Monochrome Ink Painting (suibokuga)
An East Asian style of painting that uses ink and washes; the artist Sesshu established a style unique to Japan
Monochrome ink painting (suibokuga), colloquially called sumi-e, is an East Asian monochromatic style of painting with ink and water, sometimes with color washes added. Monochrome ink painting is believed to have originated in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Realistic landscape (shanshui) painting was developed from the end of the Tang dynasty and through the following five dynasties (907–960) and came into its prime during the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties. Monochrome ink painting (suibokuga), on the other hand, found its way to Korea and Japan and followed a different course of development. An early example of monochrome ink painting can be found in a portion of the folding screen Torige ritsujo (Ladies under Trees), created in the Tenpyo era (729–749) and currently stored in the Shosoin Repository. However, it was during the Kamakura period (1180–1333) that paintings in this style began to be created in earnest, originally in connection with Zen Buddhism. In the Muromachi period (1392–1507), such paintings were created by such scholarly priests as Josetu and Shubun. Finally, Sesshu came along and brought the Japanese medieval style of monochrome ink painting to full maturity.
Later, Masanobu Kano and other artists of the Kano school incorporated the tradition of Japanese painting (yamato-e) and contributed to the establishment of the painting on folding screens and sliding doors (shohekiga) of the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603) through the Edo period (1603–1867). Furthermore, in the mid-Edo period, techniques of the Southern School of Chinese painting (nanshuga or nanga) were imported from China, and techniques of Sotatsu Tawaraya and Korin Ogata of the Sotatsu Korin School were also incorporated into the practice of monochrome ink painting. In the Meiji period (1868–1912), Tessai Tomioka created a legacy of many free-spirited monochrome ink masterpieces.
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References
- 矢代幸雄 著,岩波書店
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- 歴史学研究会 編,岩波書店