Snow, moon and flowers
Snow, moon and flowers ( Japanese 雪 月 花 , setsu-getsu-ka or setsu gekka ) is a theme of Japanese art that was adopted from ancient China and was very popular, especially towards the end of the Edo period .
introduction
This theme came to Japan during the Heian period and is held together in various ways with its three motifs (in Japan “flowers” always means cherry blossoms). Most obviously it relates to the seasons: snow = winter, moon = autumn and flowers = spring. (The short hot summer is ignored.) The triple sentence can also be understood as a representation of three whites: blue and white = winter, yellow and white = autumn and pink and white = spring.
Ukiyo-e artists loved to sell their prints in series, and hanging scrolls were also sold as a combination of three. As with other topics, the theme was combined with beautiful women, well-known landscapes (moon always over a body of water), etc.
The theme also appears as a parody, called “Mitate” (見 立 て) in Japanese. An example is given below at the end.
“Snow, moon and flowers” also appear as decorations on lacquer boxes, with traditional mirrors on the back. Dances were listed in three corresponding sections, and the term also plays a role in the tea ceremony.
In modern manga , Setsu-gekka appears in connection with pretty girls. There are also songs with this title.
Examples
Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-1793) | Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828) |
---|---|
from left to right: --- Sei Shōnagon (winter) --------------- Murasaki Shikibu (autumn) ----------------- ------- Ono no Komachi (spring) |
Snow moon flowers |
- Prints by Shiba Kōkan , signed as Suzuki Harushige (1747-1818)
- Prints by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)
- Prints by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) from the series "Bandō Mitsugorō go nagori kyogen setsugekka shichi henka no uchi" with Bandō Mitsugorō III.
Snow, moon and flowers as a Sugoroku game
- Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861)
- Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Snow on Kiso Street
Moon over Kanazawa ( Kanagawa Prefecture )
Flowers ( naruto )
Meisho Snow ( Inokashira )
Meisho flowers ( Koganei )
- Parody (mitate)
=
Remarks
- ↑ For example Bai Juyi : "At the time of the snow, the moon and the flowers I think of you especially."
- ↑ Hiroshige uses Naruto's whirlpools to imitate flowers.
literature
- Nippon Daihyakka Zensho - Encyclopedia Nipponica 2001 (E-Book Version). Shogakukan, Tokyo 1996.