The Feinbergs’ Japanese Collection

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Holland Cotter, It Started With a $2 Poster. New York Times, Jan 31, 2014
www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/arts/ ... ese-collection.html
(“art review” on The Flowering of Edo Period Painting; Japanese masterworks from the Feinberg collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Feb 1-Sept 7, 2014)
  
Note:
(1)
(a) In print, painting 1’s legend: “The Flowering of EDO Period Painting, including ‘Race at Uji River 宇治川合戦図屏風,’ depicting a medieval scene in which heroes compete to reach a battle first, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
(b) text of the review regarding the painting: “A Kurosawaesque 黒澤 明 painting by SOGA Shōhaku 曾我 蕭白 [1730–1781] of two medieval action heroes competing in martial theatrics is one [unorthodox sight]. A matched pair of Chinese-style ink landscapes by KANŌ Sansetsu 狩野 山雪 [1589 - 1651] that have the spectral density of white noise is another.”
(c) Uji River 宇治川 is the name of the mid-section (within Kyoto Prefecture 京都府) of a river (whose name further downstream is Yodo River 淀川, and which empties, at City of Osaka 大阪市, into Osaka Bay 大阪湾).
(d) The title 宇治川合戦図屏風 is not unique. At least 土佐派 also painted one of that title.
佐々木高綱（生没年不詳）と梶原景季（1162-1200）の先陣争い
(e) Jim Breen’s online Japanese dictionary:
(i) senjin arasoi 先陣争い 【せんじんあらそい】 (n): “competition (rivalry) to first (e.g. rider in a charge)”
(ii) senjin 先陣 【せんじん】 (n): “vanguard; advance guard”
(f) 梶原 景季   KAJIWARA Kagesue
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A2%B6%E5%8E%9F%E6%99%AF%E5%AD%A3
(1162-1200; section 1.1 宇治川の先陣争い)

Naturally you can not be expected to read Japanese. So I will tell you in English.
(i)
(A) Background first. In 源平合戦 (1180–1185), two aristocratic clans battled for pre-eminence. (”It resulted in the fall of the Taira 平 clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate 鎌倉幕府 under MINAMOTO no Yoritomo 源 頼朝 in 1192.” Wiki)  Within the 源 clan, cousins were rivals for leadership, with MINAMOTO no Yoshinaka 源 義仲 (1154 – 1184) on one side AND 源 頼朝 and MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune 源 義経 (1159 – 1189) on the other.
(B) Fast Forward. 源 義経 defeated 源 義仲 in the second battle of Uji 宇治川の戦い (at City of Uji (on the southern outskirts of City of Kyoto) on (lunar) New Year's Day (Feb 19), 1184), and surrounded and killed him on Feb 21, 1184.
(ii) The following concerns the run-up to the second battle of Uji: two military men, both under 源 頼朝 and each astride a gift horse from the latter, raced across Uji river.
(A) KAJIWARA Kagesue
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kajiwara_Kagesue
(The Heike monogatari 平家物語 records an anecdote about a friendly competition with SASAKI Takatsuna 佐々木 高綱 [both Sasaki and Kajiwara works for prior to the second battle of Uji [also see]. Mounted on Yoritomo's black horse, Surusumi 磨墨, he races Takatsuna across the River Uji)

* kaji 舵(P[rincipal]); 梶 【かじ】 (n): "rudder; helm"
(B) The horse race in detail:
* Helen Craig McCullough (translator), Genji & Heike; Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike. Stanford Univ Press, 2011, at page 372.
http://books.google.com/books?id ... ikezuki&f=false
* Because page 373 of the book is not supplied online, I will translate for you what happened next, as described in Japanese Wiki, see (f) above: “高綱が「馬の腹帯が緩んでいる。絞め給え」と助言し、景季は落馬しては一大事と馬の腹帯を締め直していると、その隙に高綱が川に進み入ってしまった。謀られたと知った景季も急いで川に乗り入れ、川中で激しく先陣を争い、結局、高綱が一歩早く対岸に上陸して一番乗りを果たした。”

translation: Sasaki suggested Kajiwara to give the former a hand, by saying, “The girth
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girth_(tack)
of my horse is loose. Will you please tie it up for me?”  Kajiwara dismounted and took the chore seriously. At that moment, astride ikezuki 生食 Sasaki shot into the river. Realizing he had been taken advantage of, Kaijiwara also hastily rode into the river (Uji), vigorously competing for the lead. It ended up with Sasaki a step ahead of Kajiwara in reaching the opposite shore.
(g) “A matched pair of Chinese-style ink landscapes by KANŌ Sansetsu 狩野 山雪 [1589 - 1651] that have the spectral density of white noise is another.”

