally. The animal looks at the sky in which a huge full moon shines. The painting features the typical features of tigers painted in Japan: narrow and very flat nose, tiny and pointed ears, enormous eyes, large and clawed paws.

- XIX

P-0256

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 29.7; Larghezza: 59; Varie: Altezza montatura: 93 cm
Larghezza montatura: 62.9 cm

inchiostro e colori su carta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

The work is attributed to Katsushika Ōi, daughter of the very famous artist Katsushika Hokusai. Katsushika Ōi's works are distinguished by elements of innovation compared to tradition, which were characterized by stylized figures and flat colors: here, on the contrary, there is the use of plays of light and shadow, experimentation with Western perspective and the dynamism of the scenes, given by the curved shape of the figures and the unusual decision to represent one of the musicians not facing the viewer but with the back turned, giving even more naturalness and depth to the scene. Like the majority of Ōi's works, the painting is not signed but the technique, the pictorial quality and the peculiar chiaroscuro make its attribution to the painter certain. Painting with an unclassified mount consisting of a single hanging of canneté silk with designs of peonies brocaded in silver; red border with gold designs surrounding the painting; jikushu in wood and red lacquer streaked with black Negoronuri type. A trio of female musicians sits in an interior, performing a sankyoku concert of traditional music, a Japanese ensemble musical genre composed of the instrumental trio kokyū, koto and shamisen. The room is pervaded by an evocative gloom and illuminated by an invisible light source that casts gleams on the instruments, bodies and powdered faces of the musicians. Engrossed in the music, the kokyū player, on the left, holds her face tilted and smiles: she wears a light blue kimono dotted with stylised plum blossoms over a scarlet slip. The shamisen player on the right, probably a mature geisha, wears a sober dress with white, gray, and black checks. The high-ranking courtesan playing the koto at the center of the scene is seen from behind, her fingers moving deftly over the strings. The wide skirts of her robe and obi are immersed in shadow in the foreground. The light falls on the right side of the figure, passing through the numerous pins threaded radially through her updo.

- XIX

P-0240

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 95.8; Larghezza: 33.1; Varie: Altezza montatura: 154.3 cm
Larghezza montatura: 37.1 cm

inchiostro e colori su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

Still a nerve center of central Kyoto; at the beginning of the 17th century the Shijō Bridge became the focal point of the new chōnin culture, with particular attention to the emergence of "Women's Kabuki" (onna Kabuki), the first form of popular theater. In that very stretch, the dry riverbed of the Kamogawa was transformed during the summer into a public space used for all sorts of entertainment, including performances by the company of Okuni, the diva who founded Kabuki, whose theatrical enterprise is commemorated by a modern statue dedicated to her, placed on the left bank near the entrance to the bridge. Painting with original fukuro minchō shitate mount in hazelnut-colored shikeginu; jikushu in turned ivory. It depicts, with soft and cold colors just enlivened by some bright touches, the walk along the Kamo River and, specifically, the route passing through the Shijō Bridge, along the fourth road of Kyōto. A large crowd is crowding along the path.

- XVIII

P-0235

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 81.4; Larghezza: 33.1; Varie: Altezza montatura: 159 cm
Larghezza montatura: 42 cm

inchiostro e colori su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

In the Yoshiwara pleasure district, a complex etiquette prevailed that, in regulating and formalizing the relationship between courtesan and client, required that after each meeting the two exchange passionate letters, reconfirming and strengthening their bond. The images of yūjo intent on writing, opening and reading love letters represented a great flattery for male narcissism: it is possible that this painting by Shunman and one with the same theme by Shinsai were commissioned by the danna, the courtesans' mainman. This important socio-cultural, aesthetic and figurative phenomenon of the "cult of the courtesan" pervaded the intellectual and literary ukiyoe circles of Edo during the 1780s, expressing a strong idealization of women of pleasure, of their literary and poetic wisdom, of their refined qualities of culture and humanism. Painting with original sujiwari hyōgu mount in light gray shikegami paper with purple edges; jikusho in wood and red lacquer. The work depicts a standing courtesan represented in three-quarters. The woman is intent on reading a long love letter that she holds open, unrolled in her hands. Her hair is loose and she wears an overcoat decorated with a plum tree in blossom, forming a rich rounded train at the base of the figure. The dress is decorated with stylized shingled waves. The obi, tied in a loose and billowing knot with the two flaps hanging down the front, is adorned with a design of scattered fragments with three "tortoise scales".

- XIX

P-0207

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 67.6; Larghezza: 81.6; Varie: Altezza montatura: 182 cm
Larghezza montatura: 93.8 cm

