Kyūrō gafu 九老画譜

FSC-GR-780.44.1-2

Commentary by Tamaki Maeda

Posted December 11, 2017

Featuring pictures by the poet-painter Kino Baitei (also Ki Baitei 紀楳亭, 1744–1810), Kyūrō gafu (Kyūrō painting album) sprung out of the vibrant cultural milieu of the Kyoto-Ōmi (present-day Shiga) region at the turn of the century. A pupil of the famous artist Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716–1783), Baitei first earned a reputation in his hometown Kyoto: his name appeared on a list of twenty-nine painters in the 1782 Heian jinbutsushi (平安人物志), a who’s who of the city’s cultural world. [1] After the Great Fire of 1788, which burned much of the city, including his residence, Baitei moved to Ōmi. Subsequently, he began using Kyūrō 九老 (literary “nine elders”) as an art name. Baitei participated in a haikai poetry network that linked the townspeople of Kyoto and Ōmi, including Buson and his other student Matsumura Goshun 松村呉春 (1752–1811). Dubbed “Ōmi Buson,” Baitei produced works, ranging from imagined mountainscapes to scenes of everyday life, echoing his teacher’s oeuvre in both literati painting (bunjinga 文人画) and haiku pictures (haiga 俳画).

The idea for Kyūrō gafu originated with the Kyoto publisher Kikuya Tahyōe 菊舎太兵衛 (1756–?), who first had Baitei produce pictures and then asked various poets to compose poems based on the images. The original edition of Kyūrō gafu (preface dated 1795) had forty images, each accompanied with a poem. A few years later Kikuya published the second edition (postscript dated 1797). This version had additional twenty-eight images, also accompanied by poems. Although Baitei’s poems were published in other books, no edition of Kyūrō gafu has his poems.

The Pulverer copy is the third edition, published by Metogiya Gihē (蓍屋儀兵衛). It has sixty-two images, all from previous volumes, but without poems. Such a shift in production points to a growth in the consumption of picture-albums (gafu 画譜) as painting manuals, in addition to being objects of aesthetic appreciation. Significantly, Kyūrō gafu spearheaded the publication of books by renowned literati painters, such as Haikai sanjūrokkasen by Buson (FSC-GR-780.793) and Taigadō gafu by Ike Taiga 池大雅 (1723–1776; FSC-GR-780.105.1-3).

Kyūrō gafu and its production history give us a glimpse into the complex relationship between word and image in the Japanese picture-book (ehon 絵本). Volume 2 in the Pulverer copy ends with an image of country cottages, with a lone figure looking out from a window. Idealizing life in relative seclusion, it is an iconic motif in Japanese literati painting. In the first edition of Kyūrō gafu, the same image was accompanied with a poem by Nanwa 南和: “My pleasure made anew today, in the midst of wintering” (あらためてけふおもしろや冬ごもり). [2] The poet apparently imagined the man in the picture as waiting for or seeing off a friend. Nanwa’s poem, in turn, when juxtaposed with the visual, produces a delightful expression of companionship.

A single banana leaf appears in volume 1 of the Pulverer copy (p. 9 on the website). It was one of the additional images that Baitei produced for the second edition. When published, it bore a poem by Kiryō (亀梁): “Already dawn. Ah, a banana leaf is growing still, too” (夜は既に明けてしづまる芭蕉かな). [3] Baitei, this time, better understood the nature of the publication and drew simpler images, such as this which provided plenty of room for inscription. Highly abbreviated, this picture exemplifies the aesthetic of haiga.

Stripped of poems, the Pulverer copy presents Baitei’s images without intermediary words. With the strong graphic quality, simple composition, and casual mode of execution, Baitei’s pictures have been praised for their delightful expression and sense of individuality. Perhaps it was such qualities that inspired the production of Kyūrō gafu in the Kyoto-Ōmi haikai world in the first place.

Selected readings:

Takeuchi Chiyoko 竹内千代子, “Kino Baitei (Kyūrō) to Ōtsu: Yosa Buson no zengo” 「紀梅亭（九老）と大津: 与謝蕪村の前後」, Sapienchia: Eichi Daigaku ronsō 45『サピエンチア: 英知大学論叢 45』(2011), A28–A55.

Takeuchi Chiyoko 竹内千代子, “‘Kyūrō gafu’ no seiritsu to shukō” 「『九老画譜』の成立と趣向」, Āto risāchi 9 『アート・リサーチ 9』(2009), 92–80.

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, 2 vols. (London: Sotheby’s Publications by Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd., 1987), esp. vol. 2, 617–33.

Copies in other collections:

British Museum, London

Columbia University Library, New York

Kakimori Bunko, Itami

Kyoto University Library

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

New York Public Library

Tōhoku University Library, Sendai

Tokyo University of the Arts Library

[1] For the list of painters in the 1782 Heian jinbutsushi, see “Tenmei 2-nenban (gaka)” 天明2年版 (画家), http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~mit03437/coe/heian/tenmei2/tenmei2_gaka.htm#ji (accessed August 23, 2017).

[2] Otherwise noted, all the translations are mine. For the poem and image, see Takeuchi 2009, 86.

[3] For the poem and image, see Takeuchi 2009, 83.