The title of KANŌ Sansetsu’s sole painting is “‘Wang Ziyou Visits Dai Andao’ and ‘A Monk Claps His Hands’  訪戴安道・題李欵幽居図屛風.” I can not find in the Web what the painting looks like.

(2)
(a) In print, painting 2’s legend: “A part 右隻 of IKe no Taiga’s ‘The Chinese Poet SU Shi 孟嘉落帽・東坡戴笠図屏風,’ which captures a moment in the 11th-century master’s life.”
(b) text of the review: “Ike no Taiga, who was immersed in literati culture and wowed people by painting, impromptu, with his fingers [as opposed to brushed], gives us big scrawly portraits of Chinese eccentrics.”
(c) 屏風
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/屏風
(これを接続したものが屏風の一単位、一隻（一畳、一帖）である。向かって右側の屏風を右隻、左側の屏風を左隻と呼ぶ)
(i) In English, a three-panel 屏風 is a triptych. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptych
(ii) In Japanese, each panel is 一隻; right panel is 右隻.
(d) IKE no Taiga 池 大雅 (1723–1776)  
(e) 蘇軾 (1037-1101)
(f) 孟嘉落帽. 基隆市武崙國小, undated.
idiom.wlps.kl.edu.tw/index.php?id=36063

(3)
(a) In print, photo 3 (two paintings: a 屏風 and a fan) is accompanied a legend: “From left, part of ‘Deer and Maples 春鶴秋鹿図屏風 (もと襖),’ by MORI Tetsuzan 森 徹山 [1775-1841; nephew of 森 狙仙], and “Stag cleaning a Fawn 親子鹿図扇子,’ by MORI Sosen 森 狙仙 [1747 – 1821].”

* The “もと襖” means it was ORIGINALLY (元 or 本; both in this sense pronounced “moto”) a fusuma 襖
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusuma
, which was tailored and remade into a folding screen 屏風.
(b) text of the review: “MORI Sosen did in a heartbreakingly tender fan painting of a stag licking a fawn, and MARUYAMA Ōkyo 円山 応挙 [1733-1795] in a hanging scroll image of a rainbow-hued peacock 孔雀牡丹図, as exacting in detail as it is decorative in effect.”

(4) “In art, as in life, old divisions were giving way. Since the mid-15th century, rival family-based schools of art had maintained class affiliations. The Tosa school 土佐派 [origin traced to TOSA Yukihiro 土佐行弘 (died in first half of the 15th century)], which specialized in indigenous Japanese landscapes and literary themes, was aligned with the imperial court. The parallel Kanō school 狩野派 [founded by KANŌ Masanobu 狩野 正信 (1434–1530)], which looked to China, and specifically monochromatic brush painting, for its sources, was favored by the neo-Confucian shoguns. In the Edo period, however, these two streams began to run together”

choi

(continued)
(5) “Art, of course, had its fashions, and in Edo the so-called Rinpa painting was bedrock. Less a movement than a shared impulse to revitalize old genres, including nature painting and narrative, it originated in Kyoto early in the 17th century: A work from around 1630 by a Rinpa founder, TAWARAYA Sōtatsu 俵屋 宗達 [died c 1643], of a plump and adorable tiger 虎図, is the oldest piece in the show. After a half-century lull, the style was revived by OGATA Kōrin 尾形 光琳 [1658-1716] — Rinpa means ‘style of Kōrin’ — and transplanted from Kyoto to Edo in the 19th century by SAKAI Hōitsu 酒井 抱一 (1761-1828).”
(a) Rimpa school  琳派
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimpa_school

* In Japanese transliteration, Rinpa and Rimpa are the same. It should be “n” according to the transliteration rule, yet the English spelling rule is such that the letter m always go before letters b or p. So some people, when transliterate Japanese, just switch N for m in these circumstances.
(b) tawara 俵 【たわら】 (n): "straw bag"

* A photo of 俵:
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BF%B5

(6) “We pick up its thread in a two-panel screen by Hoitsu called ‘The Ivy Way Through Mt Utsu,’ illustrating a scene from the venerable ‘Tales of Ise.’ The painting dates from about 1815 [with] its principal character [/subject], the ninth-century courtier-poet ARIWARA no Narihira 在原 業平 [825 – 880].”
(a) Regarding The Ivy Way Through Mt Utsu 宇津の細道図 (Japanese pronunciation: “Utsu-no-hosomichi-zu”) 屛風.
(i) Utsu is not a mountain but a valley that has served as a mountain pass.
(ii) Utsunoya Pass
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsunoya_Pass
(ancient Tōkaidō 東海道 highway [connecting Edo with Kyoto) was abandoned in this area (on the coastline), in favor of this (inland) mountain pass. However, in 1590, 豊臣秀吉 could not dispatch his army through the ivy-covered narrow lane of Utsunoya Pass, and resorted to restoring the old

