Unknown

(Japan)

Title

The Plain of Musashi

Alternative title:

Musashino zu byôbu

Place of origin

Japan

Period

Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan

Year

late 17th century-18th century

Media category

Painting

Materials used

pair of six fold screens; ink, colour and gold on paper

Dimensions

156.0 x 360.0cm each screen:

a - moon; 156 x 360cm

b - mountain; 156 x 360cm

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation Purchase 2000

Accession number

143.2000.a-b

Location

Not on display

Further information

Screens depicting Musashino are one of the great classical subjects of Japanese art. In Japanese painting there is a specific category (called 'meisho-e', literally 'famous places') for the most revered places, which are usually those immortalised by famous poems and/or literary tales. Such a place is Musashino: every Japanese responds to the poetic associations of Musashino which appears in Chapter 12 of the famous Ise Monogatari (Tale of Ise), a 10th century collection of lyrical episodes. In Chapter 12, a man kidnapped a young woman and concealed her among the grass of Musashino when they were pursued by the provincial governor. As the governor was about to light the grass to flush out the lovers, the young woman wrote a poignant 'waka' (particular Japanese poetic form): 'Please do not burn the fresh grass of Musashino. Both he and I are hidden within'.

Another layer of poetic association was added with the poem by Minamoto Michikata (1189-1238):
'On the Musashi plain
There is no mountain
Behind which the moon disappears.
It rises and sinks among the grass.'

It is the latter poem that inspired the typical format of Musashino screens: on the left a full autumn moon rises through autumn susuki grass, wild chrysanthemums, bush clover, pinks, and Chinese bell flowers. The right screen depicts Mt Fuji, another 'meisho-e' layered in religious (Shinto), poetic and literary allusions, above an equally lyrical depiction of autumn grasses. This screen is a visual panegyric to the beauty of Mount Fuji as seen in autumn from the vast plain of Musashi which once existed to the south-west of Tokyo.'

Bibliography (5)

Chiba City Museum of Art (Editor), Shukufuku-sareta shiki -- Kinsei Nihon kaigano shosô 1996, Japan, 1996, 56-57 (colour illus.). cat.no.18

NAKAYAMA Kiichirô and SUEYOSHI Takeshi (Editors), "Yû/ Gei" no bi: Classical Artworks of Japanese Pastime 1997, Japan, 1997, 52-53 (colour illus.). cat.no.46

Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 'The aesthetic of transience', Domain, 2003, 204-205 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 205 is a detail of this work.

Ôsaka Municipal Museum of Art (Editor), Wa-no ishô: Japanese Design 1998, Ôsaka, 1998, 104-105 (colour illus.). cat.no.136

Michael Wardell, Look Sep 2004, 'Foundation building', pg.14-17, Newtown, Sep 2004, 17.