Nihonga, Japanese art

I admit having trouble with, “Nihonga,” Japanese painting.

I understand that things got crazy in the Meiji Era with the trendy new oil painting and western perspective invading Japan along with all the other imported technology. Perhaps something had to be done, a line in the sand. Local art and culture should certainly be preserved.

But the construct of Nihonga has become more abstract and stranger over the years. Students at the art universities in the Nihonga department will often make the same sort of image as the foreign art department students. The only real difference is in the materials. Nihonga professors defend Nihonga materials as though they were a new religion.

Nikawa, animal glue, as a binder is mixed, usually by hand, with pigments, to make a tempera paint. Nothing about these materials is unique to Japan.

Isn’t any painting made by a Japanese artist Japanese art?

That being said, this year I have been quite enjoying gofun, a white pigment that is central to the religion of Nihonga. Gofun is a calcium carbonate, white made from oyster shells and it works very differently from either zinc or titanium whites. I’m thinking it even works differently from chalk white, also calcium carbonate, with different micro-nutrients involved.

New Year, 2023

New Year brings new hope.

The Way of the Bath

A sento is a public bath. It is not an onsen resort. Customs are a little different.
Some things are written on the wall - wash with soap before you get into the communal bath. Don’t drip water on the changing room floor, or put your towel into the tub. But there are unwritten rules that a bandai or local elder used to tell you. For example, it is rude to sit on the edge of the tub. If you tried that in the sento down the hill the bandai would stick his or her head into the bathing area and shout to you to, “get down please.”

Another hint, if there here are two baths in the men’s side and two in the woman’s. One bath is kept very hot, the other you can add old water to if you need to cool it. You should find out which is which before you start adding water.

A cover I painted for Sento Magazine

Solstice tomorrow

Last weekend I met some old friends in Koenji. I had painted the walls of that place 25 years ago. Seeing the painting was like seeing an old friend. My friends, the wall, and I have all grown a little wabi-sabi over the years. The isakaya is called, Typhoon

New Year Cards

In America I sent greeting cards to arrive before the holidays. Japanese send New Year Greeting postcards, to arrive in the new year. This year I have had trouble deciding on a painting for my card. Here are two I almost chose.

Gofun

My October was uniquely cohesive this year. But as every year after an exhibition I try to find my way, not follow the same direction. Today I played with gofun, a Japanese white pigment, and painted the garden behind the national museum. You can see Uguisudani peeking behind the trees