大阪歴史博物館　Osaka Museum of History

According to some records, Buzen was worked as a boatman before he started his career as an ukiyo-e artist with Tsukioka Settei as his master. While painting pictures depicting beauty, he also learned Chinese painting techniques and produced Chinese-style landscape paintings that were popular in those days. He was a multitalented artist, who was also good at producing metal works such as sword guards and miniature tray landscapes. This painting depicts a beautiful woman in a gorgeous kimono with a bouffant-like hairstyle.

Hayashi Rōen, who lived in Saiwai-cho near Dotonbori, learned to paint under Fukuhara Gogaku, a pupil of Ikeno Taiga, a great painter who perfected the bunjinga “literati painting” genre. Rōen improved his skills as a painter by studying great paintings owned by temples in Kyoto. This painting depicts peony flowers, an oddly-shaped rock, and a brace of white peacocks. In China, peony flowers and peacocks are often depicted in paintings and adopted as motifs of patterns for their association with wealth and nobleness, as are rocks, which, due to their unchanging nature, are considered lucky items that symbolize longevity. Likewise, this bird-and-flower painting represents success in life and a couple enjoying a long life together. In light of the composition of this painting with large main motifs at the front and the background left blank, as well as the elaborate depiction of plants and birds, it is apparent that Rōen was influenced by Shen Nanpin, a Chinese painter during the Qing dynasty whose works gained popularity during the mid-Edo period in Japan.

This is an ink painting by Ito Jakuchū, a painter renowned for uniquely fantastic ideas. The rock is wildly depicted using thick black ink, while the chrysanthemums are gently drawn with thin ink, making an impressive contrast. The chrysanthemum petals and leaves are depicted with a distinctive brush technique called “sujime-gaki” for which Jakuchū is renowned. This is a very sophisticated technique that is used to leave a space between brush strokes like a white line and requires a complete understanding of how ink is absorbed into the paper and an intimate knowledge of the nature of paper. Jakuchū often visited Osaka, where he interacted with intellectuals including Kimura Kenkado.