The uniqueness of Nagasaki, the only foreign trade port in the Edo period, was the basis for the emergence of a new painting group that embraced the influence of Chinese and Western paintings, collectively called the Nagasaki school. In particular, Na...
The uniqueness of Nagasaki, the only foreign trade port in the Edo period, was the basis for the emergence of a new painting group that embraced the influence of Chinese and Western paintings, collectively called the Nagasaki school. In particular, Nanpin school(南蘋派) was formed after some Japanese painters in Nagasaki accepted the fine-brush bird-and-flower painting style of Shen Quan(沈銓, 1682-?), also known as Shen Nanpin, who visited Nagasaki from the Qing in 1732. The delicately depicted bird-and-flower paintings of this school were popular for about a century in Japan.
The purpose of this study is to examine how the trend of Chinese bird-and-flower painting, represented by Shen Quan, was being accepted in modern Japanese cultural context by comprehensively looking at the occurrence and development of Nanpin school in the middle and late Edo period. Therefore, this study examines the development of Nanpin school by region based on previous researches, and considers the influence of Nanpin school on the painting school in the Edo period, dealing with the acceptance of Shen Quan's painting in the Nanpin school's printed painting manuals which were relatively neglected in the previous studies.
Shen Quan's paintings show the typical characteristics of courtyard bird-and-flower painting(院體花鳥畵) that was inherited from Fusong to the Yuan in terms of auspicious themes and detailed painting techniques. His visit to the Japan was also made as an alternative to the demands of the eighth shōgun Tokugawa Yoshimune(徳川吉宗, 1684-1751), who wanted to obtain Chinese ancient art before the Ming Dynasty.
A Chinese interpreter Yūhi(熊斐, 1711-1772), the only Japanese who could learn painting from Shen Quan, was the first-generation painter of Nanpin school, but his painting style was influenced by various contemporary paintings such as paintings of Shen Quan, ink painting of another Chinese artist Li Yungyun(李用雲, ?-?), and animal paintings of Kara-emekiki painters(唐繪目利). As Yūhi's painting style was formed based on the influence of various foreign paintings and it also represents the special characteristics of Nagasaki school, it has great implications for the development of Nanpin school.
Nanpin school's bird-and-flower paintings spread throughout Japan by literary people who learned paintings from Yūhi in Nagasaki. The development of Nampin schools in Japan differs depending on the inclination of the local painting schools and the painter's identity. This shows how Shen Quan's painting style was reinterpreted in Japan in conjunction with the situation of local painting schools at that time. Looking at the development of Nanpin school, focusing on the major cities of the Edo period such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo(Tokyo), Kakutei(鶴亭, 1722-1786), a monk of Ōbaku-shū(黄檗宗), was the first figure to preach the Nanpin school in Osaka. In fact, however, the intense colors and strange expressions of Kakutei's bird-and-flower paintings were more influenced by Buddhist paintings and ink paintings by the painting monks of Ōbaku-shū than by Shen Quan's paintings. Kimura Kenkadō(木村蒹葭堂, 1736-1802), who interacted with Kakutei, spread the Nanpin school's bird-and-flower painting to the literary society of three major cities. Mori Ransai(森蘭齋, 1740-1801), a literary artist who worked in Osaka and Kyoto, also showed different characteristics from Shen Quan, taking the form of a scroll, or actively using boneless technique(沒骨法). In particular, he not only inherited auspicious symbols, a typical feature of Shen Quan's bird-and-flower painting, but also combined them with ancient stories and taoist and buddhist figures, which were presumably influenced by his teacher, Ikarashi Shunmei(五十嵐浚明, 1700-1781).
It was Sō Shiseki(宋紫石, 1715-1786), a painter of the next generation, who established the position of the Nanpin school in Edo. He was known to have learned Western painting techniques from his interactions with Sugita Genpaku(杉田玄白, 1833-1817) and Hiraga Gennai(平賀源内, 1728-1780). Although Sō Shiseki's paintings show some of the realism of Western paintings, he faithfully used Asian painting techniques, including the active use of sketch and descriptions of Shen Quan's landscape. Since Sō Shiseki, who studied under Yūhi in Nagasaki, learned the latest trends of his time, he could serve as a Royal painter of Daimyo families and work actively under their auspices. The fact that his pupils were also all associated with the Daimyo class shows the upper class's interest in the Nanpin school's bird-and-flower painting style.
The painters of Nanpin school actively published printed painting manuals. The representative works are as follows: Takebe Ayatari(建部綾足, 1719-1774)'s Kanyōsai gafu(寒葉齋畵譜), Kenshi gaen(建氏畵苑), Kanga shinan(漢畵指南), Sō Shiseki's Sō Shiseki gafu(宋紫石畵譜), Kokonga sō go hasshu(古今畵藪後八種), Kokonga sō go hasshu shitaifu(畵藪後八種四體譜), and Mori Ransai(森蘭齋, 1740-1801)'s Ransai gafu(蘭齋畵譜), Ransai gafu kōhen(蘭齋畵譜後編). These manuals reflect the lineage of Chinese paintings, or the latest exotic tastes, rather than Shen Quan itself. Also, it was a strong demonstration of the influence of Chinese printed painting manuals, such as Jie zi yuan hua zhaun(芥子園畵傳), introduced to Japan in the same period. Rather, the manuals, which faithfully reflected Shen Quan's features of delicately painted bird-and-flower painting, were Raikin zui(來禽圖彙), and Meisū gafu(名數畵譜) published by Ukiyo-e painters Kitao Masayoshi(北尾政美, 1764-1824) and Ohara Tōno(大原東野, 1771-1840).
The painters of Akita Ranga(秋田蘭畵), Maruyama school(圓山派), and Ukiyo-e(浮世繪系) also left behind some examples of embracing the influence of Nanpin school. The splendid and delicate bird-and-flower paintings were criticized by some literary people of the time who accepted Dong Qichang’s theory of the south and north school(南北宗論), but in the end, the paintings were able to be widely distributed in Japan because of their auspiciousness, their realistic expression, and most of all, the latest tradition of karamono(唐物).
Starting with Shen Quan and Yūhi, this study only deals with the early acceptance patterns of the second generation of Nanpin school’s painters, who were actually Yūhi's immediate pupils, but in fact, the whole Edo school widely accepted the influence of Nanpin school. The fact that Nanpin school’s painters embraced various trends in foreign paintings introduced to Japan at that time, along with Shen Quan's painting style, reflects the speciality of Nagasaki school itself. Also it suggests the inclusiveness of the genealogical perception in the Japanese painting school in this period.
The development of Nampin school in the middle and late Edo period is highly significant as an example of the transitional characteristics of the Chinese painting influx and the Japanese transformation in modern Japanese painting schools.