ゆえふ | Yuefu | 20 BCE - 1200 CE | Bijin #23

Yuefu are a Classical Chinese type of ballad, which falls into the folksong category of our times. Most Yuefu were derived from poetry, a good number by women and then composed into songs. Think sort of like the 1930's poem 'Strange Fruit' which was later sung by Billie Holiday for example. Later dynasties imitated the style of these and these ballads and spoekn poetry styles are now all referred to as 'Yuefu' folksongs, just as Noel Cowards 'Mad About the Boy' has been done with over the past century in English.[1] Yuefu have chronicled the rise of acceptable beauty standards which I put into context and relation for existing within East Asian beauty standards using modern ideas of those times.

100 Volumes of Yuefu (1341, PD) Guo Maoqian

Folk Literature

Historically, Yuefu referred to the literal term 'Music Bureau', during the Antiquity or Imperial Chinese historical period, when mainly male scholars would write down the lyrics of contemporary and older ballads for posterity during the Han dynasty when new ideas about how art should be regarded were being debated in elite scholarly circles in China. Historical Yuefu are often unevenly lengthed, fixed-rhythms. Modern versions loosely have five character fixed lengths, and this new standard form came well after 450 CE.[1]

You may be thinking, how does this relate to the development of our study of Bijin in Eastern Asia and its trickle down economy to Japan. Well, a bit of a mystery to me as well becuase there is very little research done on the topic in English and sadly I do not speak nor read particularly well any form of Ancient or Modern Chinese. However, it is known that these ballad songs were often written about archetypes, which included beautiful women, which certainly tells us about the types of beauty from that time and the ideas of what beauty standards even were. And apart from say the Dahuting Tomb Murals which only reflect the acceptable beauty standards of the dead and upper nobility, Yuefu are rather more exciting as they are more of a democratic force for beauty standards.

Meiren in the popular imagination

We can appraoch Yuefu as our current default settings for Beauty standards we can prove existed in Antiquity Eastern Asia. They reflected dominant, upcoming, isolated and universal beauty ideals for women and men perhaps, and formed the pool of evidenced Han Beauty standards by the time the Bureau of Music began recording them. These are the early evidenced examples of course and controversies in their collation, collocation and semantical deviation and focus is of course, like all things Statesian Alex Lomax to be brought into question. However as the archeological and oral record stand, these are our default base settings to dominant East Asian beauty standards.[2]

Many of these folksongs infact begin their lives before the Han Dynasty as tales like those of Xi Shi.[3] Many of these songs are heavily likely to have been not only about, but by women who would have performed these kinds of performances as poetry, dances, recitations and the like to appropriately distinguished scholars and elites as sex-workers, dancers, scholars, poets, attendants and performers. These became a mainstay of performance in elite circles by the late Han Dynasty (c.200 CE) and these performers and poets became celebrated in the popular imagination of their circles, admirers and as muses.[2]

Women had long being holding public office, writing and power since the time of the Duchess of Wey,  Ms.Nanzi ( active 534 - 480 BCE ) in lieu of her gay husband, Ban Zhao  ( 49-120 CE ) of her writings & Empress Jia Nanfeng ( 257-300 CE ) for her disabled husband.[6]

Yasodhara, Buddhas Wife (c.200[1908], CE, PD) University of Lahore

Most Yuefu were sung from the point of a heroine about the loss of their partner, whilst the lurid in the semantical sense Songs from the Jade Terrace equivalent was their successor the objectifying Gongti of the Tang Dynasty which reimagined Yuefu to a more erotica-fuelled vision.[2] This ideal of Yuefu arose around the time that Yuefu became the democratically and publically performed chaste event they were at the time at the end of the late Han Dynasty (150-200 CE).[2] This was the development of the Damei or Great Beauty, a natural beauty who focused her beauty inwards and towards authenticity, which develped in the Arts as the Lotus Beauty, a reflection of Xi Shi's role as one of the Four Great Beauties of Imperial China.[3][6]

Rare and beautiful Oriental art treasures of supreme quality (1915, PD) Anon

Reflective of the Abandoned Woman Allegory from Gongti

Yuefu were transformed into more erotically charged poetry compilations of women fanning themselves over their wash-basins and rouges, albeit within a patriarchal time which espoused Confucius, Dao and submissive female elites by heteronormative men (c200-500 CE). This atmosphere resulted in the beauty standard of the Nymph Beauty, a sort of ethereal beauty real women could never aspire to, but were judged by. This was the time of Cao Zhi (192-232 CE) and Kaizhi's (345-406CE) Nymph Beauty afterall.[2][4] These metaphorical, ephemeral beauty standards chastised even Empresses, such as Admonitions of the instructress to the court ladies aimed at the Empress Jian Nanfeng (257-300 CE).[5] Jian was respected as a type of beauty, but not as a ruler by her male subjects who patronised her for what they themselves did. 

Wise women (c.400 CE, PD) Gu Kaizhi

Woman Poetry, Feminine Beauty

Female attendant of Vaisravana the War Deity (C.618 CE, CC4.0) Uriel1022

New female poets came to power at this time with all of the male drama (wars causing instability) going on around them, asserting new beauty standards which reworked the existing genres. Later Yuefu of the 6th century (500 CE) revived the older traditions of the late Han to form their own rebuke to the 'Abandoned Women' and bitten peaches (Queer love) tropes of Gongti and which formed the basis of new Gongti poetry.[2] This lead to a decline in Gongti by the early Tang period as women came to political power proper, holding influence over the Imperial throne, politics and property.[2] This is reflected in the 14 poets of the Jade Terrace anthology (c.500-589CE) who were female which used Yuefu conventions to do so in 700+ works and which defined female beauty standards of the 5th and 6th centuries.[2][4] Fashionable topics included the Great Meiren, of Inner Beauty, Xi Shi and Outer Beauty Diaochan.[8]

[Beauty standards then were Black] hair with precious stones, slim build and small features. These were what drew court artists to their subjects, with commissioners more concerned over the subjective morals and ethics implicit to the text. [...] Women subjects in particular were deemed as more suitable for submissiveness, and often did not take leading roles other than as beauties [... and] were more of an anomaly generally in their discipline [across their field].[5]

Gongti which openly celebrated fleshy white beauties made up in fine outfits with their raven hair, jade ornaments and rouged makeup of the Terrace Beauty. This [the 7th] century saw instead the rise of the power wielding female, who in the tradition of Ms.Nanzi, held the real power at court.[6] 

These conditions came to be with the promulgation of new power structures like the introduction of Buddhism, Male Dramatics (I call it Matriarchy) and the coming to power of Empress Wu Zetian (624-705 CE), a woman who dared to be as ruthless as her male counterparts. I deign these influential women of the period as the Rouged Meiren, a new category of elite women who achieved considerable influence in the Tang Dynasty as patrons of art, religion and wealth through marriage, commerce and active civil duty.[6] They enabled other female poets the ability to encourage the creation of the Drunken Lotus beauty, that being a beauty standard made by women from pre-existing tropes which reflected an elite female reality of life and beauty ideals which accepted the realities of womens bodies.

