Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months

This cycle is a spectacular example of the convergence of the classical and contemporary in Edo painting. Together, the hanging scrolls create a paradisal garden in which all the seasons flower simultaneously. The theme dates back to the 12th century, when a series of paired birds and flowers were assigned to poetically symbolize each month. These prescribed associations remained prominently embedded in the cultural memory for more than six hundred years. Here, however, Hōitsu has cultivated an alternate set of symbolically charged motifs, creating a vibrant visual idiom for the new era. New motifs include recently imported plants, such as the canna lily from South America, and novel poetic subjects incubated within contemporary short-form haikai (commonly known as haiku) verse. While the paintings are ostensibly secular, research points to their use in Buddhist rituals conducted at the Sakai family mortuary temple in Maebashi, situated about 75 miles northwest of Tokyo.