inchiostro, colori e oro su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

The Seven Gods of Fortune (Shichifukujin) are deities that bring happiness, good fortune, love, beauty, longevity, courage, wisdom, prosperity and wealth, and include figures originating from different regions of Asia (China, India, Japan) and from different religious backgrounds (Buddhism, Taoism and Shintō). The group consists of six male figures and one female, formed in the Muromachi period, but their cult spread and became very popular among the urban class of artisans and merchants during the Edo period. According to belief, the Shichifukujin travel on the "treasure boat" (takarabune) and arrive in Japan on the morning of Shōgatsu, the first day of the year, bringing auspicious omens for abundant harvests and wealth (Daikokuten), daily nourishment (Ebisu), long life (Fukurokuju), happiness and good fortune (Hotei), wisdom (Jurōjin), courage (Bishamonten), love, beauty and singing talent (Benzaiten). Because of these propitiatory abilities, the auspicious icon of the Shichifukujin was displayed at New Year's in the tokonoma in the tatami room. In addition to representing an important case in the history of ukiyo-e painting, the painting documents the close relations of the four major exponents of the Utagawa School. Painting with original sandan hyōgu silk mount: ichimonji in deep blue ground kinran with designs of swirls with leaves and lotus buds; chūberi in ivory ground kinran with shōchikubai designs of bamboo, pine and plum blossoms; jōge in dark blue monochrome donsu with designs of flowers; jikushu in Kutani porcelain with red and gold enamels over the cover. The work depicts the Shichifukujin, the Seven Deities of Fortune and brings together the work of seven painters: Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814), Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825), Utagawa Toyohiro (1773-1828), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864), Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815), Kat sushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Katsukawa Shun'ei (1762-1819). To these were added the brothers Santō Kyōden (1761-1816) and Santō Kyōzan (1769-1858). Each of the artists involved in the undertaking painted the figures and details that we find in this work: in particular, each of them took as a subject one of the divine figures according to the characteristics of the artist, adding their signature alongside. Utagawa created Daikokuten and Benzaiten according to the classic iconography: Daikokuten with the maruzukin flat hat, the mallet and the large sack of riches and the goddess Benzaiten holding the biwa musical instrument and a small torii (the gate of the Shinto shrine) as a diadem. Bishamonten, painted by Torii Kiyonaga, is depicted with the usual armor while brandishing a spear. Fukurokuju, the work of Katsukawa Shun'ei, is recognizable by the oblong head while he sits apart, almost obscured by the great Hotei who, pot-bellied and smiling, was depicted by Katsushika Hokusai. Finally, Ebisu was portrayed by Toyohiro Utagawa while he laughs contentedly with his elbows resting on a basket containing a large red snapper. The poem on the work is instead composed and signed by Santō Kyōden and calligraphed and signed by Santō Kyōzan.

- XVIII

P-0193

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 99.8; Larghezza: 33; Varie: Altezza montatura: 179.2 cm
Larghezza montatura: 44.1 cm

inchiostro, colori e oro su seta

La Rinascita della Pittura Giapponese. Vent'anni di restauri al Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Museo d'Arte Orientale Edoardo Chiossone - 28/02 - 29/06 2014

Originating from Sado Island (present-day Niigata Prefecture), where it is still performed today, harugoma is a ceremonial dance that was once performed throughout Japan at the beginning of spring in Shōgatsu, the first month of the lunar calendar, to bring good luck to the year. The performers were kadozukegeijin, wandering acrobats who went from house to house and, after pronouncing a good wish, sang and danced in front of the main entrance, sometimes wearing a costume with a horse-head mask, or carrying a stick with a small sculpture on the top depicting a horse's head with a bridle. This dance passed from the repertoire of street performers to that of Kabuki theater, where it began to be performed during the Genroku period (1688-1704). November 1782 was the peak of the theatrical popularity of harugoma, with the first performance of the play "Mutsumashi tsuki no tetori", which attracted a large audience also in Yoshiwara and which, due to its success, was probably repeated until the following year. These circumstances lead us to think that Shunshō painted the work in conjunction with the popularity of harugoma dance between 1782 and 1783. Painting with new Yamato hyōgu silk mount: ichimonji and fūtai in white hiraori embroidered in polychrome silk and gold with swirls and flowers; chūberi in two-tone hazelnut and green donsu with a lightning bolt motif; ivory-colored jōge; jikushu in wood and semi-gloss reddish-brown lacquer. The work depicts a young woman performing the harugoma, a ceremonial dance that used to be held in early spring in Shōgatsu. The figure is in three-quarter view and stands on the tip of her left foot, bending her right leg backwards. The girl turns her head to look at the stick, topped by a small sculpture of an equine protome, which she holds in her right hand. With her left hand, instead, she moves the scarlet reins that she has placed behind her neck. The young woman wears a kimono with large, diagonal light blue and gray stripes, with floating cherry blossoms. The long sleeves are trimmed at the wrists with gray, red, and green ribbons. A brown handkerchief covers her head and is tied under her chin. The dress is closed by a black velvet obi embroidered with green spirals embellished with gold and amaranth. On the left side of the painting, the trunk of a plum tree emerges, with branches dotted with buds and a few open flowers.

- XIX

S-1703

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 37; Larghezza: 35.6

carta giapponese- xilografia

Dipinti e stampe del Mondo Fluttuante. Capolavori Ukiyoe del Museo Chiossone di Genova - Genova, Palazzo Ducale - 16 aprile – 21 agosto 2005

After the fall of the shogunate and the reopening of Japan to the rest of the world, during the Meiji Period, there was a large and growing presence of foreign residents in the country; this transformed the market and food customs of Yokohama in just a few years, making it a true "Western" district of Japan (as its port was one of the main arrival points for foreign ships). A three-sheet composite woodblock print showing, in a diagonal perspective, a very early moment in the development of Honchō-dōri, Yokohama's most important commercial artery. The street is lined with workshops, warehouses and large stores. The pavement is filled with carters and pedestrians, mostly Japanese. There are few Chinese and Westerners. On the horizon, one can see the masts of several vessels and the sails of numerous boats heading for the mainland. The large corner store on the left is the headquarters of the Mitsui company.