This saw a move towards authentic female anatomy and beauty ideals away from the Nymph Beauty ideal.[6] Women paid men like Zhou Fang (730-800) to paint their ideals and likenesses, just as Queens like Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) did to project images about their wealth, status and ergo beauty, to the world.[6] The art, including Yuefu imbued poetry genres, was imbued into contemporary ideals of beauty, demarcating beauty standards and ideals around Eastern Asia, influenced in turn by the beauty ideals of neighbouring modern India, Nepal and perhaps further afield with the affluence of the Silk Road.[6] Princess Taiping (c662 - 713CE) and her lesbian lover, Shuangguan Wan'er ( 664-710 ) carried on these traditions, undoubtedly influencing Yuefu we have now lost to time.[6]

All of these developments lead to the golden age of Chinese Arts still hailed today as the highpoint of Classical Chinese Art, the Tang Dynasty. During this era, women held great sway over politics and beauty standards, leading to the rise of the plump, comfortable Tang aristocrat who spent her days watching the moon at parties, making poetry and being decadently raunchy in and out of court. Beauty standards still followed previous epochs particularly in makeup though, with the oval face and red face dots ( 花鈿 | Hua Dian) of the Sui. Having eyebrows like Xi Shi in the Tang age for example were highly sought after, and mimicking such a great beauties personality (wink wink) and mannerisms were highly cultivated traits of a beautiful person. [...] This developed from perhaps folk ballads like Yuefu, or as Ban Zhao may have encouraged from tales like Yeh-Hsien, into the Drunken Lotus trope, where highly 'religious' women would go about their 'nun-like' ways, whilst downing many a beverage in the evening at their courts and parties listening to the latest poetry, laid out like the Queen of Sheba thinking about which male to devour next in their decadent surroundings.[6]

Yuefu influences in East Asia

These morality tales continued into the next millenium for women, who were included in Japanese poetry anthologies, as writers of literature and in their literacy and creatives of art, undoubtedly from the role Yuefu played in the Golden Age Tang poets gave to the world as its legacy. Many Japanese 'Medieval' texts from the Heian period reflect the assumptions of these Classical Yuefu structures, mostly of the late Han period in the expectations and boundaries women were expected to have occupied. 

Whilst I would like to include more scholarly journals and articles on the matter, please take my word that there is very little scholarship on the matter, but that most popular beauty standards up to the Heian period stems from sex-workers like Xi-Shi and Diaochan, and that artwork has been whitewashed to erase womens roles in it's history. Traditional styles of feminine-coded art for example from this time are literally just referred to as 'Onna-E' (Womens pictures).[7]  Japanese elite women for example were highly literate, creating and forging the Hiragana script when their male counterparts were studying Classical Chinese. However many of these roles are limited to that of Nun-like reclusiveness, Nikki which were to be read by very few and the roles beautiful people take in Japanese medieval literature, art and texts are all reflective of the influence of the subtle nature emphasised in the reworking of Gongti, take for example the Ashida-E (reed writing). 

Onna Emakimono originated in the Heian Period when the distinction between Wamono and Kara-mono (Japanese and Chinese things) was still very fresh. These distinctions and tales were what inspired Japanese court ladies to go out and make their own cultures. Women like Ise no Miyasudokoro ( 875-938CE ), Sei Shonagon ( 966-1017CE ), Akazome Emon ( 954-1947CE ) and Murasaki Shikibu    ( fl.1000-1012 ) wrote Waka, Nikkei (Diaries) and the first novel. Their aesthetic lives inspired by Six Dynasty women writers such as the bisexual Shangguan Wan'er (664-710) and instruction by Ban Zhao ( 25-117CE ) also show how they greatly admired and understood these social and cultural conventions from foreign countries, mostly China. [...] Onna-E was a culmination of Imperial court noblewomen who based on their penchant for writing literature, reading Classical Chinese and Wamono texts, created the basis for Wamono culture, pulling away from Chinese sources as was the Manly Sumi-E thing to do, and to create work tempered by Yamato-jin sensibilities. Thus Yamato-E, Otogizoshi and the Japanese school of art was born.[7]

Eventually all of these models which built upon their predecessors lead to a legacy of female art which can be seen in the influence these role models and beauties played in the creation and develop of the art of people like Iwasa Matabei and the employment of the Bijin in Ukiyo-E at the start of its inception in the 1650s in Japan and earlier with the promulgation of Classical tropes and archetypes at the hands of the Machi-Eshi and 'woman painter' of Japanese art, particularly commoner scrolls that showed a relation to Yamato-E in Emakimono.

A sexy Nun (c1650, PD) Museum of Art

Tacit Beauty

All in all, Yuefu heroines reflect the push and pull (or PUSH and POPS as my linguistics degree reminds me) of the public nature female beauty has existed in and for. Yuefu reflects how women were able to take the Lotus Beauty trope to the Drunken Lotus trope in poetry, later the Arts, turning patriarchal beauty standards on their head and bringing female concerns of beauty to the fore. Yuefu proved to be a valuable medium for feminine agency and expression down the centuries, carving out a space in the 'Traditional', 'Classical' World for first the agency of women, then the empowerment of women and finally the gender expression of beauty towards the feminine spectrum. This all against the backdrop of the Voyeuristic Male Gaze into the lives of property, girls and rulers.[1][3][4]

Bibliography

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuefu

[2] See Bijin #19

[3] See Bijin #17

[4] Watching the Voyeurs: Palace Poetry and the Yuefu of Wen Tingyun, December 1989, Paul Rouzer, Volume 11, pp.13-31, CLEAR Journal | https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525

[5] See Bijin #16

[6] See Bijin #20

[7] See Essay #17

[8] See Bijin #20

Bijin Series Timeline

11th century BCE

- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1045 BCE); Ruqun Mei

8th century BCE

- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (770 BCE)

3rd century BCE

Xi Shi (flourished c201-900CE); The (Drunken) Lotus Bijin

2cnd century BCE

        - The Han Dynasty

1st century BCE

Wang Zhaojun (active 38 - 31 BCE) Intermediary Bijin

0000 Current Era

1st century

        - Han Tomb portraiture begins as an extension of Confucian Ancestor Worship; first Han aesthetic                                scholars dictate how East Asian composition and art ethics begin

                       - Isometric becomes the standard for East Asian Composition (c.100); Dahuting Tomb Murals

                       - Ban Zhao introduces Imperial Court to her Lessons for Women (c106);                                                                    - Women play major roles in the powerplay of running of China consistently until 1000 CE, influencing                          Beauty standards

                       - Buddhism is introduced to China (150 CE)

                       - Qiyun Shengdong begins to make figures more plump and Bijin-like (c.150) but still pious

Diao Chan (192CE); The Outer Bijin

2cnd century

             - Yuefu folk ballads inspire desirable beauty standards of pining women ; Tacit Bijin

4th century

Gu Kaizhi (active 364-406); Metaphorical Beauty

        - Buddhism is introduced to Korea (c.372)

        - Chinese Artists begin to make aesthetic beauties in ethereal religious roles of heavenly Nymphs

                       - Luo River Nymph Tale Scroll (c.400)

          - Womens clothing emphasized the waist as the Guiyi (Swallow-Tail Flying Ribbons) style (c.400)

                       - Wise and Benevolent Women (c.400)

5th century

          - Chinese Art becomes decadent; Imperial Culture begins to see more expression in religious statues (c450)

                       - Longmen Grotto Boddhisattvas (471)

6th century

Xu Ling; (active 537-583); Terrace Meiren

7th century

            - Tang Dynasty Art (618-908)

           - Rouged Bijin (600-699 CE) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty

Yan Liben (active 642-673); Bodhisattva Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A1.jpg Guan Yin  | https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater

Wu Zetian (active 665-705); The Great Tang Art Patron [Coming Soon]

Asuka Bijin (c.699); The Wa Bijin

8th century

            - Princess Yongtai's Veneration Murals (701) [Coming Soon]

- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)

- Sumizuri-e (710)

Yang Yuhuan Guifei (719-756); [Coming Soon] East Asian Supermodel Bijin https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/275768522.pdf https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5437.html#chapter-5

            - Astana Cemetery (c.700-750) [Coming Soon]

Zhang Xuan (active 720-755); [Coming Soon]

- What is now Classical Chinese Art forms

                    - An Lushun Rebellion (757) 

 Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin

- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)

9th century

                       - Buddhist Bijin [Coming Soon] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_the_Tang_Dynasty#/media/File:Noble_Ladies_Worshiping_Buddha.jpg + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogao_Caves#/media/File:Anonymous-Bodhisattva_Leading_the_Way.jpg

