Sugimura Jihei Masataka (active 1681-1703) was a noted printmaker in the Genroku period. His style is said to be in part influenced by the archetypal woodblock printer Moronobu (1618-1694). Unlike many artists of his time, Sugimura often signed his pieces using his surname rather than his artist title and he has the credit of having the oldest signed extant Kakemono-e (Horizontal painting scroll). He would often sign his work in unobtrusive places, like the sleeve of a Kosode.[5] Sugimura was a successful designer and publisher is known to have published at least 70 books with his work inside, publishing usually in the Shunga genre, frequently using Mitate-e (見立) such as those found in his Tale of Genji. Sugimura is best known for having introduced and popularised subtle erotic colour into Sumizuri-e books by 1685.[1]
Sugimuras first surviving work is the Ukiyo raku-asobi (浮世らくおそび | Easy pleasures of the floating world book), a woodblock print Shunga book made in 1681.[5] Sugimura worked in Edo from 1689, and as such as was influenced by the Edo Bijin ideals, which were markedly different from the Osaka (flashy) and Kyoto (Iki) Bijin at this time. The Edo Genroku Bijin as such was a more expensive derivation of the Osaka Bijin, but was less refined than the ideal Kyoto Bijin.[1][2] Sugimura printed his works with large blown up images, as well as the more usual smaller sizes seen in the 1650-1670's in Japanese print books. The majority of Sugimura's large singular prints showed detailed and coloured figures who often took up a large proportion of the space on the page.[5] Many of Sugimuras prints were also often printed separately and decorated in colour on their own as well, unlike Moronobu's quickly produced monochrome and artisanal Ukiyo-e prints.[1]
Dalliance (c.1685) Sugimura JiheiFrom 1670-1680 print books had begun to use two tone colours if at all, this changed in the Genroku period and later on from 1685-1690 when Osaka culture began to flourish in GKTC and E-makikimono techniques introduced great varities of design techniques and colours as the work of painters and calligraphers (such as Miyazaki Yūzen and Yuezen Hiinakata) began to appear on Kosode and thus in the fashionable woodblock prints of the time.[3] Whilst other printers and designers had used colour in this time, Sugimuras light, airy and decorative hand painted colour applications were said to have added personal flair and to his characters erotic appeal.[5] When the 1690's rolled around and with the rise of the Osaka Bijin therefore, this is the paradigm shift and lense we must use to understand Sugimura's contribution to Bijin-ga.
Sugimura characteristically applies in a lighter style and palette in the hand of a painter with softer, tonal colours placed using watercolours atop his Sumizuri prints. Sugimura colouring is therefore reflective of the trends of Genroku print technology limits and styles, but in his colour application, rejects and reforms the Monochrome Moronobu for a hybrid Hanbei and Yuzen approach by combining painting and mis en scene techniques to give a blush and glow to his Shunga Bijin. It was this delicate use and particular placement of colour which made Sugimura popular in GKTC and amongst Chonin collectors, and influenced later designers colour choices.[1] Sugimuras linework meanwhile, whilst nothing special, builds on the work of Hanbei in working with spatial arrangement and composition to build certain environments and scene atmospheres in his prints.
The spatial arrangement of Sugimura's figures therefore is highly individual and gives off an air of confident Ukiyo-e, of high self-esteem and contentment in their role and place in society which was highly sought after by the Chonin who chased that very entrepreneurial attitude in their own lifestyles and lives. A number of the late 1680s extant Kakemono-e bearing a Sugimura signature survive, and this shows the ornate Kosode which Sugimura thought fashionable. Indeed his Kakemon reflected the new 'extreme' Furisode which had only come into vogue at the time, which reflected these new Kosode and how GKTC operated around and within sumptuary laws in using understated and overstated production.[5]
Sugimuras Kakemon, like his Sumizuri, contained Mitate (literary allusions) to classical Heian texts such as the Ise Monogatari and Genji Monogatari. Sugimura also often used decorative embellishments such as floral corner diapers in his work, enlarged figures and elaborate patterns, all signs of wealth and status for the time taken to produce these fanciful designs for their self-satisfied customers, I say self-satisfied as we are talking about here about people buying soft core porn or Abuna-e.[5] However money talks, and it was certainly not in the hands of the Samurai at this time. This does follow with Sugimura's Kosode designs, which are often lavish, but follow the already established popular motif, patterns and designs of the time, simply substituting his own evocative colour schemes in lieu of any other bombastic designing.
The Technicolour Bijin 1680 - 1700
The Sugimura Bijin is therefore a product of its time as GKTC; presented in come-hither colours, which softly approached the conservative author; giving a sense of traditional familiarity; and to the Chonin class, a loosening of the shackles of the sumptuary laws and an exciting new proponent of their acceptance and pursuance which strode the line between acceptability and extravagance by 1690 in toned down 17th century Kosode.[4] Sugimuras Bijin instead tells little white lies by using colour and form as stylistic elements congruent with the Moronobu style in showing without telling. Sugimura used the 'S-style' silhouette of the Kambun era for example, but applied subtle changes such as colour scheme and more ornate Mitate Kosode in his images to give a veneer of packaged Iki which was in fact marketed to the Chonin and not the Samurai classes. The Sugimura Bijin therefore is Technicolour, the new starlet who has replaced the silent film actors with a thin combination of Zoku (俗 | Vulgar) and Ga (雅 | Refined) from a man who often portrayed self-assured drunks & voyeurs and dressed them up as high and refined culture for the new modern townsperson.[5] Sugimura Bijin are bright for their times, and large in their scale, prominently celebrating the floating world Chonin lifestyle and GKTC they created for themselves, whilst operating under the propriety and sumptuary codes of the times.
Bibliography
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugimura_Jihei
[2] See Bijin #3, under Sumptuary Laws
[3] See Bijin #3, under The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700)
[4] See Bijin #4, under The Toned-down Bijin
[5] https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/ukiyoe/sugimura_jihei.html
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