Interlude

At the water's edge on the moor to the south

 of the river, there stands a plum tree

The blossoms that flower on its sparse branches

 bring tidings of spring

 At dusk the tree casts its shadow

long on the ground

The moon appears, joining the gulls

 that soar. How delightful!

- Honko

Kuge shu [The Collected Works of Kiige], in Gozan bungaku zenshu

[Complete Collection of the Literature of the Five Temples] (Tokyo, I936)



Japanese Gardens Part 1: Landscape

"Someone saw an imperfectly matched set of books and said that it was ugly.  But the Priest Koyu said, 'Only a person with poor taste would insist on having things match, for it is much better if they do not."
- an excerpt from Tsurezuregusa [Harvest of Leisure] by Yoshida Kenko

The above passage displays individuality of a "romantic, functional" individual that the Muromachi man came to be known by.  In my previous entry I briefly discussed monochrome paintings, it is in this medium that functional individuality was cleary shown and appreciated.  The Muromachi periods unique view of the individual led to the appearance of many talents, of note the famous monochrome painter, Soami.

Well known for his skill at composing both Chinese and Japanese poems, Saomi also displayed a mastery of the flute (shakuhachi), tea ceremony, interior decorating, art criticism, and particular to this article landscape gardening.

http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/gardens/ginkaku/ginkaku-ji.html

Ink Painting

Muromachi Period of Japan is known for various forms of thriving visual arts, most prominent amongst these is ink painting.

One of the styles of ink paintng that developed during this time is sui-boku-ga (水墨画) or as we better know it, sumi-e (墨絵).  This style of ink painting utilized only black ink in the form of an ink stick that the artist grinds into water themselves.  Varied concentrations of ink and water allow for this ink and wash style of painting to have strong value ranges of blacks and diluted grays.

Sesshū Tōyō (雪舟 等楊) also known as Tōyō, Unkoku, was a master of prominence in this style.

Autumn Landscape (Shukei-sansui)

This piece by Toyo is visually weighted in the foreground of the picture plane as shown in the heavy mountain lines and strong value monochramtic value.  Yet as the viewers eye is drawn back into the picture towards the temple and the distant horizon of mountains the composition becomes light and ephemeral in the slightest of hints of almost transparent grays.

Strong sense of space and perspective which lends itself to this Zen art and that of the "excursion garden."

Konichiwa

Greetings and welcome to Muromachi Zen my blog centering on the Muromachi Period of Japan and its position in Zen and Ink arts.

I hope you enjoy learning about this particular period in Japans arts history as I do.

Brian-desu