                    - Gongti Revival https://www.jstor.org/stable/495525?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

10th century

                       -End of Tang Art (907)

13th century

                     - Heimin painters; 1200-1850; Town Beauty

15th century 

- Fuzokuga Painting schools; Kano (1450-1868) and Tosa (1330-1690) 

Tang Yin (active 1490-1524); Chinese Beauties [Coming Soon] https://www.comuseum.com/painting/masters/tang-yin/ 

16 century 

- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630) 

- Wamono style begins under Chanoyu teachings (c1550-1580)

- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)

 - End of Sengoku Jidai brings Stabilisation policy (1590-1615)  

17th century  

- Land to Currency based Economy Shift (1601-1655)

- Early Kabuki Culture (1603-1673) ; Yakusha-e or Actor Prints

- Machi-Eshi Art ( 1610 - 1710) ; The Town Beauty

- Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685) 

- Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685)  

Iwasa Matabei (active 1617-1650) ; Yamato-e Bijin  

The Hikone Screen (c.1624-1644) [Coming Soon]

- Sankin-Kotai (1635-1642) creates mass Urbanisation  

- Popular culture and print media production moves from Kyoto to Edo (1635-1650); Kiyohara Yukinobu (1650-1682) ; Manji Classical Beauty

- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties;

 Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) ; Kojin Bijin

- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (1660-1690) ; rise of the Kabunakama Guilds and decline of the Samurai

- Kanazoshi Books (1660-1700); Koshokubon Genre (1659?-1661)

- Shunga (1660-1722); Abuna-e

Kanbun Master/School (active during 1661-1673) ; Maiko Bijin 

- Hinagata Bon (1666 - 1850) 

- Ukiyo Monogatari is published by Asai Ryoi (1666) 

Yoshida Hanbei (active 1664-1689) ; Toned-Down Bijin

- Asobi/Suijin Dress Manuals (1660-1700)

- Ukiyo-e Art (1670-1900)

Hishikawa Moronobu (active 1672-1694) ; Wakashu Bijin

- Early Bijin-ga begin to appear as Kakemono (c.1672)  

- Rise of the Komin-Chonin Relationship (1675-1725)

- The transit point from Kosode to modern Kimono (1680); Furisode, Wider Obi 

- The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) ; Yuezen Hiinakata

Fu Derong (active c.1675-1722) ; [Coming Soon] https://archive.org/details/viewsfromjadeter00weid/page/111/mode/1up?view=theater

Sugimura Jihei (active 1681-1703) ; Technicolour Bijin 

- The Amorous Tales are published by Ihara Saikaku (1682-1687)

Hishikawa Morofusa (active 1684-1704) [Coming Soon]

- The Beginning of the Genroku Era (1688-1704)

- The rise of the Komin and Yuujo as mainstream popular culture (1688-1880) 

- The consolidation of the Bijinga genre as mainstream pop culture 

- The rise of the Torii school (1688-1799) 

- Tan-E (1688-1710)   

Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) ; Genroku Komin and Wamono Bijin 

Torii Kiyonobu (active 1688 - 1729) : Commercial Bijin

Furuyama Moromasa (active 1695-1748)

18th century

Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1700-1750) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Ando (active 1700-1736) ; Broadstroke Bijin

Okumura Masanobu (active 1701-1764)

Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1704-1716) [Coming Soon]

Baioken Eishun (active 1710-1755) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Anchi (active 1714-1716) [Coming Soon]

Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [Coming Soon] | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=5

1717 Kyoho Reforms

Miyagawa Choshun (active 1718-1753) [Coming Soon]

Miyagawa Issho (active 1718-1780) [Coming Soon]

Nishimura Shigenaga (active 1719-1756) [Coming Soon]

Matsuno Chikanobu (active 1720-1729) [Coming Soon]

- Beni-E (1720-1743)

Torii Kiyonobu II (active 1725-1760) [Coming Soon]

- Uki-E (1735-1760)

Kawamata Tsuneyuki (active 1736-1744) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820)

Miyagawa Shunsui (active from 1740-1769) [Coming Soon]

Benizuri-E (1744-1760)

Ishikawa Toyonobu (active 1745-1785) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Settei (active 1753-1787) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1756-1787) [Coming Soon]

Shunsho Katsukawa (active 1760-1793) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyoharu (active 1763-1814) [Coming Soon]

Suzuki Harunobu (active 1764-1770) [Coming Soon]

- Nishiki-E (1765-1850)

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1765-1815) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (active 1765-1820) [Coming Soon]

Maruyama Okyo (active 1766-1795) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Utamaro (active 1770-1806) [Coming Soon]

Kubo Shunman (active 1774-1820) [Coming Soon]

Tsutaya Juzaburo (active 1774-1797) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunimasa (active from 1780-1810) [Coming Soon]

Tanehiko Takitei (active 1783-1842) [Coming Soon]

Katsukawa Shuncho (active 1783-1795) [Coming Soon]

Choubunsai Eishi (active 1784-1829) [Coming Soon]

Eishosai Choki (active 1786-1808) [Coming Soon]

Rekisentei Eiri (active 1789-1801) [Coming Soon] [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukiyo-e_paintings#/media/File:Rekisentei_Eiri_-_'800),_Beauty_in_a_White_Kimono',_c._1800.jpg]

Sakurai Seppo (active 1790-1824) [Coming Soon]

Chokosai Eisho (active 1792-1799) [Coming Soon]

Kunimaru Utagawa (active 1794-1829) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyokuni II (active 1794 - 1835) [Coming Soon]

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (active 1799-1823) [Coming Soon]

19th century

Teisai Hokuba (active 1800-1844) [Coming Soon]

Totoya Hokkei (active 1800-1850) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada Toyokuni III (active 1800-1865) [Coming Soon]

Urakusai Nagahide (active from 1804) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Tsukimaro (active 1804 - 1836)

Kikukawa Eizan (active 1806-1867) [Coming Soon]

Keisai Eisen (active 1808-1848) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (active 1810-1861) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Hiroshige (active 1811-1858) [Coming Soon]

Yanagawa Shigenobu (active 1818-1832) [Coming Soon]

Katsushika Oi (active 1824-1866) [Coming Soon]

Hirai Renzan (active 1838ー？) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada II (active 1844-1880) [Coming Soon]

Yamada Otokawa (active 1845) [Coming Soon] | 山田音羽子 https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976?seq=10

Toyohara Kunichika (active 1847-1900) [Coming Soon]

Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (active 1850-1892) [Coming Soon]

Noguchi Shohin (active c1860-1917) [Coming Soon]

Toyohara Chikanobu (active 1875-1912) [Coming Soon]

Uemura Shoen (active 1887-1949) [Coming Soon]

Kiyokata Kaburaki (active 1891-1972) [Coming Soon]

Goyo Hashiguchi (active 1899-1921) [Coming Soon]

20th century

Yumeji Takehisa (active 1905-1934) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kotondo (active 1915-1976) [Coming Soon]

Hisako Kajiwara (active 1918-1988) [Coming Soon] https://www.roningallery.com/artists/kajiwara-hisako | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790976

Yamakawa Shūhō (active 1927-1944) [Coming Soon]

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御所車図 | Goshoguruma | Imperial Cart | Pattern #19

Goshoguruma are the heain period carts which today symbolise Japanese imperial aristocratic presence in Wafuku motifs. They often symbolize class and aristocratic practices, denoting elegance and the upper classes. Occassionally the Goshoguruma is covered or surrounded by floral arrangements, when this is the motif, it means the person inside is incredibly happy or prosperous. The inside is rather like a small house, with tatami mats, bamboo curtains and a little window. This derived another motif of lowered blinds, which often represented a glimpse into imperial life used in Genji, which later developed into the Genji motif, Genji picture cart and other Genji merchandise is available racket.

