Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1

An analysis of Hiroshige s works as a representation of the taste of their contemporary audience

The medium of the woodblock print came, four centuries ago, from its humble beginnings as a mode of art which was aimed at the common man of Ed Japan, to being considered not only a representation of Japanese art as a whole, but, as considered by some, a bastion of contemporary art in an international sense.And Hiroshige honed this art form in sublime ways, providing for the whims of his audience, but also transcending these conventions, utilising subtle stylistic aspects which we are still discovering in his works to this day. This essay looks at three works by Hiroshige, representative of his uvre, which

demonstrate this skill and deftness with the woodblock: The Lake near Hak ne , Taira no Kiyomori sees Supernatural Phenomena and Plum Orchard in Kameido . Before analysing these works, it is perhaps appropriate to give a brief outline of Hiroshige s biography to put his achievements into perspective.Unfortunately, we do not know that much about Hiroshige s day -to-day life1, as we do with other woodblock artists such as Utamar : Hiroshige left his legacy in the form of his uvre: for example, we only know when he was born (1797) by

extrapolating from what is written on his memorial portrait: that he was 61 when he died in 1858. 2 Unusually, Hiroshige was one of the rare few woodblock print artists who were of noble background, albeit a modest one in Hiroshige s case; his father had the hereditary post of hikeshid shin: he was in charge of a fire station in Ed s Yayosugashi district. Indeed, Hiroshige himself also had this position bequeathed upon him by his father, and until 1832 worked in this rle, balancing this official job with painting in his spare time. Hiroshige was said to have had a natural eye for artistry from an early age, he was at least good enough to secure an apprenticeship with UtagawaToyohiro in 1811. After a mere year, Hiroshige was allowed the honour of choosing his pen name , settli ng on Hiroshige out of respect for his master: using the same character hiro ( ) as

Toyohiro had in his name. Hiroshige changed his art name numerous times over the course of his life, not only a reflection of the Japanese culture of respect for Page 1 of 7

Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 one s masters, but also the fact that in Japanese, a name can reflect the idea of a programme , so to speak, adaptable to different phases of life, similar to a lucky charm.3 Hiroshige s early works were of a rather conventional nature, illustrations for things such as comic poems, depictions of various beautiful women, kabuki actresses, et cetera. Few of these works survive; one is left with the impression that Hiroshige did not hold them in such high esteem himself, almost as if these were just throwaway works to pass the time until 1832, where he freed himself from the constraints of his job in the fire station. 4 It was at this time when Hiroshige s most important work began to appear; the highly celebrated 53 Stations of the Tokaid . Clearly, Hiroshige had been influenced by a certain Katsushika Hokusai, 37 years Hiroshige s senior, and his ground-breaking masterpiece 36 Views of Mount Fuji . 5 This series caused a furore in the circles of woodblock artwork, but kick started the great shift in subject matter of the medium from portraits of people, such as kabuki actors, protagonists of famous legends and sum wrestlers, to landscapes, views of natural beauty and the appreciation of the metaphysical nuances of nature itself. Hokusai and Hiroshige are often grouped together as contemporaries , perhaps implying that that Hiroshige saw himself as some kind of pupil of Hokusai, in fact, they were of entirely different persuasions; it would be closer to the truth to call them competitors 6: Hiroshige saw Hokusai s 36 views and was inspired to outdo it 7. With the 53 stations of the Tokaid , he undoubtedly succeeded, taking Hokusai down from the top spot, and securing his own place in Japanese cultural history. Thus, we come to our first example of Hiroshige s work: The Lake near Hak ne ; the 11 th station of the famous 53.At a glance, this is an eye-catching image depicting harsh, impressionistic mountains, coloured in unusual shades of blues, browns, greens and beiges; it almost appears as if Hiroshige has imbued the peaks with an upward velocity: they seem to be growing. This is balanced with by the large, deep blue lake which dominates the bottom-left quarter of the image; a piece of gentle tranquillity juxtaposed with the harsh mountains. Rolling

