Haikai hyakugasan 俳諧百画賛

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Commentary by Tashiro Kazuha

Posted June 13, 2017

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Kaitei Fūgo, the editor of Haikai hyaku gasan (Praise of one hundred haikai in pictures), was from Wakayama and a vassal of the Kishū domain. The artist, Taniguchi Gessō, was an innovative painter of the late Edo period who worked in the genres of landscape, figures, and flowers-and-birds; the calligraphy is by Kuroiwa Seikai 黒岩青瓜(dates unknown). There are in fact 102 illustrations in this book, and although the title slip suggests that this is a collection of haikai, the verses are not limited to this seventeen syllable (5–7–5) poetic form: they include diverse types such as short haibun (俳文) and kanshi (漢詩; poems in classical Chinese) as well as kyōka (狂歌) andkyōshi (狂詩; comic poetry in Chinese). Although the volume is printed in color, the majority of the illustrations are monochrome with light, subtle shades of blue and brown added to great effect in certain areas to accent kimono patterns, shadows, monkey fur, and bird feathers.

A look at the connection between image and text in Haikai hyaku gasan reveals that in most cases the content of the poems has been effectively rendered into pictorial form. For example, this book contains a verse describing a butterfly unhesitatingly fluttering over a cat (vol. 1, p. 37 on the website), which is paired with the illustration of a butterfly and a cat gazing intently at it. The tension between the two creatures is expressed by the short verse and the abbreviated sketch (ryakuga 略画).

There are many surviving copies of this book, which continued publication into the Meiji period.

書名　百画賛
執筆者田代一葉

作者の塊亭風悟（1732～1815）は、和歌山の人で紀州藩士。絵を描いた谷口月窓（1774～1865）は、山水・人物・花鳥画をよくした江戸時代後期の絵師。書は、黒岩青瓜（未詳）による。本文の画賛は、全102図あり、題名には俳諧とあるが、５音・７音・５音の発句形にのみならず、短い俳文や漢詩・狂歌・狂詩など多様な詩歌が用いられている。多色摺りではあるが、墨摺りのみのページがほとんどで、ところどころに入れられた水色および薄い焦げ茶色が、着物の模様や陰影、猿の毛や鶏の羽の表現として、効果的に用いられている。

絵と句、文との関係を見てみると、詩歌の内容をそのまま絵画化したようなものがほとんどで、「例えばためらいなく猫の頭上を飛ぶ蝶の描写をしている内容の句（３７頁）がある。それは、蝶と蝶を眼光鋭く狙う猫とが描かれた絵と対になっていて、短い図詩と略図によってその緊迫感が表現されている。」
本書は現存数も多く、明治期に入っても刊行されていたことがうかがえる。

Selected readings:
Kira Sueo雲英末雄, Haisho no hanashi 『俳書の話』, Nihon shoshigaku taikei 60『日本書誌学大系』(Tokyo: Seishōdō Shoten, 1989).

Kira Sueo 雲英末雄, Haisho no sekai 『俳書の世界』, Nihon shoshigaku taikei 84 『日本書誌学大系』(Tokyo: Seishōdō Shoten, 1999).

Tashiro Kazuha 田代一葉, Kinsei waka gasan no kenkyū 『近世和歌画賛の研究』(Tokyo: Kyūko Shoin, 2015).

Copies in other collections:
Ishikawa Takeyoshi Memorial Library, Tokyo
Iwase Bunko Library, Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture
Kyushu University, Fukuoka
Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels
National Diet Library, Tokyo
Tenri University Library, Nara Prefecture
Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library
Universität Bonn
University of Tokyo Library
Yonezawa Library, Yamagata Prefecture