Spring is coming!
People in Europe aren’t the only ones excited for spring: Springtime celebrations are a very important aspect of everyday culture in Japan. The Plum Park in Kameido has been depicted by many Japanese artists, most prominently in a series by Utagawa Hiroshige in 1857. Vincent van Gogh popularised the motif in Europe by copying Hiroshige’s woodcut.
The print, based on the draft by renowned woodcut artist Utagawa Hiroshige, spans across three sheets. We see three young women visiting a very specific tree in Kameido: the garyubai plum tree. The grove on the banks of the Sumida River was a popular day trip destination in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). The motif of the plum tree originated in Chinese painting, and the white plum petal symbolises the transition from the barren winter to spring. The landscape format makes it easy to depict the horizontally zig-zagging tree trunk that gave the tree its name (garyubai, or “sleeping dragon”). The garyubai was famous for its snow-white flowers that shined at night.
“Pictures of the floating world”
In the evening scene depicted here, the colourful, overlapping layers of the women’s kimonos contrast with the sketchily drawn branches against a grey background. The three beautiful women assume various, slightly skewed poses, which makes their luxurious clothing stand out all the more. The textiles exhibit different dying and decorative techniques in white, violet, blue, and red tones. Half obscured and half visible, we see different depictions of plum flowers on the sumptuous fabrics in a reference to the title of the work and the subject itself, while indirectly hinting at the coming of spring. The Chinese character for “spring” can be seen repeating in the outwardly flowing inner lining of the middle figure’s overcoat.
This work by Kuniyoshi is an ukiyo-e, which means “pictures of the floating world”. They have become synonymous with Japanese woodcuts. The word ukiyo initially referred to a pessimistic and distanced worldview influenced by Buddhism, but it took on a different meaning in Japan after the release of a popular novel from 1662 that described the enjoyment of “fleeting pleasures of the floating world” (ukiyo) as a new attitude toward life among the “emerging urban bourgeoisie” (chonin). Buyers of the relatively affordable prints included merchants and travellers.
Women as a popular motif
Along with depictions of known kabuki performers, the world of “beautiful women” (bijin) was another particularly popular motif. The bijin included elegantly dressed, bourgeois women on excursions, on strolls along the street, visiting the shrine, admiring cherry and plum blossoms, and going about their daily errands. Depictions of well-known, luxuriously dressed courtesans from the Yoshiwara pleasure district added a captivating accent to the genre. These women were depicted entertaining guests, playing music, writing, composing poems, getting out of the bath, getting dressed, styling their hair, preparing and serving tea, sake, or food, and smoking tobacco.