Two bar-tailed godwits.

Japanese Kachō-e ‘bird-and-flower pictures’ offered print lovers a charming antidote to the melodrama of kabuki-e. Early kachō-e drew on Chinese conventions and "aimed to capture the spirit of nature in connection with the seasons, poetic allusions, or religious values". Bird images often conveyed symbolic meanings – tsuru, the crane, for example, was associated with longevity. By the 20th century, the simpler pleasures of enjoying intimate views of nature had somewhat supplanted these metaphoric associations.
Ohara Shōson (1877-1945), the most celebrated of shin-hanga ('new print') kachō-e artists, is reputed to have designed over 450 bird compositions. Under the name Koson, he had trained in Nihonga Japanese-style painting, specialising in the naturalistic modes of the Maruyama-Shijō school. He found early employment designing senso-e triptychs of the Russo-Japanese War. Subsequently, however, he specialised in intimate shin-hanga views of birds in their natural settings.

Delicate watercolour washes clearly distinguish Shōson’s naturalist style from idioms of contemporary kachō-e designers, and account for his popularity in Japan and in the West. That delicacy challenged the skills of his craftsmen, and Shōson found favour with the best. Works published by Akiyama Buemon (Kokkeidō) and Matsuki Heikichi (Daikokuya) and signed Koson were "principally destined for the foreign market". He changed his name to Shōson from 1912, and used it from around 1923 in his work with the pre-eminent shin-hanga publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō. All five bird prints currently in Te Papa's collection are signed and sealed Shōson, and also bear Watanabe’s small circular seal.

Shōson's compositions are surprisingly varied – at turns delicately elegant, majestic or whimsical. An intimate view of godwits wading in front of gently windblown reeds exemplifies the artist's painterly style, and the gentle naturalism of his kachöga. The painterly quality is evident in this work in the mogu, 'boneless' technique (i.e. without outlines), the single, fluid brushstroke seen here in each leaf in the rushes, and the rippling water. Together with the transparency of his pigment and muted palette, these qualities draw on Shōson's study of Maruyama-Shijo school painting under Suzuki Kason (1860–1919). Shōson began designing kachöga early in his career and completed more than 450 bird compositions. The majority represented familiar species like the godwits shown here – humble subjects that encouraged a quiet, introspective engagement from his viewers. Their carefully contrived naturalism and painterly effects demanded the finest craftsmanship of his printers.  The combination was appealing, and his works found international popularity - not least to New Zealanders who welcome bar-tailed godwits as much-loved summer migrants - some of them coming from East Asia.

Sources:

David Bell, 'A new vision: modern Japanese prints from the Heriot collection', Tuhinga, 31 (2020), forthcoming.

David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', Tuhinga, 29 (2018), https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/document/10608

A. Newland, J. Perrée and R. Schaap, Cows, cranes & camellias: the natural world of Ohara Koson 1877-1945 (Leiden, 2001).

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator, Historical International Art    May 2019