Tokai Gábor szerk.: Fujiyama, A japán szépség Hokusai, Hiroshige fametszetein és fényképeken (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2005/4)

Hokusai and Hiroshige: Two Masters of Landscape ukiyo-e

Hokusai and Hiroshige: Two Masters of Landscape ukiyo-e Ihe art form of ukiyo-e came into existence in 17

,h-century Japan. It originated in Edo (the city known as Tokyo today), a prosperous city that boasted a population of one million. Ukiyo, literally the 'floating world', is a Buddhist term denoting the present world which we live in, and e signifies 'picture'. Ukiyo-e, then, was an art form that illustrated various aspects of the world visible to us human beings. The Edo artists working in official art institutes portrayed in their works the urban lives of commoners, and these pictures became known as ukiyo-e. Ukiyo-e was popularised by the technique of woodcut prints, which allowed mass production of artwork. The ukiyo-e works constantly chose as their subjects contemporary entertainment that Edo commoners enjoyed. When kabuki theatres and pleasure quarters were the centres of entertainment, portraits of kabuki actors (yakusha-e) as well as portraits of beautiful women {bijin-ga) became the representative works amongst ukiyo-e. These two kinds of portraits, then, together with landscapes, formed the three major genres of ukiyo-e. The last genre, landscapes, however, did not gain popularity among ukiyo-e artists until the end of the Edo Period (1603-1867). The Hei'an Period (794-1192) had already seen landscape paintings, in which the traditional technique dealt with perspective in such a way that the further away an object was, the further up it was placed in the painting. Drastic changes occurred when the rationally geometrical Western technique of perspective was introduced into ukiyo-e at the beginning of the 18

lh century, and the technique was emphasised to the extent that the nearby objects looked as if they floated above the pictures. Accordingly, these pictures were labelled uki-e ('floating picturefs]'). However, the subjects of the uki-e works at this time were confined to indoor objects and scenes, as artists used pillars and sliding screens within a room as linear references in perspective; in portraits of kabuki actors and beautiful women, these often served as explanatory backgrounds to provide information about the central figures. Uki-e, originated by Okumura Masanobu, declined for a while after the master's death, but was brought to new horizons by Utagawa Toyoharu, who learnt Western techniques by copying etchings that entered Japan through the port in Nagasaki, the only meeting point in Japan for international traders at the time. Toyoharu began to paint outdoor scenery in uki-e, lowering the horizon in his works to create ample space between the earth and the sky as well as a sense of depth. His composition thus gained a much broader vision, which constituted a decisive leap forward in the establishment of landscape paintings. In the meantime, the residents of Edo also became more and more interested in natural landscapes. The commoners became affluent enough to make holiday trips, although most of these were pilgrimages to Oyama and Enoshima. Various guidebooks were published. The popularity of Tokaido-chu Hizakurige, or Travels on Foot along the Tokaido Road, by Jippensha Ikku, in particular, ignited in Edo residents the desire to travel and visit beautiful meisho (famous places; places of interest). It was in this artistic and social background that Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige appeared on the stage of ukiyo-e. Not only did these two artists establish the genre of landscape prints, but they also had tremendous influence on later landscape artists of various genres. In 1778, Katsushika Hokusai, at the age of 19, became a pupil of Katsukawa Shunsho, and started his own career as an artist the next year, under the artist name of Katsukawa Shunro.' He did not stop at yakusha-e, or portraits of actors, in which his master Shunsho specialised, but also