Teito gakkei ichiran 帝都雅景一覧

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Commentary by Ellis Tinios

Posted September 5, 2016

In his catalogues, the Kyoto publisher Yoshidaya Shinbē (Bunchōdō) marketed Teito gakei ichiran (Elegant views of the capital at a glance) as a manual (tehon 手本) “devoted to the art of painting correct Japanese and Chinese landscapes based on pictures of the elegant locations in the capital done in imitation of Chinese landscape paintings.”

The book—in four volumes identified by the cardinal directions—was published in two installments: “East” and “West” appeared in 1809; “South” and “North” followed seven years later in 1816. The key blocks were printed using dilute black ink to produce a soft shade of gray. Further blocks were employed to print pale pinks, blues, grays, and occasionally yellow. There is often no outline for a distant hill; it is simply defined by an area of color—an effect encountered in imported Chinese books. The result is very close to Bunpō’s paintings on paper.

The title proved popular, remaining in print for decades. Later printings can exhibit a haphazard application of color. The latest examples from the closing years of the Meiji period (1868–1912) employ just the key blocks. The artist’s and publishers’ intentions can only be appreciated fully in an early printing, such as the Pulverer copy.

While Teito gakei ichiran was advertised and sold as a copybook for aspiring painters, the preface introducing the second installment reveals another motive for its publication. The author of the preface, the noted historian, painter, calligrapher, and sinologue Rai San’yō, recalls a conversation he had with the publisher regarding the book. The two men considered the difference between “elegant views” (the gakei 雅景 in the title) and “common” (zoku 俗) scenes. The restaurants, teahouses, and brothels concentrated along Kyoto’s main river, the Kamogawa, and in Higashiyama, the hills bounding the city to the east of the Kamogawa, presented common, worldly scenes. “Elegant views” comprised the “ancient shrines and old temples” nestled among the wooded hills surrounding the city where “birdsong and falling blossoms” abound. The latter were places for those of refined sensibilities who delighted in savoring the beauty again and again. Unlike Kyoto’s worldly scenes, which were concentrated in a relatively compact area, these "elegant views" were scattered widely throughout the city and particularly around its periphery. To encompass them all, one would “wear out several pairs of sandals.” The publisher explained to Rai San’yō that he commissioned this book from Bunpō in order to make it possible to survey all of Kyoto’s elegant places “at a glance.”

Antecedents to this book are found in travel guides to Kyoto, such as Keijō shōran 京城勝覧 (Outstanding views of the imperial capital; 1706) and Miyako meisho zue 都名所図会 (Pictures of famous places in the capital; 1780). The illustrations in these two books and others provide topographical views of celebrated temples, shrines, and beauty spots; they also include extensive commentaries.

Bunpō chose a very different approach. He explores back lanes and corners of spacious temple compounds, fields, and wooded hillsides. Few buildings are depicted in their entirety. Bunpō delighted instead in a roof line above the trees, a gate just glimpsed at the end of a path, or a familiar place observed from an unexpected angle. Rather than offering a guidebook to Kyoto, Bunpō created what might best be regarded as a meditation on that remarkable city. This writer believes the images were intended to be savored by those who already knew the city well. Figures appear sparingly in his designs and always on a small scale; their presence enhances the quiet mood that prevades the book. As presented in this book, Kyoto merits its ancient name, Heiankyō (平安京), or “the tranquil capital.”

Selected readings

Louise Norton Brown, Block Printing and Book Illustration in Japan (London: George Routledge and Sons: E. P. Dutton, 1924).

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1987), see esp. vol. 2, 686–99.

Owen E. Holloway, Graphic Art of Japan: The Classical School (London: Alec Tiranti,1957).

C. H. Mitchell, with the assistance of Osamu Ueda, The Illustrated Books of the Nanga, Maruyama, Shijo and Other Related Schools of Japan. A Biobibliography (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1972).

Suzuki Jun and Ellis Tinios, Understanding Japanese Woodblock-Printed Illustrated Books: A Short Introduction to Their History, Bibliography and Format (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013).

Kenji Toda, Descriptive Catalogue of the Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: 1931; repr., Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2004).

Copies in other collections

Art Institute of Chicago

British Museum, London

Ebi Collection (private) (viewable on online database of the Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto)

Freer Gallery of Art Library, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden

New York Public Library, New York

Victoria and Albert Museum, London