Goshoguruma in use (1868, PD) Anonymous

Goshoguruma were historically only seen by regular folk who would witness them passing by drawn by oxen. Used mostly in the Heian period, they declined following the next centuries which saw sustained war by the  Kamakura period and epochs of war in the Sengoku Jidai. Murasaki reported they were rather uncomfortable on long journeys in her diaries, but it seems that is the seem for quite a lot of older style carriages in general.[1][2] After a lot of use, the Goshoguruma motif developed into a Rusu moyou ( Absence motif | 留守模様 ), which meant no humans at first, then by the 17th century were decorated with particular Genji moyou and chapters from Genji in Genji-E (Genji pictures) to relay particular sentiments and ideologies. Eventually they were superseded by the Norimono ( Palanquin | 乗物 ) by the Edo period, Goshoguruma being reserved then for the imperial court solely.

[1] Murasaki Nikki, 973-1020, Murasaki Shikibu, p.N/A

[2] https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a43641745/gold-state-coach/

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町絵師 | Machi-Eshi | 1200 - 1850 | Bijin #15

The Machi Eshi (town painter) are a social group of Artisans who appear on the historical record after the societal changes that arose with the rise of the Shogunate system in the 1190s.[1] Later they reformed themselves as court affiliated specialist artisans in fields like metalwork forming medieval guilds, whilst Komin independents joined E-ya (picture shops).[4] During the Muromachi period, the Komin turned to the traditional Yamato-E style, drawing folktales and Classical novels in illustrated handscrolls sold and bought in local and regional art markets. During the Sengoku period, they evolved into highly flexible workers who commonly operated in workshops or trade bodies known as So, and if successful enough becoming by the 16th century celebrity Komin who made art for the elites. By the 17th century however, they reached their zenith and replaced the established art establishment by around 1640, defining the new Japanese beauty standards by 1675. Their influence waned after 1685 when they began to be clamped down by the Shogunate, a shadow of their former glory by 1750 and a trickle by 1850.

A sexy Nun (c1650, PD) Museum of Art

Nara Reforms

During the early Japanese history, heavy land reforms took place modelled on the Chinese system of governance. During the Nara period, this saw the implementation of a new capital (Kyoto), new tax reforms, and wide-sweeping changes based on the Chinese systems then in use. These new Taika reforms (645 CE) gave rise to decentralized systems which allowed art to become a viable career option and fields to operate within, such as woodwork, textiles and pottery.[2] Most of these being made for the new imperial court lifestyle or for religious purposes, in extant examples and being made by independents, the predecessor of the Machi-Eshi. It is their and state work which made the Nara period a high-period for Japanese art and culture.

The peaceful Time

When the Heian period began only 100 years later, these reforms lead to what has been called the Golden age of Japanese culture.[2] By the late Heian period, networks of independents and collaborators in workshops created Art for the elites, equivalent to the Benin Bronzes (c.1500) of Nigeria or Opus Anglicum (c.1100-1300) of England.

Baekje (PD) WC

The Heian period saw a turning in towards culturing a unique Japanese identity, distinct from Chinese and Buddhist influences. This started as a result of the collapse of Japan's ally, the Baekje kingdom (18BCE-660CE), resulting in a decline of trade between Japan and the Eurasian continent, with the last delegation returning from the continent in 838. This consolidated inner loyalties and saw the consolidation of power by the Fujiwara family by 858 and a total dismissal of maritime trade by 900 CE. In the arts, this differential reaction saw the creation of Yamato-E and Fuzokuga, mostly in the form of the famous Emakimono.[3][6][7] The scrolls made for other ranks like the Bushi and Samurai however, would have perhaps sought out more purse-friendly Fuzokuga painters for paintings.[7]

These many painters are mostly today unknown, but flourished in the Heian period as Art became a key tool of the Fujiwara clan and others for cementing their legitimacy to rule and display their wealth to others. Particularly in sculpture, this Fujiwara dominance resulted in the Fujiwara style, crafted by artists like the schulptor Jouchou (act. 1020-1057) in his Yosegi-zaiku (a kind of marquetry) who as with many others was taught in Kyoto and often worked on art for temples and the homes of his patrons like Fujiwara no Michinaga (藤原 道長, 966 – January 3, 1028).[7]  

When the fire nation Minamoto attacked the imperial court adjacent clans, in the late Heian period, this kicked off around 400 years (1200-1600CE) of intermittent civil wars, mostly affecting the nobility's ability to keep their heads attached to their shoulders. At the late stages of the Heian period however, these disputes saw a reduced capacity and imperial court coffer to make Art commissions and saw a decline in patronage of independents by the court. Other more prolific Kugonin ( Court-appointed Workshop Artisans | 供御人 ) making objects such as cast metal lanterns.[4] These Kugonin eventually became by 1100 CE collectives known as the Za ( Artisan Guilds | 座 ) who often operated in the capital.[4] Many Za workshops were also affiliated with temples creating iconographical, ritual and religious materials such as Buddhist sculptures, textiles, ceramics etc. to display in temples for the benefit of their patrons relationship with that temple.

The rise of the Independent Artisan

With the effective use of the Shouen ( Tax exempt land | 荘園 ) land reforms by Heimin farmers due to increased harvest yeild, many agricultural workers turned to artisanal work.[4] In 1275 a greater number of Za workshops began to be opened. These workshops were known as E-ya ( Picture shops | 絵屋 ), whose anonymous artisans operated mostly in cities like Kyoto and Osaka. An example of one kind being the Ogiya or fan shop.[8] From 1250 to 1350, the elites gave kickbacks such as land rights, tax and toll free status and the capacity to pay tax as goods for kind.[4] During this time, it became more common for the Heimin and Chonin groups to interact with art, that is art where they worked, or art they owned or had made for consumption in their livelihoods and homes, on fans, books, scrolls, screens, and doors. 

Tale of the Monkeys, late Otogi-Zoshi format (c.1560, CC4.0) British Museum

These Muromachi period (1336-1573) proto-Machi-Eshi artworks were often Fuzokuga, Sumi-E, Classical Chinese scenes ( Kara-E |  虚絵 ), and pictures depicting seasonal beauty (see Kano Motonobu for example) copied from Heian period novels.[6][23] Some of these included folk tales recorded on Otogizoshi Emakimono ( Prose narrative scrolls | 御伽草子絵巻物) included the tales of Independent Heimin Artisans, capturing rare glimpses of local medieval provincial folklore.[6]

Sengoku Politics

By 1350 on, the court influence diminished as outsider Samurai began to gain sociopolitical clout and as the Art industries broadened allowing for wider dispersal of Artisans across the country to choose Art as a career. Soukan ( General Supervisors of the Court | 惣官 ) limped on in their influence of advising the up and coming military class elites on art matters. They were then though superseded by the title hereditary Shugo ( Han Domain/Provinicial/Regional military administrators | 守護) who appointed their own advisors of Daiku ( Head Artisan | 大工 ) using new Shogunate approved tax rebates, a role previously overseen by the court approved Soukan, whom managed that areas Za.[4] This lead to areas developing their own highly specialized niches such as Nishijin weavers who specialized in Nishijin-ori used in Noh plays for example which were supported by the local Daimyou.[4][5] Even restorative work on older Emakimono took place at the time.[6]

By the 1400s, this new system of the increased wealth of the Shogu in their fiefs, lead to even greater opportunity for further class divides to open up as the men below them also became relatively richer than in the previous century. With this wider dispersal of wealth first from the capital, then to provincial leaders and to the Kokujin ( Countryside literally confusing as 'Provincial Men' | 国人 ) who receiving the backing of the Shogunate and Shugo came to power simultaneously as the Shugo. This led to more infighting between the Shugo and Kokujin, as had the succession and alliance disputes of the earlier Minamoto (Shogunate) and Taira (Established Court Family).[4]

