Nihontô & Japanese coins

I have a poster with Hokusai's 'The Wave,' from a museum exhibit which, lamentably, I didn't make it to. It's on the wall next to ones of Romare Bearden, Picasso (an exhibit I did get to --very memorably with a whole, large room of proto- to early Cubism; my favorite phase of his), and a late Cezanne still-life in watercolor and pencil. ...If you look at all of them more in terms of the compositional dynamics than the motifs, they get along rather well!

 

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It is very hard for me to keep up now - I desperately need to reply to the posts of @Only a Poor Old Man - my “partner in crime” here - and numerous other messages. If it is agreeable with everyone I will post occasional photos and go back to add captions and additional information from time to time. Please ask any questions that pop in to your mind.




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@jamesicus, no need for any sort of apologies!!! I get it that that can be culturally hard-wired. But, let's face it, and despite some phenomenal work done here, only partly along alternate lines (@Deacon Ray being one resonant example), content Always (...is it finally safe to use this word again?) trumps 'production values'!

 

I have three very worthwhile books dealing with the influence on French Impressionists of Japanese woodblock prints: "Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan," by Helen Burnham (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014); "Japanesque: The Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism," by Karin Breuer (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2011); and "Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower: A Turn-of the-Century Tribute to the City of Light," by Henri Riviere (Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2009).

Here's a page from the "Japonesque" book addressing the "packing material" theory:


Here are some of my own Japanese woodblock prints that I happen to have images of on my hard drive. Only three showing sword hilts, I'm afraid. I'm not a huge fan of samurai prints.

A Japanese woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada from 1838, depicting Kyoto station (from one of his series on the 53 stations of the Tokkaido Road) [Kunisada View of Kyoto (Kyôto no zu), from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi no uchi) 1838]



A Japanese woodblock print by Hiroshige from 1832-1834, depicting Cherry Blossom Viewing at Asaka Hill, from the series Famous Places in Edo, a/k/a Famous Places in the Bay Capital:



A Japanese woodblock print by Kunisada of the actor Nakamura Utaemon IV, dating from the 1830s-1840s, signed Gototi Kunisada ga (the signature he used until 1844):



Another Japanese woodblock print by Kunisada, from 1854, entitled Autumn Stroll by the seller, but (according to my research), actually part of a triptych entitled Red Bridge Autumn, depicting the Tsutenbashi Bridge at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto:



Another woodblock print by Hiroshige, from 1848, of Fuchu Station, No. 20 from the series 53 Stations of the Tokkaido Road.



A woodblock triptych print by Chikanobu of ladies engaged in scroll painting, from 1891 (Meiji 24):



A Japanese woodblock print by Kunisada from 1855 (when he was using the name Toyokuni), depicting Yokusone Heitaro or Hiratoro, portrayed by the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII, as a death tribute to the actor:



A Japanese woodblock print from the early 20th century by the artist Ohara Koson, showing two mallards flying in front of a full moon:



Another Chikanobu triptych entitled Excursion to the Hills, from 1895 (it's a bit difficult to see through the glass):



I have quite a few additional Hiroshige prints, some of them mid-19th century originals, and others late-19th and early-20th century reprints of some of his more famous prints, including some from "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" -- concerning which I highly recommend the Brooklyn Museum book of full-size color reproductions of all of them, as well as the similar edition of his "Birds and Flowers" prints. But I don't have any decent images of them on my computer.

The only Hokusai woodblock prints I have are those (in black-and-white) contained in the one original volume I have (Vol. 6, published in 1816) from his 15-volume Manga ["Random Sketches" -- not the current meaning!] series. Among my other woodblock prints and woodblock print books, my favorites include those by other artists including Kono Bairei, Shoda Koho, Imao Keinen, and Maekawa Bunrei, as well as a number of volumes in the famous Japanese Fairy Tale series from the late 19th century, containing woodblock prints by various artists, edited and translated by Lafcadio Hearn. And I have a couple of shelves of books of reproductions.

 

@jamesicus that lion fuchi is simply magnificent. Most people would focus on the lion itself, but I admire the nice nanako work (the dots). They are done one by one and by hand!

And actually, it is a small world. It appears that we have interacted before many years ago. We were both members of the Nihonto Message Board (haven't logged in years), and when I went searching through my posts there to see if any of my sword pics have survived, I came across your name! Small world indeed!

 

@DonnaML, just, Yesss! Your prints are All That.
Thank you for the notably current bibliographic references. (...What I have are all from Kodansha International Ltd. (Tokyo, New York & San Francisco), c. 1960's-1970's, given me by the numismatist Alan DeShazo. --One easy definition of 'Numismatist:' Published. In his case, extensively.) But most especially your citation of the Japanesque book, dealing with the 'urban myth' already mentioned.
It's fun to think of the Japanese influence having started simultaneously --but within a noticeably narrow time span-- in different parts of Europe. For one instance, Monet may have been right, regarding his own exposure to this, um, great stuff. ...Were that to be true, it could be so on an anecdotal level ...except that we're talking about Monet! ...Maybe only most obviously by way of the gardens at Giverny, he spent the rest of his life absorbing all he knew about contemporary Japanese esthetics.

 

A woodblock print more specifically fitting this thread: it's entitled "Sword Ornaments," by Koho Shoda, and is an illustration to Volume I of a three-volume set I have, entitled "Sword and Blossom Poems" (3rd printing, Tokyo 1914) (see http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/hasegawa/sb1.shtml for a description):



Are the objects on the right (which one can see more clearly if they're enlarged by clicking on the image) recognizable as sword ornaments?

 

The oval thing is obviously a guard (aka 'hilt'). Beyond which, it's time to let people weigh in who are this deeply invested in this stuff, on this many levels.

 

Thank you for that very interesting post @Curtisimo it sounds like a wonderful experience! I want to return to this post once I get the captioning caught up. I would like to talk to you about the food you ate and the swords you photographed, etc. Do you you speak converstional Japanese?

 

Just wonderful woodblock prints Donna - thank you very much for posting them! And what a collection you have - the most extensive I have seen in private hands since I left Japan. I love this typically Japanese art form.

James

 

Thank you @svessien.

 

Actually it is a depiction of a temple guardian “lion dog” (shishi) carved on iron, and as you say, the surface is dimpled with fish roe dots (Nanako) and patinated to a very dark purple color. Both the shishi and the peonies (botan) are gilded.





To me, this hilt end pommel (kashira) - on a different sword - is also very nice. It is a full length perspective depiction of a shishi carved in raw copper (suaka) and wonderfully patinated to a rich brown color:




Exceptional quality hilt ornaments (menuki) - hand carved from raw copper (Suaka) and patinated - Japanese radish (Daikon) with gilded foliage.

Small world is right indeed! I haven’t visited that message board for many years either! Glad to remake your acquaintance!

 

I have now brought all of my Nihontô photos up-to date by rearranging them and by adding captions or explanatory text. If you are interested, please go back and check them out.

James

 

I wish that I did but unfortunately I don’t. I studied for a few months before I went but was far from conversant by the time I visited. I did very much love the country though. It is one of my favorite places I’ve ever been.

There have been lots of great additions to this thread so I am glad you posted it, James.