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Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 peaks fade into the distance, behind the lake, as suggested by the successive bands of grey, then brown, then blue of the mountains accentuated by an ochre glow emanating from the horizon the peaks form. Trees are simplified to mere angular blotches speckling the mountains, a small settlement suggested by a collection of brown triangles and trapezia to represent roofs set amongst the vegetation. Mount Fuji is simplified to an ethereal white triangle silhouetted against the horizon; its likeness so well-known and accepted that a white triangle is all that is required to depict its graceful shape. But then, on close inspection, in a cleft between the ominous mountains on the right, an odd, unnatural-looking line can be seen. The swathe of semicircles gently sloping through the centre of the peaks instantly conjures up images of a familiar sight for the typical Ed period Japanese: a daimy s(lord s) procession. Why this was such a well-known image for the citizens of Japan in the Ed period was down to an act passed by the Tokugawa shogunate (the body of rule for Japan from 1603-1868) known as sankink tai ( alternate attendance ). Every enfeoffed lord was obligated to build a residence in Ed for himself and his family, the lord himself spending alternate years in Ed , then in his home fiefdom8. In this way, his family functioned as a sort of shogunal hostage, and discouraged any daimy from instigating any form of political dissent against the sh gun 9. Every time a daimy had to travel between his home and Ed , i.e. twice a year, he would try and make himself appear as important as possible, by way of travelling with huge retinues of up to 3,000 servants. The regular townspeople, not only of Ed , but the whole of Japan, had to put up with these processions constantly upsetting peoples daily routines; for many people they were simply an annoyance. Hiroshige subtly plays into this for his intended market, the regular commoners of Ed , by showing how one of this ridiculous processions is completely overshadowed by nature, in this case the mountains. In doing this, Hiroshige has combined not only a beautiful yet unusual depiction of scenery with one of the facets of everyday life of an Ed ite. This image is but one of 53 in this series; it can be seen why, after its publication, Hiroshige was elevated to fame so abruptly: his compositions included all the elements which make a picture desirable to the tasteful commoner.

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Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 The large majority of Hiroshige s celebrated works belong to one of his various series of images, which often focused on the progression along a route, be it the Tokaid , the Kisokaid , or just various circumspectives of Ed itself. The popularity of these images again lies in the directives of the Sh gun. Firstly, in order to control his people, very few roads were built linking the population centres of Japan, so that the ones that did exist could be thoroughly monitored by the bakufu 10, the institution in charge of enforcing the shogunal directives.Wheeled vehicles were also forbidden, necessitating the frequent use of palanquins and porters another way of keeping the populous under control.

To use these roads, one would need a definite reason for doing so, accompanied by the appropriate paperwork which would have to be shown to the bakufu at each station along the way. The highways were therefore open to merchants, travelling craftsmen, daimy and so-called pilgrims . Private travellers had to apply in advance for papers documenting their reasons for travel, and so were less common, but still existed. The pilgrims , on the other hand, were often just people who wanted adventure, something that gained popularity over the 18 th and 19 th centuries (partially due to the distribution of prints glorifying such travel), and used religious pilgrimage as a pretext for satisfying their wanderlust. Associations would be formed in villages, to which all the participants would donate money, then one member would be chosen at random to use the money to undertake a pilgrimage , representing the whole association. It can thus be seen why images depicting scenes from popular pilgrimage routes, such as the Tokaid , became such popular subject matter for artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai. However, Hiroshige was an artist of many talents, and has numerous works to his name which do not fall into the category of landscapes . Admittedly, many of these come from his early, pre-1832 period, and are rather amateurish when viewed side-by-side with his later works. After this, Hiroshige concentrated on his landscape series, but also expanded his uvre with works depicting human

life, for example, the many caricature-style illustrations such as his Improvised Shadow Pictures from the 1840s, a clear forerunner to the ever-popular contemporary visual niche widely known as manga. Illustrations such as these

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Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 highlight Hiroshige s sensitivity to subtle humour, and as such function just as amusing drawings not fitting the aesthetically advanced style he is famous for. An example of an image which combines both visual impressiveness and a human element is Taira no Kiyomori Sees Supernatural Phenomena , a triptych from the mid 1840s. Notorious for his brutality and cruelty in achieving victory over the Minaoto clan in the 12 th century, Taira no Kiyomori was said to have received a form of comeuppance towards the end of his life in the form of disturbing hallucinations. Kiyomori is standing in the centre of the composition, clothed in extravagantly patterned Japanese attire, looking out of his luxurious dwelling into a garden of unrelenting terror. An icy, overcast winter s sky full of steel-gray cloud hangs close in the air, reflected on the ground by the equally bitter grayish-blue pond. But our attention is inevitably drawn to the banks surrounding the water: countless skulls formed of countless more skulls are everywhere: reminiscent of a fractal, or indeed, a powerful hallucination. The Taira is plagued by the skeletons of his enemies, some in the form of huge, menacing snow-covered globes; larger than life skulls glaring at the mentally beleaguered tyrant, interspersed with trees : spindly, insect-like collections of skeletons, which appear to be crawling over each other to try and reach out a bony arm towards the Taira. He stands, legs bent, hands clasped around the hilt of his sword, ready to defend himself from these nightmarish apparitions. His face appears wracked by fear, but at the same time determined and steeled against the omens. An anonymous courtesan of some kind reclines behind the Taira, apparently unaware of the hordes of skeletal figures mere metres away from the veranda on which she sits. This image was one of many that were victim of something the Ed period woodblock artist was plagued by: bakufu censorship. The bakufu kept a close eye on the subject matter of these prints, seeking to ban anything that portrayed the institution in an unfavourable light, or could be consider ed incitements of political rebellion.Utamar , a famous early woodblock artist, was, for example, shackled for 50 days following the publication of a (completely innocent) printof a samurai, the loss of face causing him to retreat into seclusion, his death coming two years later.11 Page 5 of 7

Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 Between 1832-8, famines caused widespread food shortage in Ed , followed by a terrible fire in 1841, then several earthquakes which devastated the population. Rioting began, and in order to cull this, the shogunate drastically ti ghtened their censorship laws, forcing publishers to make prints that focused on ancient heroic epics and subject matter that was inspiring and uplifting, to improve the morale of the people. 12 Undoubtedly, Hiroshige was complying with these new rules for this image, but his tendency for sly subversion of the authorities is, as always, present: the Taira and his courtesan are wearing clothes of a recognisable Ed style, and are in a building clearly constructed with Ed -style architecture. In this sense, we can draw from this image that perhaps the Taira is a representation of the Ed authority, bracing itself against an enemy, which is not even there. The final print this essay looks at represents Hiroshige s international acclaim: Plum Orchard in Kameido (1857), from the series 100 Famous Views of Ed . The image is a striking close up of the black, angular branches of a plum tree, set against a deep red sky, with a group of human figures milling about in the background among the rest of the trees. The significance of this image, however lies not just in its artistic deftness, it was one of the many Hiroshige prints which were exported internationally following the exposure for the first time for westerners to oriental art in the London and Paris world exhibitions (1862 and 67, respectively). These prints were, in the eyes of the traditional school of western art, childish, lacking and unfulfilled. But the French impressionist movement, on the other hand, had found in these prints exactly what they were looking for: a new, dynamic mode of representation;a new way of looking at the world and interpreting it in the form of an image. Probably the best example of someone influenced particularly by Hiroshige s uvre is the Dutch

postimpressionist Vincent van Gogh, who notoriously, while living in paris in the late 19th century, spent all the money his brother Theo lent him to pay his mounting bills on Japanese prints 13, and painting supplies so that he could directly imitate them himself. Numerous examples exist of Van Gogh copying these works in his own style for example Japonaiserie: Blossoming Plum Tree : a direct copy of Plum Orchard in Kameido. Van Gogh instils in the work his own unique impressionist style, keeping closely to the original composition, but

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Callum Campbell (289383), Aspects of Japanese Culture 2 ( 155901200), Essay 1 altering some aspects such as the sky to create a more flowing, painted sense to the work. He even saw to decorate the edge of the canvas with kanji he found aesthetically pleasing; he had no idea what they meant, but presumably found they complimented the image in question. As Van Gogh himself said, you see more with Japanese eyes, you feel the colour differently . Indeed Hiroshige provided European art with a springboard for a plethora of new emergent styles, his perception of not only radiant aura, but also his interpretation of form something which was hitherto unheard of. Hiroshige has secured his place in the hall of fame of influential artists, not only from an asian perspective, but from that of the western art culture also. Put simply, Hiroshige was a man who was well ahead of his time. Word count: 2487 References 1. Hiroshige, (p. 47) 2. Robinson, Kate. Review: Ukiyo-E and Hiroshige: Reflections on an Exhibition , Studies: an Irish quarterly review, Vol. 83, No. 330 (Summer, 1994) (p. 219) 3. Hiroshige (p. 47) 4. Hiroshige (p. 93) 5. See no. 2 (p. 219) 6. Hiroshige (p. 48) 7. See no. 2 (p. 220) 8. Frauen in derBrgerkulturder Edo-Zeit (p. 16) 9. Ed , the city that became T ky (p. 34) 10. See no. 9, (pp. 58-59) 11. Takeuchi, Melinda. Kuniyoshi's "MinamotoRaik " and "the Earth Spider": Demons and Protest in Late Tokugawa Japan , ArsOrientalis Vol. 17, (1987) (p. 15) 12. Hiroshige (pp. 74-5) 13. Cooper, Douglas. Two Japanese Prints from Vincent van Gogh's Collection , The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 99, No. 651, Modern Ar t since 1888 (Jun., 1957), (p. 204) Bibliography 1. Schlombs, Adele. Hiroshige, Taschen, 2007 2. Szentivnyi, Helga. Frauen in derBrgerkulturder Edo-Zeit, Iudicium, 2008 3. Naito, Akira [trans. Norton, H. Mack]: Edo, the city that became T ky : an illustrated history, Kodansha, 2003 Page 7 of 7