Sengoku Jidai Art Markets

After the Onin War (1467), the greater number of Daimyo were former Kokujin victorious in their infighting fief wars.[4] These times become what is known today as the Sengoku Jidai, which fixed the Kokujin as the legitimate rulers of their fiefdoms. This in turn was coagulated by further alliances being made between established Kokujin who created vassal frameworks for neighbouring Kokujin to ally themselves to greater Kokujin Daimyo. Kokujin Daimyo created local trade networks to govern their fiefs more effectively to get ahead of neighbouring Daimyou by controlling local resources and infrastructure, creating new markets under the control and facilitating a greater need for Art to legitimise their power in the process, as the Fujiwara had before them.[4]

"[Daimyo] invested in and competed [...] with various merchant and artisan groups to assure a steady flow of supplies and financial support. [Kokujin in the] Sengoku period [did] this by sponsoring local trade centers and artisans in and around their residential mansions and defensive castle towns, both of which served as bases of production, market exchange, and consumption. [... This enabled] the aristocracy [... who] maintain[ed their former] prestige as a vessel of political and cultural legitimacy. This role enabled them to compete with [shugo] [...] through patronage of [local] artisanal groups."[4] 

Despite all the civil wars however, the population increased steadily and networks steadily built up between these bigger groups of So (Co-operative Bodies) to develop new markets and art industries.  Indeed, many So and Za groups lead concerted efforts to have their trades patronised by local Daimyou, therefore reaping benefits for their communities by returning these investments back into their communities.[4]

Kano Motonobu (c1520, PD) WC

During this time, the early industries were relatively grassroots, with markets often being small in scale, held weekly to hawk their wares, often held at temple grounds to allow a slice of the tax pie to return to the shrinking temple coffers.[4] From 1450-1550 a complex mix of provincial, regional and courtier infighting lead to a complex map of patrons for Anonymous Artisans. Kokujin and Shugo did this by investing in local and neighbouring Za and merchant guilds (think Silk farmers) to build their own bases and resource networks, creating their own local economies. Some Artists such as Kano Motonobu (1476-1559) reacted by leveraging patronage in these turbulent times to create their own schools.

By the 1530s Motonobu had married the daughter of the head of the Tosa School [...] and lead a small Kanō sect in northern Kyoto. The workshop contains roughly ten people containing Motonobu, his three sons, [his ...] brother Yukinobu (1513–1575), and some assistants that might have not been blood related. Since Motonobu was the head or chief architect of these paintings he took on the contracting, production, and organization of the projects while still being very involved with the marketing of his work and his studio. Known for his charm and intellect, Motonobu became a fierce businessman, and frequently petitioned to the shogun for a vast amount of varied commissions with his fellow merchant, Hasuike Hideaki. Motonobu [...] survived the turbulent world of the Warring States period while receiving the patronage of the influential people of the time, such as the shogunate, the imperial court, Ishiyama Hongan-ji, and the influential [Machi-Shuu. ...] Motonobu trained his workshop which was full of members of his family and other apprentices to execute his many designs. The workshop trained [outside] artists by watching the master painter work and emphasised recreating their master's style.[14]

Courtiers and elites continued to mantain the facade of wealth and prestige by patronising these merchants, although what they ordered was markedly different from what and why the new money was ordering for. During the Sengoku Jidai, a great amount of this commoner oriented folk art (Yamato-E and childrens stories) was lost in the upheaval of civil war, but gradually by 1550 was remade again as the succession disputes became less.[6]

The Town Painter

This warring period carried on until 1573 when Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) overthrew the ruling Shogunate, and the politicking of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and the maneuvering of Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543-1616) led to the establishment of the new capital at Edo. The vogue at that time in the elite circles favoured Bunjinga (Literati Chinese painting), a favourite of the Kano school which had established itself as a sort of Za with the elites. These collaborative workshops of many anonymous artists continued to create Yamato-E and Fuzokuga works, usually today wrongly attributed to the Tosa school, when celebrity Machi Eshi began to emerge from the workshops on a tidal wave of prestigious commissions from Kyoto and Osaka, and crucially for recorded history, signed their names on works which set a trend for schools to begin signing their work, as in the Kano school after 1575.[4][6][8][19] These prestige commissions were undoubtedly the beginning of the Machi Eshi golden era of influence.

Momoyama Fuzokuga Byobu (c.1575, PD) Anonymous 

With a wider demand and broader access, the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) saw a rise in the wealth of Chonin, Heimin and Machi-Shu ( Wealthy Townspeople | 町衆 ) around the artistic hubs of Kyoto, Osaka and Sakai. The Machi-Shu populations were created primarily as a result of early Tokugawa Sankin Kotai policies which moved lords and their retinues between Edo and their home fief every 6 months.[9][23] Machi-Shuu often comprised of the Artisans and Chonin who by this time had well established historical trade networks. Early Department stores for examples operated at this time run by families who made the switch to artisanal trades during the 16th century and made their homes their workshops, selling their handmade goods direct to the consumer. Their works often included many different goods, including wood, ceramics, painting, furniture, textiles, goldwork, metalwork, paper and many more skilled art trades.

Pastimes and Pleasures | Meisho Yamato-E Byobu (c.1610,PD) Anonymous

With the emergence of the Chonin as Machi-Eshi patron by 1610, overriding the Samurai position as tastemaker, Byobu made for these wealthy merchants began to reflect a shift towards the everyday landscape of the city and the pilgrimage trail, instead of Classical settings and imagined paradises.[19] The rather more patriotic; than Samurai that is; Chonin had a propensity for Yamato-E, Fuzokuga and Tosa (particularly the Heian Yamato-E) traditional styles rather than the Chinese Kara-E by the 17th century.[19] This originated from the Heian period when Tosa artists were patronised by the Japanese government bodies in the Byobu medium through to the fifteenth century (1150-1450). These Byobu (and Muromachi Yamato-E) in turn influenced the Kano style in the 16th century of adapting Fuzokuga scenes which most often had Japanese literary or historical figures in them creating the desire to depict Japanese rather the more popular elite images of Chinese derived depictions.[6][8]

Genna and Kanei styles adopted tropes and established narrative styles known from Yamato-E. From Fuzokuga, they adapted detailed, intricate scenes containing thousands of individual faces and scenes.[23] They adapted the Fukinuki Yatai style originally found in Heian Emakimono, and interspersed the scenes of daily urban life with goldworked clouds. These clouds allowed the viewer to draw out small scenes in the life of the Urban dweller. This may have been a holdover of Muromachi Emakimono which depicted folklore and commoner based perspectives. Intermingled with Shinto, which like Animistic Britonnic Celts, this may show how common folk understood the natural world as one and the same, as simultaneously 'sacred and profane'.[20] In this sense Byobu scenes carry on the tradition of pointing out how humans are part of natures ecosystem, rather than above it (forgive the pun).

One the sacred and profane note, commoners may have better understood how they fitted into the world around them due to their interactions with nature to sustain their lifestyle, ie weavers relying on 'natural dyes'. It is an elite idea (Roman in the West) that nature must be conquered and was a singular 'resource' to maintain the position of the wealthy. Common folk may have better understand that to destroy and 'conquer' the environment for wealth was an act of greed and insult to the Kami who lived wherever. Instead I hypothesise that particularly in the warring ages, people understood their relation to nature more clearly as they were more reliant on nature then than urban infrastructure. With a greater exposure they understood that in 'mastering' nature, they were to kill their own way of life and it is this understanding which allowed Ukiyo-E to flourish later on as commoners better understood their relation to Dukkha and the natural world than the majority of perpetually warring elites.

