Ogawa Haritsu
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Ogawa Haritsu ( Japanese 小川 破 笠 ; * 1663 ; † July 10, 1747 ) was an artist of the Edo period , who is particularly known for his lacquer work with inlays. Many details of his early life in particular are unknown. What is certain is that he was a member of the sword nobility and probably came from the province of Ise . At an unspecified point in his life he came to the then Japanese capital Edo (today Tokyo) and learned various arts there, such as haiku poetry, painting and the pottery. He learned paintworking and processing relatively late . He is best known by his stage name Ritsuō ( 笠 翁 ).
Life
Ogawa Haritsu was probably born in Ise Province in 1663. Some sources also speak of Kyoto or, rarely, Edo as the place of birth. It is said to have a rather rustic and rural character and a deep closeness to nature. It is possible that he was expelled from his family and ended up in Edo penniless and unreserved. There he became a student of the haiku poet Fukuda Rogen, who introduced him to the famous poet Matsuo Bashō . Another of his teachers was Ogawa Kyukoku. This taught him poetry, painting in the style of the Tosa school , pottery and lacquer art. Nothing is explicitly known about Ogawa Haritsu's belief, but it is possible that he had references to Zen Buddhism . This can only be surmised due to his membership of the sword nobility, but is likely due to his connection to haiku poetry and not least to Ogawa Kyukoku.
This was a pioneer in the production of lacquer work with inserts, a technique that originated in China and was mainly conveyed to Japan via the Zen Buddhist Mampuku-ji . Kyukoku made such works with explicitly Zen Buddhist motifs and taught the techniques to his student. Ogawa Haritsu soon perfected his handling of various inlay materials and made lacquer objects that were already extremely popular during his lifetime. At the age of 61 he was finally discovered by the Tsugaru Daimyō Nobuhisa and put into service. Nevertheless, he was allowed to continue to live and work in Edo. However, he regularly shuttled between Edo and his master's fiefdom, as he was also obliged to amuse him through conversation. During this employment relationship he came more and more into contact with Chinese culture and especially with the neo-Confucian scholarship , which inspired his work in the field of lacquer art. He finally died in 1747.
Name and seal
As was common in the Edo period, Ogawa Haritsu also used different names and seals. His actual name ( azana 字 ) was Ogawa Naoyuki 小川 尚 行 . He also used the name Naoyuki to sign his works. His actual stage name ( gō 号 ) and his by far best known name was Ritsuō ( 笠 翁 ). Just as well known as this pseudonym was its seal kan ( 歓 ). Ogawa Haritsu himself usually used this seal in black, his student Mochizuki Hanzan used the same seal, but in white for differentiation and out of respect for his master. Due to the great popularity that Ogawa Haritsu's inlay works enjoyed, many imitators also used this seal, so that it is often difficult nowadays to assign the works correctly. Other of his pseudonyms were Kin'ya ( 金 弥 ), Heisuke ( 平 助 ) or Muchūan ( 夢中 庵 ).
Style and Influences
Through his vita and his diverse teachers, from whom he learned various cultural techniques and arts / crafts, Ogawa Haritsu was exposed to a variety of influences, which are often reflected in his works. His stage name Ritsuō 笠 翁, for example, translates as "the old man with the (bamboo) straw hat" and reflects his time before his settlement in Edo, when he wandered penniless through the country. He also alluded to this phase of his life in his haiku . Due to his origins from the sword nobility, his teacher associated with the Mampukuji and his contact with Matsuo Bashō, he had contact with the Zen Buddhist culture. The influence of neo-Confucian scholarship on his work, especially in the area of lacquer art, is remarkable. Presumably through his work for a daimyō he had better access to Chinese imported products, including literature in the form of catalogs and encyclopedias, which enjoyed great popularity in Japan.
His lacquer work enjoyed great popularity due to its innovative inlay technique and its design in keeping with the zeitgeist. The storage box shown above on the right shows an example of his artistic style and his handling of materials. The box is made of coarsely grained wood that has been sealed with transparent varnish. The objects inlaid in the lacquer are made of different materials. He often used organic materials such as leather or tortoiseshell to create soft and natural contours, or made pastes from liquid paint and powders made of metal or ceramic , from which he formed shell housings or patinated metal objects such as gongs . Ink stones based on motifs from the ink stone catalogs Chengshi moyuan ( 程氏 墨 苑 ) or Fangshi mopu ( 方 氏 墨 譜 ) were also carved from black lacquer or original ink stones were inserted with a lacquer.
The frequent and until then unusual choice of natural wooden surfaces as backgrounds and the extensive motifs of the inlays are a characteristic of his work. The depiction of typical writing utensils and ink stones based on well-known catalogs reflects the neo-Confucian influence on himself and the taste of the wealthy and up-and-coming layers of samurai and traders. The wooden surfaces and the deceptively real-looking imitations of plants and animals express the closeness to nature and down-to-earthness that is often said to him.
literature
- Haino Akio: Ogawa Haritsu - Edo jidai no iki. Nihon no Bijutsu 10: 389, Shibundo, Tokyo 1998, ISBN 4-7843-3389-4 .
- Kyōto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan (Ed.): Ogawa Haritsu: Ritsuō Zaiku. Kyōto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, Kyôto 1991.
- Stephen Little, Edmund J. Lewis: View of the Pinnacle: Japanese Lacquer Writing Boxes - The Lewis Collection of Suzuribako. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2011, ISBN 978-0-615-50509-1 .
- James T. Ulak: Views Beneath the Surface: Aspects of Edo Period Lacquer in the Barbara and Edmund Lewis Collection. Orientations 23: 3, 1992, pp. 57-64.
- Pekarik, Andrew J .: Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1980, ISBN 0-87099-247-3 .
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Haritsu, Ogawa |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1663 |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 10, 1747 |