, whose Japanese is 宇津ノ谷峠 (pronounced "utusnoya-tōge"), which Japanese Wikipedia described as “標高170メートル [meters] * * * [with] 蔦の細道.”
Tōkaidō, which his army then used.
(iii) Japanese English dictionary:
* The ノ  (katakana) and の (hiragana): "of"
* ya 谷
* tōge 峠 【とうげ】 (n): "(mountain) pass"
* tsuta つた 《蔦》 (n): “ivy (esp. Boston ivy, Parthenocissus tricuspidata)”
* hosomichi 細道 【ほそみち】 (n): "narrow path; narrow lane"
(iv) The Tales of Ise  伊勢物語
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tales_of_Ise
(The exact date of composition and authorship can only be speculated)

Quote: “At least four theories for the title of the work have been proposed by commentators from the Kamakura period onwards: the work was written by Lady Ise and named after her; the title followed from section 69, as the central character visits the Priestess at Ise Shrine; in the Nihon Shoki, the character for I reads as woman, and Se reads as man, leading to the text embodying the theme of union; the author deliberately distorted events, places, people, and times, embodying the phrase Ise ya Hyuga or 'topsy-turvy.’

(7) “Nature becomes even more radically and decoratively abstract in folding screen paintings of cranes by the Edo-born SUZUKI Kiitsu  鈴木 其一 [1796-1858], Hoitsu’s star pupil and assistant.”

(8) “TANI Bunchō’s window-size scroll called ‘Grasses and Moon 秋夜明月図,’ in which a glowing circle and a splash of lines catch the mood of a lush summer night, and in a fan painting by IKE Gyokuran 池 玉瀾 [1727-1784], wife of Ike no Taiga. Titled ‘Bamboo on a Windy Day 風竹図扇面,’ it’s little more than a superbly controlled scattering of ink strokes that fly up like sparks.”

* TANI Bunchō 谷 文晁 (1763 - 1841)


(9) “The city’s [Edo’s] red-light district, Yoshiwara”
(a) Yoshiwara  吉原
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiwara
(b) Japanese Wikipedia:
(i) 元吉原 (near 日本橋; etymology: in a lowland 低湿地 lush with reed 葦 (pronounced “ashi,” the same as 悪し (meaning “evil”), thus named 吉原; 1617-1657, terminated when half of Edo, including this area, burned down);
(ii) 新吉原 (ordered to move in 1656; to 浅草 (Asakusa, a neighborhood) 田圃; since Meiji gradually in decline; ended with the enactment of 1956 売春防止法.

(10) GION Seitoku  祇園 井特 (Japanese Wikipedia: “1755-1815; 師系不詳。姓不詳")
(a) Gion  祇園
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gion
(a district in Kyoto; "in front of Yasaka Shrine 八坂神社 [once called Gion Shrine 祇園神社 (pronounced "gion-jinja")]. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan")
(b) His painting is this exhibition is “Woman Applying Makeup 化粧美人図.”

(11) “In one vivacious, gender-blending 17th-century painting, artist unknown ["anonymous 筆者不詳"], a 12th-century dance named for the poet Ariwara no Narihira, of ‘Tales of Ise’ fame, is being performed. All the roles, male and female, were originally played by women. In the 17th-century update, we see a man playing the part of a woman playing the part of a man.”
(a) The title of the painting is “Shirabyōshi Dancer  男舞図.”
(b) Shirabyōshi  白拍子
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirabyōshi
(female dancers [who] dressed as men; The profession of shirabyōshi developed in the 12th century; The name shirabyōshi meant "white rhythm", partly because of their make-up, and because their songs were slow and rhythmic)

(10) “the Edo period certainly turned out great artists. Just look at the staggeringly intricate pen-and-ink notebook drawings by KATSUSHIKA Hokusai (1760-1849) — he of the ‘Great Wave’ — that close the exhibition.”
(a) Hokusai
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai
(KATSUSHIKA Hokusai 葛飾 北斎; best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji 富嶽三十六景 (pronounced “Fugaku Sanjūroku-kei”), c 1831)

* sangaku 山岳(P); 山嶽(oK) 【さんがく】 (n): “mountains”
(b) The Great Wave off Kanagawa
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa
(The Great Wave off Kanagawa 神奈川沖浪裏 (pronounced "Kanagawa-Oki Nami-Ura") [English:] "Under a Wave off Kanagawa"), also known as The Great Wave or simply The Wave; the first print in Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji;  It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats off the coast of the prefecture of Kanagawa 神奈川県 [Tokyo being its northern neighbor])

* oki 沖 【おき】 (n): "open sea  <その島は海岸から１マイル沖にある。 The island lies a mile off the coast>"