Forms that were created by the Rimpa school and passed on through books

One of the characteristics of the Rimpa school of art is its round and rich shapes, which are actually deeply integrated into our daily lives. For example, in traditional Japanese sweets and Kyoto souvenirs, there are hidden Rimpa-style shapes symbolizing nature such as plants, birds, and waves. This section looks at how the round shapes of the Rimpa school were accepted by people, and how books helped them to do so.

OGATA Korin and his designs

OGATA Korin, who is also known as a representative of the Genroku culture that flourished in the Kyoto-Osaka area, was born in 1658 as the second son of a high-class kimono shop called Kariganeya in Kyoto. From a young age, he was not only exposed to the latest designs through the products of the kimono shop, but also grew up with a variety of culture and art including Noh, calligraphy, painting, tea ceremony, and classical literature. His father died when he was 30, and he inherited a huge fortune, but his debauchery and failure to repay loans put him under financial strain. Consequently, he was once in such dire straits that he pawned an ancestral folding screen and applied for a loan from his younger brother Kenzan (1663-1743). As a result, from around his late thirties until his death in 1716 at the age of 59, he painted pictures seriously and became a successful painter.
In addition to paintings and folding screens, Korin left behind outstanding works in a number of media, including maki-e designs in which gold or silver powder was sprinkled on lacquerware such as inkstone boxes, and square dishes created in collaboration with Kenzan. He is well known for his dynamic designs. For example, in his masterpiece from his later years, Kohaku Baizu Byobu (folding screen with images of red and white Japanese apricot blossoms), he depicted waves using a combination of small and large curves as well as Japanese apricot blossoms in silhouette with simplified petals in rounded shapes or showing only the stamens and pistils.

Korin-moyo

At the same time as Korin's success, the production of kimonos with designs named "Korin-moyo" took place. Many of drawings of the designs are in kosode-bon, which were like fashion magazines and catalogs at that time. Korin-moyo were designs of plants and birds with round shapes, just like Korin's works, but Korin himself was not involved in them. They are thought to have been promoted by publishers and kimono shops. The Japanese apricot blossoms in Kohaku Baizu Byobu and kosode-bon are similar in that the five petals are drawn together, but the ones in kosode-bon are more simplified and deformed.

These Korin style patterns were popular among wealthy women in the Kyoto and Osaka area. An ukiyozoshi (novel) published at the time, Seken Musume Katagi (Characters of Worldly Young Women), also describes a beautiful woman's fashionable appearance as "Korin-moyo ni te wo kome (in an elaborate Korin-moyo kimono)." The popularity reached as far away as Edo and continued for about 20 years after Korin's death. At some point, Korin-moyo (光林模様) was renamed Korin-moyo (光琳模様), and the typical motifs of Japanese apricot blossoms, waves, pine trees, chrysanthemums, and plovers became more sophisticated designs named after Korin, such as "Korin-bai (Japanese apricot)," and "Korin-nami (wave)". These patterns are still used today in textile design and wagashi (Japanese sweets).

The spread of the Rimpa school of design to the ordinary people

The public's appreciation of Korin is thought to have been as high as that of the Shogunate's official painters during his lifetime, but after his death, he became more known for his widely popular patterns.

A few decades after publication of Ehon Tekagami, Kasei culture emerged in Edo, mainly among merchants. Printing and publishing flourished, and books became popular among the ordinary people in many places. Printing technology also developed, and many colorful nishiki-e prints were produced. At that time, the painters of the Rimpa school published beautiful multi-colored printed books. One of them was NAKAMURA Hochu (? -1819), a painter from Osaka. He went to Edo in 1799, and three years later published a collection of his own paintings titled Korin Gafu, (Korin's Picture-album), which he labelled as Korin style.

In 1815, thirteen years after the publication of Houchu's Korin Gafu, SAKAI Hoitsu (1761-1828) held an exhibition in Edo of Korin's works to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death. For this exhibition, Korin Hyakuzu (One-Hundred Designs by Korin) and Ogataryu Ryakuinpu (Catalog of 16 Ogata Artists) were published. The first edition of them was printed in a very small number of copies as a private edition. The cover to the first edition of the Korin Hyakuzu featured a decorative pattern modeled after chrysanthemums, and that of Ogataryu Ryakuinpu had a mica-printed cover based on the Japanese iris. Korin was noted for both patterns, so these cover designs were the result of Hoitsu's study of Korin. Korin Hyakuzu was a collection of copies of Korin's works by Hoitsu, and was republished numerous times by a variety of publishers with simple covers.
Although the Rimpa school started in Kyoto, it spread widely to ordinary people in Edo and other cities through printed books.