Matyrdom of Nagasaki (1622, PD) Kirishitan painter

This saw an increase in Byobu which by 1625 had turned Byobu in particular into a selection of Chonin vignette scenes which was the groundwork for the establishment of the Chonin lifestyle as the new socially acceptable norm in Artwork. Gone were the pretentions to religious Buddhist pilgrimages in these new, Animistic (Shinto) influenced screens which depicted scenes of Machi-Shuu swanning their way around the Yuukaku, townhouses and shops. By 1635, this pretention to 'fine art' is clearly not even thought of as it has become the expected norm that secular contemporary beauties are to be celebrated alongside an Urban culture which increasingly became codified on its own merits as spiritual in itself. By 1640, Machi-Shuu were the new elite, and they decided that the Machi-Eshi was to be their chronicler of the Kanei, in a life removed from the High Art of the Momoyama, elevating anonymous painters to fine art status and prestige.[23]

The Hikone Screen (c1635) Anonymous Machi Eshi

With the expansion of the art Industry with the establishment of the Machi-Shuu demographic, recognisably celebrity Machi-Eshi worked on many mediums such as Tawaraya Sōtatsu (act.1570-1640) a furniture designer and painter mostly remembered for his Rinpa Byobu.[10] Inspired by the Heian period, these artists both dependent and independent of the Taira family worked on gold heavy pieces which used sprinkled gold leaf and heavy reliance on nature motifs such as Uta-E ( Poetry Images* ) derived from the Heian period to establish a new Japanese canon of their own for the newly minted Machi-Shu and aristocrats in the Genna period (1615-1624). Tawaraya was also hired by the Taira family (an Imperial adjacent) to restore the Heike Nokyo ( Heike illuminated sutra manuscript | 平家納経 | c.1164) in 1602. In addition to his forbearer the art collectivist Hon-nami Koetsu (1578-1635), both worked in goldwork on paper, lacquer and painting, and it is in this vein which the Rinpa school was founded, and some of the earlier celebrity 'outsider' artists began their careers.

Trees Byobu (c.1640, PD) Tawaraya Sotatsu

Farming Family enjoy pleasant Evening Byobu (c1650-1670, PD) Kusumi Morikage

Kusumi Morikage (1620-1690) was also a Machi-Eshi known for working to his own realpolitik morals. During his early years, he initally painted under the Kano school style, under the incredibly stringent Kano Tan-yu (1602-1674) who by 1640 was artist to the Shogun, establishing the Kano school as the high art of its day. During this time, Morikage ran afoul of Tan-yu who prized politically correct authority over individuality in the spirit of his patrons stabilization policy. By the time Morikage became older however and taught his daughter Kiyohara Yukinobu (1643-1682) he began to work on his own terms outside the established canon of acceptable painting by depicting agriculture and the lives of the Heimin as the official Maeda clan painter. In this way, Machi-Eshi like Morikage questioned, challenged and won over the Academic painters of their day in the early half of the 17th century.[12] 

Hanami and Bijin Viewing at Kiyomizudeira (1640, PD) Anonymous

This must also be viewed in the sense of what sources are relayed to us by the male dominated art world, from the Genna to the present period. In this sense, we are missing out what contributions women made or did not to Heian 'Onna-E', Muromachi period Fuzokuga, and Momoyama Byobu in the self creation of female beauty standards. There does seem to prevail among Japanese women though in the desirability of androgynous young men certainly by the time Kabuki rolled around, greatly accelerated by the banning of female Kabuki performers, a style originated by women no less. In this sense, when we look at Machi-Eshi painters like the creator of Viewing Cherry Blossoms at Kiyomizu Temple Byobu (c.1640),[20] what we see is really half of the picture.[20] Yes retrospectively Bijin are present in the screen, but we do not wholly get the history of female influence on the creation of beauty standards. In this sense, we simply see the Bijin-ga as a product of male desirability for beautiful figures. This is not to say the female gaze of the Asobi is not present, it certainly was.

Also to consider is that the modern Machi-Eshi literature (1970-2020) is full of holes, skewed in favour of patriarchal linearity. Early 17th century Byobu also depict a dynamic society of women who carry greater agency than history gives them credit in their varied dress and activities at the very least. In the sense to which contemporary scholarship understand Kanei (1624-1644) Machi-Eshi Byobu, Bijin-ga emerged from the Kano and Machi Byobu which merged secular life with high art.[8] In this way however popular formats inherited from narrative Muromachi Yamato-E (in turn from Heian Emakimono) such as depicting the Four Seasons (Shiki) and seeing famous tourist spots (Meisho) merged with Edo sensibilities, creating with the rise of the new middle class (the Chonin) by anonymous and established artists such as Tawaraya Sotatsu, Kusumi Morikage and Iwasa Matabei depicted a secular view of the beauty of the natural, contemporary world around them.[20][21][22] Most often Byobu, these are the distinct precusor to Ukiyo-zoshi which allowed for the incubation of the Bijin-ga to become socially acceptable as high art, and later on, profitable.[23]

Matsuura Byobu (c1630-1650) Anonymous Machi Eshi

The Bijin has Arrived

What makes the Machi Eshi interesting in the 1650s,  is that there enough resources circulating to be able to start a career solely around making art by then, which allowed Independents who previously relied on patrons in the Gennei era like temples to become Machi Eshi who sold work they liked to make, not just becuase it was commissioned for a workshop.

Uta Bikuni (c1650, PD) Museum of Art

The Uta Bikuni or Singing (Sexy) Nun examples illustrates how Fuzokuga became infilitrated by the lean towards Ukiyo activities. This previously being an image of piety and religious sanctity, now imbues the idea of a sex worker ready with the red underslip, slight quirk of the mouth and loosely fitting kimono. Also note Katsuyama the 'Pilgrim', a story about the pilgramage of a famous Yoshiwara worker.[6][11] These stories showed the Machi-Shuu sensibility that arose by the 1630s prospered as it broke out as socially acceptable to admire Sexy Nuns with your Chonin buddies over a Sake.

Machi-Eshi moved from samurai clientele to Chonin patronage with portrayals of worldly subjects becoming more common place by this time in Japanese Art. Scenes from the everyday were included wholesale by the 1670s, including pictures of Bijin, under the influence of the rising middle classes or Chonin tastes. With the rise of the Ukiyo lifestyle of some artists, this saw classical correctness fall away to the slightly low brow Ukiyo-zoshi genre (1666-1750) and the rise of new beauty standards for women, that of what I refer to as the Asobi (playgirl), which came along with the rise of the Bijin-ga genre. Women more than likely were doing risque things long before, it is just that what we have as established canon certainly reflects a change in the canon at this time of what society deemed societally permissive for the feminine figure. (Heimin) Licentiousness was in vogue.

With the introduction of the Sakoku period artisans began to become more Japan focused. Artists like Kano Eino (1631–1697CE) was also the first to  reflects the inwards turn to the Wamono away from China of the early Sakoku policies designed to boost and focus on the Japanese domestic economy, beginning his career in 1651, 10 years into the Sakoku edicts. He finished the first Japanese focused Art History work in 1678, the Honcho Gashi ( Japanese painting history | 本朝畫史 | published 1693 ), which showed how well along the Arts were considered to be recieved by the Art communities in Japan, perhaps we can also consider abroad as the imitation of some Japanese goods exported into SouthEast Asia can attest.[14]

Ashida and Uta-E (c.1110CE) 36 Immortal Poets Collection

During the late 17th century, early 18th century, the Sumptuary legislations (1604-1685)[9] reflected the change back to conservative ideas of acceptability within pre-existing class structures as the Chonin sought to establish themselves within pre-existing hierarchical and prestige structures as stability and thus stagnation of diversity (changes to established norms) took hold. By the 1690s, this consolidated into the top-down imposed notion of Iki, which was an attempt by the elites to render the creativity of the Genroku period to a more subtle colourway and less bold lifestyle for the plebians and dirty merchants. This did win over some wealthier Chonin ( social climbers ) who in trying to climb the social ladder began to take on the message behind the curbing of Genroku extravagance (for example, Ashida-E on Kosode was in, but giant Kana was tacky). 

