Bijin junikagetsu (Beauties in the twelve months): October

The woodblock prints of Miyagawa Shuntein (1873-1914) are a technical tour de force, enriched with <em>bokashi</em> colour gradations, applications of mica, metallic pigments and <em>shomen-zuri</em> burnishing. Te Papa's collection currently contains three gorgeous triptych designs by Shuntei, each a composition from his 1898 series <em>Bijin junikagetsu</em> (<em>Beautiful Women for the Twelve Months</em>), representing January to February, March and October.

Like his near contemporary Mizuno Toshikata - also represented in Te Papa - Shuntei spent periods training in the studios of <em>ukiyo-e</em> designers, and his principal occupation was as an illustrator for newspapers, magazines and books. His delicate subjects are set in evocative, atmospheric landscapes, and their women and children reflect a meeting of the <em>bijin-ga</em> fashion statements of the past, and the family values and accoutrements of a Western-style modernity in Japan.

In some ways, these compositions draw on <em>Yamato-e</em> ‘Japanese picture’ genre traditions, but their focus on family groups and leisure activities offers delightful views of late Meiji optimism. These works also juxtapose the beauty of nature with the fragile beauty of women and children. Their subjects draw on pastimes of garden viewing that date back to the Heian era. In doing so they sustain a sensitivity to seasonal transience that evoked nostalgic aesthetic sensibilities. The reverence for nature evident in these works appealed equally to early New Zealand visitors to Japan: Isabella and Frederic Truby King collected such works during their visit in 1904. This popularity contrasts with Shuntei's reputation in Japan, where his works were enjoyed as ephemera, but then ignored and even lost. Only recently, certainly well beyond the artist's brief lifetime, has their status within Japan appreciably risen, thanks to the attention of 'offshore' scholars such as Helen Merritt and Julia Meech-Pekarik.

If March is the month to see the first <em>sakura</em> or cherry-blossoming, then October is the quintessential autumn month for admiring the tints of maple leaves. This triptych depicts the 'beauties' of the title on an outing to view the maples. In the centre, a beauty climbs a hill, pausing to look back over her shoulder. She carries a black Western style umbrella with a metallic silver handle, and her checked obi features silver accents that have oxidized to a darker tone. Several other people stroll across a wooden bridge, stopping to admire the view beneath the colourful leaves of a maple tree.

See: David Bell and Mark Stocker, 'Rising sun at Te Papa: the Heriot collection of Japanese art', <em>Tuhinga</em>, 29 (2018), esp. pp. 56-57.

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art