Collaborative Scroll Attributed to Ike No Taiga (池大雅) and Hamuroyama Sōshūmin (葉室山僧脩民)

[Iaido dude]

I would be grateful for a translation and for any confirmation of the seals for Ike no Taiga (1723-1776), a leading figure of the literati painting (Nanga) movement that was deeply intwined with Sencha tea culture introduced from China. This is the only work attributed to him in my collection and hangs in my clinic office. I don't have enough experience with the calligraphy style of Ike no Taiga to discern whether he brushed this work. During the course of his career, he used different artist names that are reflected in the seals found on his works.

 

It also seems like the attribution is reversed—Hamuroyama Sōshūmin is the calligrapher and Ike no Taiga is the painter. 

 

The painting appears to have been done by a member of the Hamuro family that converted to Obaku Zen and rebuilt a family temple Jōjū-ji (浄住寺 dating to the 9th century) in Kyoto as an Obaku temple in 1689--a temple whose formal mountain name is Hamuro-san (葉室山). The Obaku monk Tetsugyu Doki became its founding restorer (kaisan). The only relationship that I could find between the collaborating painter Hamuroyama Sōshūmin (葉室山僧脩民) and Ike no Taiga has to do with their affiliated temples--Jōjū-ji (Obaku sect) and Jōkō-ji (浄光寺 Shodo sect) where Taiga is buried--which are situated directly adjacent to each other in the same temple district in Kamigyō Ward, Kyoto. A stone marker at Jōkō-ji, erected in 1777, reads "Ike no Taiga Cemetery Path" (池大雅墳墓道). Although a lay painter and calligrapher, Ike no Taiga had a lifelong connection with the important Obaku temple Manpuku-ji, where he received instruction in calligraphy and Buddhism starting at age 6. 

 

Although there is not much available biographical source material for Hamuroyama Sōshūmin, the historical context strongly suggests a plausible tie. They were neighbors in the same temple district, participants in the same Sencha-infused literati culture, and members of a social network that included artists and Zen clergy. The monk would represent the exact type of cultured, tea-drinking cleric with whom a painter like Taiga would naturally have interacted.

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 05:34 PM by Iaido dude

[YourBabyBjornBorg]

(Saving this to ask at my next calligraphy class XD)

[SteveM]

Seals for the calligraphy are:

 

top left: 臨済正宗　(Rinzai Seishu)

bottom right, upper seal: 黄檗主人 (Ōbaku shujin) 

bottom right, lower seal 大雅法印 (Taiga-hō-no-in)

[Iaido dude]

Thanks, Steve. The top left seal is surprising, since it suggests that Hamuroyama Sōshūmin was the calligrapher and a Rinzai monk, which isn't consistent with him being a an Obaku monk. It's always possible that he was from the Hamuro family that rebuilt Joju-ji as an Obaku temple, but that he became a Rinzai monk instead. 

 

The seals on the bottom right indicate that the painter was affiliated with the Obaku. One translation of 大雅法印 is "Taiga's Dharma Seal" or "Taiga's Seal of the Dharma." I am looking into the appendix of an exhibition book for a compendium of the many seals that Ike no Taiga used and studying his painting style for similar examples of his art that can help establish whether he was the painter.

Edited yesterday at 01:50 AM by Iaido dude

[SteveM]

I'm not very well-versed in these things, but Wikipedia tells me that the Obaku school considered themselves a kind of orthodox version of Chinese Zen, hence the use of "Rinzai Seishu" in not only this seal, but in others I saw online while fishing around. 

 

There are a few other examples on the calligraphy at the site below

https://note.com/hakubutsu/n/n2fba5de59e7a

 

"Taiga-hō" ...I just assumed "hō" (法) was the same as sometimes seen in swordsmith signatures, and represents having achieved a certain level of study/enlightenment, but again, I'm out of my zone of experience here. 

 

Just to clarify, the three seals I mentioned above are the ones on the calligraphy (text), and not the ones on the depiction of the seated figure. So the seal with Taiga in it is attached to the text. The seals on the figure are 葉室山主 (Hamuro-san shu) and 檗僧半囗 (can't read the final one...looks like 霞 or something). 

[Iaido dude]

The Obaku did consider themselves the true bearers of the mind seal all the way back to Rinzai, often using seals that identify which generation they are in relation to Rinzai, even though they have an admixed practice of Zen and Pure Land Buddhism (e.g. practice of chanting of the name of Guanyin), which Hakuin Ekaku considered a deviation from the true practice. Those of us who practice Rinzai Zen actually all trace back to Hakuin as a monumental reformer who returned Zen practice to the original Rinzai focus on koan study. These religious movements are really important in doing attribution of Japanese arts and crafts and can provide useful clues and even conclusive evidence.

 

So far, it seems, the calligraphy may have been done by Ike no Taiga. I just don't know if the brushwork is consistent with his style. It seems a bit crude. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Iaido dude