Seven Gods of Fortune (1700, PD) Hanabusa Itchou

This saw a return in the end to the scholarly Bunjinga styles, sort of the watercolours of Japan, away from explicit Wamono and towards the acceptable and established Classical Chinese Tang models. Machi-Eshi who unlike their forebearers in also rejecting the established norms and going their own way, fell into the Iki acceptability trap. Herein, successful Machi Eshi would follow the model of what the hoity-toity Samurai-likey genres. Artisans like Hanabusa Itcho ( 1652-1724 ) would learn the ways of the Kano, but rather than go their own way and create the new everyday, they turned to the imaginary Bunjinga genre, away from the Muromachi Yamato-E.[16] This may be to do with the fact that by this time with the implementation of the study of these art histories that Yamato-E, along with Onna-E, were seen as an offshoot of the 'womans' painting genres, that is painting made primarily by feminine painters, which was unfortunately by the bourgeois seen as a bad thing (see the Onna Daigaku for more information on this wonderful aspect of Japanese medieval patriarchy).[8]

Red and White Plum Blossoms (c1714, PD) Ogata Korin

Uraschimatro (c1897, PD) Henry Justice Ford

Ogata Korin was one of the more established Machi Eshi, reviving the Rinpa school in the Genroku period. His later work such as Red and White plum blossoms (c1714) has had countless copies and variations made from its snaking curvilinear stream which inspired a great amount of Kosode pattern designers and those of the West from 1862 onwards. Those inspired after the fact included the Rinpa painter (a style thankfully allowed to continue due to its connotations with China and flower paintings; a very masculine activity of course) Watanabe Shiko ( 1683-1755 ) whose Byobu have something of a whiff of originality to them.[17]  In the 19th century, the Ogata copycats went by the name of Sakai Hoitsu ( 1761-1829 ), testamount to the amount of Iki still around in the air by 1830.[18] The 19th century is arguably the slow death period of the Machi-Eshi who increasingly benefitted less and had less influence over the Japanese painting circles they were a part of. 

The Town Beauty

In context based art, we see how the high art Byobu of (the Kano and) Anonymous high end Machi-Eshi painters in the Momoyama Byobu became progressively more influenced by Wamono painting styles such as Fuzokuga & Yamato-E. These became by the 1610s a more recognisably urban style developed by the incumbent Machi-Eshi whose art patrons quickly began overtaking the Samurai in number. By the 1620s temple patronage began to reflect this more Chonin orientated shift, encouraging the previously lowbrow art markets of the Heimin of the Sengoku period in order to retain their waning institutional influence.[4] These Art Markets provided key intersections for the meeting of conservative and urban life creating an acceptance by the 1630s of the secularisation and blurring of acceptable beauty standards. That is to say, a Yuukaku was now perfectly acceptable to be found in more Byobu. The 1640s saw the rise of the worldly beauty favoured by the Chonin who wished to see their lives reflected in Art. By the 1650s this became codified in the increasing vanity projects of the wealthy nouveau riche, and by the 1660s, the emergence of the Kambun Bijin-ga figures and by the 1670s the idea that Moronobu could make a living on selling his softcore erotica figures was solidified.

Machi Eshi facilitated the rise of the Bijin genre therefore by leaning into the wishes of their patrons, the new middle classes of Chonin who fueled these new 'base' desires and revamped the wider cultural understanding of how beauty standards could be publicly and privately presented in Art. The basis of the secular beauty, that is to say worldly beauty, was first born from the daring of anonymous Machi-Eshi painters in the Genna period who dared to paint their own more secular and increasingly urban worlds, than the imaginary worlds of the Momoyama elites whose tastes revolved around a Buddhist worldview which emphasised art as a tool to establish control over local economies and resources.[4][8] Art thus became for the masses by facilitating the rise of the relatable Town beauty, a beautiful figure who could be found stalking the streets of Sakai, Osaka, Kyoto or Edo rather than the pavements of a Jinja whose ethereal beauty only served to praise its patrons vast ego or good deeds in preparation for the next life cycle of the Tosa Emakimono. 

It is in this context we see how from conservative Momoyama religious painting, we arrive at the secular beauty standards of the Kambun era to form Ukiyo-E and Bijin as genres by 1665; being a product of Machi-Eshi and Machi-Shuu beauty standards of the late Kanei period (1635-1644). The Town or perhaps Urban beauty is the democratisation of beauty standards in Japan, a turning point born from Tokugawa Stabilisation policies which saw out the slow demise of elite art patronage (Samurai, Aristocracy and Temples) which facilitated the rise of the Chonin worldview during the Kanei as Fine Art, enabling the Machi Eshi, Moronobus and Sukenobus to make a living from softcore gravure by revamping the tradition of Yamato-E and Tang beauties.[21][23] During the 1710s, the Bijin-ga became an establlished Academic genre which is were I shall end the influence of town painters as tastemakers.

Hanami Picnic Byobu (c1624-1644, PD) Anonymous

Bibliography

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Japan#Kamakura_period_(1185%E2%80%931333)

[2] Heian Period (794–1185), Metropolitan Musuem of Arts, 2002, Online | https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/heia/hd_heia.htm

[3] See section underneath Fujiwara no Tsunetsugu in Fabrics #3

[4] Purveyors of Power: Artisans and Political Relations in Japan‘s Late Medieval Age, Paula Renée Curtis, 2011, pp.33-50 | https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1306860342&disposition=inline

[5] See Fabrics #9

[6] Genre Painting: Evoking the Charm and Cheer of the Commoners, Morita Tohru, Burritt Saben, Jane Whalley, Yoshikawa Shigehisa, Nomura Shoji, Watanabe Minako, Masaki Yoko, October 1991, Vol.28, No.4, pp.31-37, The East, Singapore National Printers Ltd. | https://archive.org/details/sim_east_november-december-1992_28_4/page/34/mode/1up?q=%22machi-eshi%22&view=theater 

[7] https://www.britannica.com/art/Fujiwara-style

[8] Worlds seen and imagined : Japanese screens from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Taizo Kuroda,     Melinda Takeuchi, Yuzo Yamane 1995, pp.36-53 | https://archive.org/details/worldsseenimagin0000kuro/page/37/mode/1up?q=%22machi-eshi%22&view=theater

[9] See Stabilisation Policy 1590-1615 and Sumptuary Laws 1604-1685 in Bijin #3 & A Gay Old Time in Bijin #1

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawaraya_S%C5%8Dtatsu

[11] https://www.moaart.or.jp/en/collections/066/

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusumi_Morikage

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan%C5%8D_Motonobu

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan%C5%8D_Ein%C5%8D

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanabusa_Itch%C5%8D

[17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watanabe_Shik%C5%8D

[18] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakai_H%C5%8Ditsu

[19] Byōbu: The Art of the Japanese Screen, Michael R. Cunningham, September 1984, Vol. 71, No. 7, pp.223-224, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art | https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159871?searchText=%22machi-eshi%22&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2522machi-eshi%2522%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A1590105ae019ce969bc9bbc38dc80178&seq=4#metadata_info_tab_contents

[20] Reflections on the Floating World, Rossella Menegazzo, 2020, pp.10-17 | https://rfacdn.nz/artgallery/assets/media/2020-reflections-on-the-floating-world-gallery-publication.pdf

[21] For more on the revolutionary Iwasa Matabei, see Bijin #6

[22] https://manga.fandom.com/wiki/Yamato-e | If you are a snob: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yama/hd_yama.htm

[23] Japanese painting, Terukazu Akiyama, 1977, pp.162-165 | https://archive.org/details/japanesepainting00akiy/page/165/mode/2up

*Uta-E refer to Heian period symbols which a reader had to decode, usually from poetry anthologies like the Manyou-Shuu (c.759CE) which told a familiar story from those anthologies. They often depicted the events of only one line or story and were found in the background of texts.

