Maruyama ōkyo, Nine Old
Men of Mt. Xiang, a 2-fold screen
painting
Japan
Edo period, AD
1783
A celebration of old age
The small size and format of this screen
suggest it was used as an accessory in the preparation of steeped
tea (sencha), a custom
imported from China which became popular in Japan during the
eighteenth century. It shows a group of nine men engaging in
elegant pursuits such as calligraphy, conversation and music, while
seated in a garden among eccentrically shaped rocks. The scene is
the retreat on Mt. Xiang of the well-known Chinese poet of the Tang
dynasty, Bo Juyi
(772-846).
According to
legend, in the third month of 845 Bo Juyi was joined by six
companions, and again in the summer by two more. In this seclusion
of the retreat, to the east of Longmen on the outskirts of the
capital Loyang, these educated men could relax and leave behind
their worldly concerns. They were all quite elderly (as is evident
from their grey hair and beards), and pictures of this theme became
associated with celebrating advanced age. The work may well have
been commissioned from the illustrious Kyoto artist ōkyo (1733-95)
on the occasion of someone's 60th or 70th
birthday.
ōkyo was renowned
for his realistic style and refined techniques. One of his
important ambitions was to master the full range of human
'types'; the nine old men in this work are varied
in their poses and
expressions.
The signature
reads 'Temmei mizunotō chūka sha ōkyo'
('Painted by ōkyo, midsummer [4th month] 1783').
The seals read 'ōkyo' and
'Chūsen'.
I. Hirayama and T. Kobayashi (eds.), Hizō Nihon bijutsu taikan, vol. 1 (Tokyo, Kodansha, 1992)