Kyōsai gadan 暁斎画談

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Commentary by Oikawa Shigeru

Posted December 5, 2016

Original text in Japanese follows

Kyōsai gadan (Kyōsai’s treatise through pictures) can be seen as a semiautobiographical memoir of the artist Kawanabe Kyōsai. He dictated the text to his friend Uryū Masayasu (1821–1893), also known as the gesaku author Baitei Kinga and the publisher of this work, Iwamoto Shun. The text is accompanied by Kyōsai’s own illustrations. [1] Entries dating to circa 1888 in Kyōsai’s illustrated diary (e-nikki) mention daily visits by one Iwachū (Iwamoto Shun) to Kyōsai’s residence, and it shows scenes of Iwachū taking dictation from the artist. [2]

This four-volume work is organized into the “Inner Chapters” (naihen 内篇) and “Outer Chapters” (gaihen 外篇). Each of these has two parts. The first half of Part 1 of the “Inner Chapters” begins with Kyōsai’s childhood experiences as a student learning the basic techniques of the Kano lineage at the studio of Maejima Tōwa 前島洞和 (1840–41) and Kano Tōhaku 狩野洞白 (1841–49). After offering explanations for everything from how to illustrate hōshu 宝珠 (sacred gem), a foundational Kano school exercise, and how to draw various types of lines to methods for depicting the human body, the book outlines the specifics of the Kano style by referring to examples of Kyōsai’s own work. In the latter half of Part 1 of the “Inner Chapters,” the reader can trace visually the artistic genealogy from Chinese painting precedents, such as that of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) to the Kano lineage, by following Kyōsai’s own facsimiles of these paintings. Part 2 of the “Inner Chapters” focuses on Japanese-born artists, from Kose no Kanaoka 巨勢金岡 (active 800s) to Toba Sōjō 鳥羽僧正 (1053–1143), as well as the Tosa and Sumiyoshi lineages. In addition, Kyōsai gadan unfolds the art history of the Edo period in its broad inclusion of work ranging from Maruyama Ōkyō 円山応挙 (1733–1795), Ike no Taiga 池大雅 (1723–1776), Ogata Kōrin 尾形光琳 (1658–1716), and Watanabe Kazan 渡辺崋山 (1793–1841) to ukiyo-e artists.

Part 1 of the “Outer Chapters” is dedicated to Kyōsai’s own biography, starting with the anecdote of when he first drew a frog as observed in nature at age three. It recounts how he became the apprentice of the ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi at age six. In the second two-page opening, Kyōsai is seen before Kuniyoshi; behind him is his fellow student Yoshitora, punching another pupil. Kyōsai records the circumstances that eventually led to his study at Kano Tōhaku’s studio, where he earned a diploma in Kano school painting. Further episodes, such as how he took on his own apprentices and how he focused on drawing animals from life, are retold through lively illustrations. Part 2 depicts scenes from the latter half of Kyōsai’s life, including his travels to Shinshū; his arrest during an exhibition at the Chōdatei (長蛇亭) restaurant in Ueno due to his caricatures of governmental officers; a calligraphy and painting gathering (shogakai 書画会) at the Enryōkan (延遼館), the only Western-style guesthouse where many foreigners viewed his paintings; the story about how the famous sweets shop Eitarō (榮太楼; still operating today) bought the painting “Cold Crow on a Withered Tree” for one hundred yen at the Domestic Industry Exhibition (Naikoku Kangyō Hakurankai 内国勧業博覧会), thereby elevating his reputation; and the episode where he took his student, the British architect Josiah Conder (1852–1920), to Nikkō.

Kyōsai gadan was an important textbook for scholars around the world, not only because it was the only illustrated history of Japanese art available at the time, but also because it offered a comprehensive art history that connected Japanese art to Chinese painting. It also included explanations in English composed by a Japanese writer. Kyōsai gadan was reissued in numerous editions, and as a result there are many alternate versions; there was a deluxe edition with gold characters. The Pulverer copy is a later edition. A low-end, more affordable version in six volumes was also produced, with no significant differences in content.

[1] In its most literal sense, the term gadan (画談) means “a story told through pictures.”

[2] His illustrated diary is housed in the Tokyo University of the Arts.書名暁斎画談

執筆者　及川茂　

河鍋暁斎の生涯と画業について、暁斎自身が語った内容を瓜生政和が聞き書きし、暁斎自身の挿絵で出版した暁斎の半自伝である。「画談」とは「絵で表現した物語」の意味がある。版元は岩本俊、全4巻からなり、『暁斎画談　内篇　上下』『暁斎画談　外篇　上下』という構成である。

「内篇上巻」は前半では暁斎自身が幼いころ狩野派の前島洞和、狩野洞白の塾で学んだ体験を基に、狩野派の基本である宝珠の描き方から始まり様々な線の引き方、肉体の描き方などを解説した後、自身の作品を引用して具体的な狩野派絵画の全貌を示している。「上巻」後半では北宋など中国絵画から狩野派に至る系譜を、暁斎自身の模写を通して画像を目の前にしながら辿ることができる。「内篇下巻」は巨勢金岡から始まり鳥羽僧正、土佐派、住吉派など日本で生まれた絵画についてで、さらに応挙、大雅、光琳、崋山から浮世絵派までの江戸時代の美術史が展開する。

「外篇上巻」は暁斎自身の伝記となっており、3歳の時に初めて蛙を写生した逸話から6歳で国芳に弟子入りしたこと、やがて狩野洞白へ入塾して狩野派の免状を得た経緯、さらに弟子をとって動物画の写生に力を入れたことなどが、生き生きした挿絵で語られる。「外篇下巻」は信州への旅行、上野長蛇亭での筆禍事件、延遼館での書画会、内国勧業博覧会で100円の値を付けた「枯木寒鴉」の絵を榮太楼が買って面目を施した話、弟子ジョサイア・コンデルを連れての日光旅行など、暁斎の生涯の後半が描かれる。暁斎の『絵日記』（東京芸術大学蔵）の明治20年頃の記述には、毎日「岩忠」が暁斎宅に来て、本書の聞き書きをしている様から出版されるまでが描かれている。[1]

日本美術を中国絵画と関連させた総合的な美術史を成しており、当時としては世界で唯一の画像で見る日本美術史であり、随所に英語の解説もあるために、世界中の学者にとって貴重な教科書であった。ただしこの英語は日本人が書いたもので、奇妙な表現も多い。『暁斎画談』は幾度も改版されたために、多くの異本、異同が見られる。廉価版として6冊本もあるが、内容的には大きな違いはない。

[1] 「岩忠」とは版元の岩本俊であり、別名瓜生政和、戯作者梅亭金鵞（1821–1893）のことである。

Selected readings

Louise Norton Brown, Block Printing and Book Illustration in Japan (London: George Routledge and Sons: E. P. Dutton, 1924), 196.

Timothy Clark, Demon of Painting (London: British Museum, 1993), 34–35.

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers, 1987), see esp. vol. 2, 938–45.

Yoshida Susugu 吉田漱, Kyōsai gadan 『暁斎画談』 (repr., including English, French, and German translations, Warabi City: Kawanabe Kyōsai Memorial Museum, 1982).

Copies in other collections

Israel Goldman collection, London
Kawanabe Kyōsai Memorial Museum, Warabi City