Department stores and the Rimpa school, to the present day

During the Meiji and Taisho periods, the Mitsukoshi kimono shop (now Mitsukoshi) held activities to honor the Rimpa school, mainly focusing on Korin. Through these activities, the Rimpa school of design became more widely known, incorporating the trends of the times and expanding its significance.
The predecessor of the Mitsukoshi kimono shop was Mitsui kimono shop, which was reorganized from Echigoya, a kimono merchant of the Edo period, and began operating as Japan's first department store in 1904. The close relationship between Mitsukoshi and the Rimpa school continued for several decades, since the days of the Mitsui kimono shop. It is thought that Korin and the patterns named after him were convenient for department stores, which were trying to create new trends, to promote because they were gaining recognition overseas at the time. In a feature article entitled "Moyo no setsu" (The Theory of Patterns) in the first booklet for customers, Hanagoromo, published in 1899, TAKAHASHI Yoshio, an employee of the design department, praised the Rimpa school for "opening up the front of patterns" by referring to the Rimpa school as "the students of Sotatsu and Korin".

Mitsukoshi's activities to honor Korin continued and reached their peak in 1915. First, a design competition was held for the general public titled "Shin Korin moyo" in April. The prize-winning works were presented in an advertising magazine and in the new pattern exhibition at Mitsukoshi, and were also published in a catalogue entitled Shin Korin-moyo by Unsoudo. The prize-winning works combined Japanese and Western styles, using Western flowers and showing the influence of Art Nouveau, reflecting the westernization of the world at that time. The Grand Prize winner's selection review read as follows. "The ingenuity to draw an elegant design and evolve a new Korin style without being influenced by the trend of Western-style painting was excellent. Many of our members regarded this design as the Korin style of the Taisho period and recommended it for the grand prize." (Mitsukoshi vol.5 no.4, edited by Mitsukoshi in 1915) In the article of the next month's issue, it was said that it had become an "unexpected craze" and that the first prize winner had received dozens of orders, indicating that there was a huge response.
From June 1 to 3 of the same year, the Korin legacy exhibition was held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Korin's death.

Since then, the Rimpa school of design has been deeply embedded in our daily lives and has been passed down from generation to generation. Designer TANAKA Ikko (1930-2002), who created posters based on paintings by TAWARAYA Sotatsu (date of birth and death unknown), pointed out in a conversation with art historian KONNO Motoaki (1943- ) that we can find Korin-like elements even in food plating, the shape of sweets, and kimono patterns. He also pointed out that "if Korin had not existed, the so-called Japanese style would not have been born." (Nagomi no.217 on January, 1998.1 [Z11-1101])

Column: Rimpa roots, Sotatsu and Koetsu

The "Rim" of the Rimpa school was taken from Korin's name.
However, two artists who were active in Kyoto at the beginning of the Edo period, HON'AMI Koetsu (1558-1637) and TAWARAYA Sotatsu, are said to be the starting point of the Rimpa school. Korin studied under Sotatsu and learned by copying his works.
Sotatsu, famous for the national treasure Fujin Raijin Zu Byobu (Wind God and Thunder God Screens), was the main artist of the painting studio called Tawaraya. Tawaraya's works, represented by fan paintings and ink wash paintings, gained a reputation among a wide range of groups including samurai, nobles, and townspeople, and laid the groundwork for the later acceptance of the Rimpa style. At that time, the culture led by the court nobles and samurai was flourishing, but it was also the time when townspeople began to have power. Until then, the publishing business had been dominated by temples, but from the Edo period, townspeople began to engage in it. A typical example of this are Sagabon, which were books published in Saga, Kyoto by calligrapher and trader SUMINOKURA Soan (1571-1632) and Koetsu. Ise Monogatari [WA7-238] and Tsuredzuregusa [WA7-219] were published in beautiful binding and with elaborate wooden type.

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