Itō Jakuchū

Itō Jakuchū was a Japanese painter of the mid-Edo period when Japan had isolated itself from the outside world. Many of his paintings concern traditionally Japanese subjects, particularly chickens and other birds. Many of his otherwise traditional works display a great degree of experimentation with perspective, and with other very modern stylistic elements.

His realistic style of painting made him very popular along with Maruyama Ōkyo, and he was listed as the second painter after Ōkyo in the second and third editions of the Heian Jinbutsushi (平安人物志), a directory of famous people living in Kyoto at the time. He held strong ties to Zen Buddhist ideals, and was considered a lay brother (koji); but he was also keenly aware of his role within a Kyoto society that was becoming increasingly commercial.

In 1970, Nobuo Tsuji (ja) published a book entitled Kisō no Keifu (奇想の系譜, Lineage of Eccentrics), which focused on painters of the "Lineage of Eccentrics" who broke with tradition, such as Itō Jakuchū, Iwasa Matabei, Kanō Sansetsu, Soga Shōhaku, Nagasawa Rosetsu, and Utagawa Kuniyoshi. This work has revolutionized the view of Japanese art history, and Edo period painting has become the most popular field of Japanese art, with Itō Jakuchū being the most popular. In recent years, scholars and art exhibitions have often added Hakuin Ekaku and Suzuki Kiitsu to the six artists listed by Tsuji, calling them the painters of the "Lineage of Eccentrics".

Itō Jakuchū was the eldest son of Itō Genzaemon, a Kyoto grocer whose shop, called Masuya, lay in the center of downtown, in the Nishiki food district. He showed a great talent for painting from childhood, and it is said that he studied under Ōoka Shunboku, an Osaka-based Kano school artist known for his bird and flower paintings, when he was in his mid-teens. However, he did not seem to be accustomed to the strict teachings of the Kano school, and he honed his skills on his own by observing and sketching the things around him, such as the vegetables sold at his father's shop, the fish in the Nishiki market, and the chickens in his garden, and by using Chinese paintings as a reference. Though a number of his paintings depict exotic or fantastic creatures, such as tigers and phoenixes, it is evident from the detail and lifelike appearance of his paintings of chickens and other animals that he based his work on actual observation. In 1739, when he was 23 years old, his father died suddenly and he took over the grocery shop. However, he was so absorbed in painting that he neglected the shop.

Jakuchū built a two-story studio on the west bank of the Kamo River in his late thirties. He called it Shin'en-kan (心遠館, Villa of the Detached Heart [or Mind]), after a phrase from a poem by the ancient Chinese poet Tao Qian. It was around this time that Jakuchū befriended Daiten Kenjō, a Rinzai monk who would later become abbot of the Kyoto temple Shōkoku-ji. Through this friendship Jakuchū gained access to the temple's collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings, and gained introduction to new social and artistic circles. It is thought that Daiten may have been the one to first conceive of the name "Jakuchū", taken from the Tao Te Ching and meaning "like the void".

From Doshoku Sai-e (Realm of Living Beings, National Treasure)

In 1756, when he was forty years old, he gave up managing the grocery store, retired, and moved to Shōkoku-ji to devote himself to painting. In 1758, when he was forty-two years old, he began to paint Doshoku Sai-e (動植綵絵, Colorful Realm of Living Beings), a series of paintings depicting various animals and plants, as a memorial to his parents and youngest brother, who had died prematurely, and as a wish for his own future. At the age of fifty-one, he completed 30 Doshoku Sai-e and three Shaka Sanzon-zu (釈迦三尊図, Shaka Triad) and donated them to Shōkoku-ji. These works were very popular at the time and spread Jakuchu's fame. The Doshoku Sai-e is now designated as a National Treasure and is considered one of the greatest masterpieces not only by Jakuchū but also in the history of Japanese painting.

Well-known and well-reputed in the Kyoto art community, Jakuchū received many commissions for screen paintings, and was at one time featured above a number of other notable artists in the Record of Heian Notables (平安人物志, Heian jinbutsu-shi). In addition to personal commissions, Jakuchū was also commissioned to paint panels or screens for many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines across Japan. One example is the 50 murals of Kinkaku-ji Temple that he painted at the request of Daiten Kenjō when he was forty-four years old. Most painters would have chosen pine trees, bamboo, plum trees, or Mount Fuji as their subjects, but Jakuchū broke with conventional wisdom and painted grape and banana trees. These 50 murals have been designated as Important Cultural Properties and are housed in the Jotenkaku Museum (ja) in Shokoku-ji.

In his fifties and sixties he produced prints and ink paintings, but during this period he was appointed to the important position of machi doshiyori (町年寄り) at the Nishiki Market, so the number of his works decreased compared to the previous years. At that time, the Nishiki Market was on the verge of extinction, and he worked desperately to keep it alive, and his activities at that time were recorded in books.

It was not until he was in his 70s that he began to paint actively again. He lost his house in the Great Tenmei Fire around this time and moved to Osaka to seek support from a cultural figure named Kimura Kenkado (木村蒹葭堂), but his passion for painting did not wane, and he painted many large works, including Saboten Gunkei-zu Fusuma (仙人掌群鶏図襖絵, Cactus and Domestic Fowls).

Despite his individualism and involvement in the scholarly and artistic community of Kyoto, Jakuchū was always strongly religious, and retired towards the end of his life to Sekiho-ji (ja), a Manpuku-ji branch temple on the southern outskirts of Kyoto. There, he gathered a number of followers, and continued to paint until his death at the age of eighty-four.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2024