Bijin Series Timeline

11th century BCE

- The Ruqun becomes a formal garment in China (1000 BCE) [Coming Soon]

8th century BCE

- Chinese clothing becomes highly hierarchical (771 BCE) [Coming Soon]

0000 Current Era

7th century

Asuka Bijin (c.699); The Wa Bijin

8th century

- Introduction of Chinese Tang Dynasty clothing (710)

- Sumizuri-e (710)

- Classical Chinese Art ; Zhou Fang (active 766-805) ; Qiyun Bijin

- Emakimono Golden Age (799-1400)

15th century 

- Fuzokuga Painting schools; Kano (1450-1868) and Tosa (1330-1690) 

- Machi- Eshi painters; 1336-1650? [Coming Soon] 

16 century 

- Nanbanjin Art (1550-1630) 

- Wamono style begins under Chanoyu teachings (c1550-1580)

- Byobu Screens (1580-1670)

 - End of Sengoku Jidai brings Stabilisation policy (1590-1615)  

17th century  

- Land to Currency based Economy Shift (1601-1655)

- Early Kabuki Culture (1603-1673) ; Yakusha-e or Actor Prints

- Machi-Eshi Art ( 1610 - 1710) ; The Town Beauty

- Sumptuary legislation in reaction to the wealth of the merchant classes (1604-1685) 

- Regulation of export and imports of foreign trade in silk and cotton (1615-1685)  

Iwasa Matabei (active 1617-1650) ; Yamato-e Bijin  

The Hikone Screen (c.1624-1644) [Coming Soon]

- Sankin-Kotai (1635-1642) creates mass Urbanisation  

- Popular culture and print media production moves from Kyoto to Edo (1635-1650); Kiyohara Yukinobu (1650-1682) ; Manji Classical Beauty

- Shikomi-e (1650-1670) and Kakemono-e which promote Androgynous Beauties;

 Iwasa Katsushige (active 1650-1673) ; Kojin Bijin

- Mass Urbanisation instigates the rise of Chonin Cottage Industry Printing (1660-1690) ; rise of the Kabunakama Guilds and decline of the Samurai

- Kanazoshi Books (1660-1700); Koshokubon Genre (1659?-1661)

- Shunga (1660-1722); Abuna-e

Kanbun Master/School (active during 1661-1673) ; Maiko Bijin 

- Hinagata Bon (1666 - 1850) 

- Ukiyo Monogatari is published by Asai Ryoi (1666) 

Yoshida Hanbei (active 1664-1689) ; Toned-Down Bijin

- Asobi/Suijin Dress Manuals (1660-1700)

- Ukiyo-e Art (1670-1900)

Hishikawa Moronobu (active 1672-1694) ; Wakashu Bijin

- Early Bijin-ga begin to appear as Kakemono (c.1672)  

- Rise of the Komin-Chonin Relationship (1675-1725)

- The transit point from Kosode to modern Kimono (1680); Furisode, Wider Obi 

- The Genroku Osaka Bijin (1680 - 1700) ; Yuezen Hiinakata

Sugimura Jihei (active 1681-1703) ; Technicolour Bijin 

- The Amorous Tales are published by Ihara Saikaku (1682-1687)

Hishikawa Morofusa (active 1684-1704) [Coming Soon]

- The Beginning of the Genroku Era (1688-1704)

- The rise of the Komin and Yuujo as mainstream popular culture (1688-1880) 

- The consolidation of the Bijinga genre as mainstream pop culture 

- The rise of the Torii school (1688-1799) 

- Tan-E (1688-1710)   

Miyazaki Yuzen (active 1688-1736) ; Genroku Komin and Wamono Bijin 

Torii Kiyonobu (active 1688 - 1729) : Commercial Bijin

Furuyama Moromasa (active 1695-1748)

18th century

Nishikawa Sukenobu (active 1700-1750) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Ando (active 1700-1736) ; Broadstroke Bijin

Okumura Masanobu (active 1701-1764)

Kaigetsudo Doshin (active 1704-1716) [Coming Soon]

Baioken Eishun (active 1710-1755) [Coming Soon]

Kaigetsudo Anchi (active 1714-1716) [Coming Soon]

Yamazaki Joryu (active 1716-1744) [Coming Soon]

1717 Kyoho Reforms

Miyagawa Choshun (active 1718-1753) [Coming Soon]

Miyagawa Issho (active 1718-1780) [Coming Soon]

Nishimura Shigenaga (active 1719-1756) [Coming Soon]

Matsuno Chikanobu (active 1720-1729) [Coming Soon]

- Beni-E (1720-1743)

Torii Kiyonobu II (active 1725-1760) [Coming Soon]

- Uki-E (1735-1760)

Kawamata Tsuneyuki (active 1736-1744) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820)

Miyagawa Shunsui (active from 1740-1769) [Coming Soon]

Benizuri-E (1744-1760)

Ishikawa Toyonobu (active 1745-1785) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Settei (active 1753-1787) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1756-1787) [Coming Soon]

Shunsho Katsukawa (active 1760-1793) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyoharu (active 1763-1814) [Coming Soon]

Suzuki Harunobu (active 1764-1770) [Coming Soon]

- Nishiki-E (1765-1850)

Torii Kiyonaga (active 1765-1815) [Coming Soon]

Kitao Shigemasa (active 1765-1820) [Coming Soon]

Maruyama Okyo (active 1766-1795) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Utamaro (active 1770-1806) [Coming Soon]

Kubo Shunman (active 1774-1820) [Coming Soon]

Tsutaya Juzaburo (active 1774-1797) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunimasa (active from 1780-1810) [Coming Soon]

Tanehiko Takitei (active 1783-1842) [Coming Soon]

Katsukawa Shuncho (active 1783-1795) [Coming Soon]

Choubunsai Eishi (active 1784-1829) [Coming Soon]

Eishosai Choki (active 1786-1808) [Coming Soon]

Rekisentei Eiri (active 1789-1801) [Coming Soon] [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ukiyo-e_paintings#/media/File:Rekisentei_Eiri_-_'800),_Beauty_in_a_White_Kimono',_c._1800.jpg]

Chokosai Eisho (active 1792-1799) [Coming Soon]

Kunimaru Utagawa (active 1794-1829) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Toyokuni II (active 1794 - 1835) [Coming Soon]

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (active 1799-1823) [Coming Soon]

19th century

Teisai Hokuba (active 1800-1844) [Coming Soon]

Totoya Hokkei (active 1800-1850) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada Toyokuni III (active 1800-1865) [Coming Soon]

Urakusai Nagahide (active from 1804) [Coming Soon]

Kitagawa Tsukimaro (active 1804 - 1836)

Kikukawa Eizan (active 1806-1867) [Coming Soon]

Keisai Eisen (active 1808-1848) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (active 1810-1861) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Hiroshige (active 1811-1858) [Coming Soon]

Yanagawa Shigenobu (active 1818-1832) [Coming Soon]

Utagawa Kunisada II (active 1844-1880) [Coming Soon]

Toyohara Kunichika (active 1847-1900) [Coming Soon]

Kano Hogai (active 1848-1888) [Coming Soon]

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (active 1850-1892) [Coming Soon]

Toyohara Chikanobu (active 1875-1912) [Coming Soon]

Kiyokata Kaburaki (active 1891-1972) [Coming Soon]

Goyo Hashiguchi (active 1899-1921) [Coming Soon]

20th century

Yumeji Takehisa (active 1905-1934) [Coming Soon]

Torii Kotondo (active 1915-1976) [Coming Soon]

Yamakawa Shūhō (active 1927-1944) [Coming Soon]

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