[p. 47]

THE GOLDEN AGE OF JAPANESE PRINTS

The painter who did more to create the new art of nisiki-e than any other man, was Suzuki-Harunobu, who was followed by Ippitusai-Buntyō, Isoda-Koryūsai, Kitao-Sigemasa, and Katukawa-Syunsyō. These artists flourished in the first period of nisiki-e development (1765–1780).

The nisiki-e thence advanced to a still more refined stage, in which were produced prints of even larger proportions than those of Harunobu. This we call the second period in the history of the nisiki-e (1781–1800). It was, indeed, the golden age of Japanese prints, and produced such masters as Torii-Kiyonaga, Kitagawa-Utamaro, Tyōbunsai-Eisi, Utagawa-Toyoharu, Kubo-Syunman, Katukawa-Syuntyō, Tōsyūsai-Syaraku, Utagawa-Toyokuni, and Utagawa-Toyohiro.

Kiyonaga, who belonged to the Torii school of artists, was a disciple of Kiyomitu. As a painter with soft brushes he painted placards for the theatres, and as a nisiki-e artist he specialized in portraits of beautiful women. He produced a great number of prints, none of which was of a mediocre sort carelessly executed. He was a realist of a sound type, for he tempered his realism with something of idealism. In his pictures Kiyonaga employed graceful lines and curves by means of which the effect of a three-dimensional world was successfully achieved, while the relatively simple or elementary colours used harmonized

[p. 48]

[p. 49]

[p. 50]

[p. 51]

[p. 52]

with the lines and produced splendid colour prints. He died in 1816 at the age of 64.

Utamaro, who surnamed himself Kitagawa, opened a school of his own. At first he was much under the influence of Kiyonaga, and from about 1780 to the close of the century he produced brilliant works in succession. As a chromoxylographic painter he hit upon many novel devices in technique which brought into bold relief the figures of people in the picture, thereby greatly enhancing its graphic effect. Thus, in painting the background he chose such pigments as yellow, indigo, mica, and the like. His pictures of lovely women were such that he carried all before him in this field; but he also excelled in pictures of flowers, birds and insects, and published them as colour prints.

Utamaro, as a painter of beautiful women, won his high reputation after Kiyonaga, but alas! he died ten years before the latter, namely in 1806. He had many disciples, so that his tendencies and methods as a painter were followed by a wide circle of artists.

Next to Kiyonaga and Utamaro, Tyōbunsai-Eisi became most celebrated as a nisiki-e painter. Now, most ukiyo-e painters were tradesmen, but Eisi was one of the exceptions, for he was a direct retainer of the Syogunate. That meant that he belonged to the military class, intermediate in rank between the daimyō and the ordinary samurai. He was, moreover, a man of fairly high family rank. He entered upon his artistic career as a follower of the Kanō school of painters, but later on transferred his allegiance to the ukiyo-e school. His best works were published during the twenty years from 1780 to 1800, so

[after-52-face]

[p. 53]

that he shone as a brilliant junior contemporary, if not a rival, of Kiyonaga and Utamaro. And it is worth adding here that, thanks to his early training in the Kanō tradition, Eisi was exceptionally dexterous in the manipulation of the brush, with the result that he has left us masterpieces among his hand-painted pictures as well as among those intended for engraving. He died in 1829.

Eisi had a fairly large following. Among his more distinguished pupils were Eisyō, Gokyō, Eiri, Eisui, and Eisin. Of them all, the best artist was Eisyō.

Yet another artist of the time who distinguished himself by special qualities in his products was Tōsyūsai-Syaraku. He endeavoured to delineate the dramatic expressions of celebrated actors and their individual characteristics, and in so doing exaggerated histrionic idiosyncrasies. However, it was here that Syaraku’s inimitable technique was seen to the best advantage. The more one studies and appreciates Syaraku’s works, the more strongly is one impressed by their high artistic qualities. Roughly speaking, the year 1794–5 constituted his annus mirabilis, after which he seems to have ceased producing any works worthy of notice.

This chapter must now be brought to an end by merely mentioning three more well-known wood-cut painters of the period under review, namely, Kubo-Syunman, Kitao-Masanobu, and Kitao-Masayosi (who, by the way, afterwards re-named himself Kuwagata-Keisai).

[p. 54]

[p. 55]

[p. 56]

[p. 57]