GREEN JAPAN AND THE EIGHT VIEWS: ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES AND EAST ASIAN VISUAL CULTURE ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM
ORGANIZED AND WRITTEN BY: KEVIN R. E. GREENWOOD, JOAN L. DANFORTH CURATOR OF ASIAN ART ANN SHERIF, PROFESSOR OF JAPANESE AND EAST ASIAN STUDIES DESIGN BY: STACIE ROSS, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR © 2025 / ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM AT OBERLIN COLLEGE LARGER IMAGES OF THE PRINTS IN THIS BOOK CAN BE FOUND BY SEARCHING OUR WEBSITE AT AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU. TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 INTRODUCTION 6 GREEN JAPAN: IMAGES OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN UKIYO-E PRINTS 38 EIGHT VIEWS: PLACE, PICTURE, AND POEM IN EAST ASIA 62 GLOSSARY 63 REGIONAL MAPS 63 SOURCES/FURTHER READINGS
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This publication emerges from a unique convergence of scholarship, creativity, and environmental commitment at Oberlin College. In 2025, as the college celebrated achieving carbon neutrality—a milestone years in the making— we recognized that our dedication to sustainability had already been quietly shaping academic life across campus. From seminar discussions, research projects, and gallery installations, students, faculty, and staff had been exploring what it means to live in harmony with our planet. Two exhibitions at the Allen Memorial Art Museum featured in this book exemplify that spirit. What began as Kevin Greenwood’s fall 2021 exhibition Green Japan: Images of Sustainable Living in Ukiyo-e Prints, and later Professor Ann Sherif’s in-depth 2024 course on environmental humanities in Asia, Green Japan, evolved into something larger: a collaborative exploration that moved from museum to classroom to museum exhibition, from individual reflection to collective action. The Allen became not just a venue, but a partner in asking urgent questions about art, environment, and responsibility— questions that required a diverse community of collaborators to fully explore. This work would not have been possible without a community of supporters who believed in its vision. Greenwood thanks Azby Brown for the initial inspiration, and for his input on the Green Japan exhibition. Professor Denin Lee was a wonderful collaborator on Sherif’s course, providing guest lectures, and later a public lecture related to the exhibition Eight Views: Place, Picture, and Poem in East Asia. At the Allen, Megan Harding provided editing of the original exhibition text for Green Japan, and Stacie Ross did the same for Eight Views, as well as creating the layout and formatting for this publication. Pam Snyder and Lizzie Edgar facilitated crucial support from Oberlin College’s Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE) grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. Most importantly, we thank the Oberlin College students who transformed academic inquiry into something vital and urgent, as the Eight Views project evolved from classroom to exhibition. Their willingness to see connections between past and present, between art and environmental literacy, between Japan and Ohio, reminds us why this work matters: Mei Corliss (OC 2027), Jackson Davies (OC 2026), Michelle Chen (OC 2027), Phebe Grandison (OC 2027), Thea Larks (OC 2027), Gabe Liftman (OC 2026), Greta Lee (OC 2026), Phoebe McChesney (OC 2025), Zala Mendelson (OC 2026), Julianna Reineks (OC 2026), Bangbo Sun (OC 2024), Elliot Ungar (OC 2026), and Zaden Viola (OC 2026). The pages that follow reflect this collaborative spirit, weaving together scholarly research, artistic interpretation, and environmental consciousness in ways that honor both the past and our planetary future.
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ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 5 Note on Chinese and Japanese romanization: Chinese names and terms have been romanized using the pinyin system with tone diacritics. However, the more familiar dynasty, city, and province names do not include the tone markers (Song Dynasty, Beijing, Hunan, etc.). Similarly, for Japanese names and terms macrons are provided, apart fromplace names better known in English without them (Tokyo, Kyoto, etc.). INTRODUCTION This catalogue brings together two complementary subjects that demonstrate how the environmental humanities can illuminate the deep connections between cultural expression in East Asian art and environmental literacy. Based on two exhibitions at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, this catalog uses the lens of eco-criticism to reveal how Japanese and Chinese artists have long understood art not merely as aesthetic practice, but as a means of documenting, celebrating, and advocating for sustainable relationships with the natural world. The woodblock prints featured in the first part, Green Japan: Images of Sustainable Living in Ukiyo-e Prints, function as visual archives of Edo-period Japan’s remarkably sophisticated environmental practices—from community-based rice cultivation and waste-free urban systems to renewable resource management and carbon-neutral transportation. Recent scholarship in environmental history has overturned the romanticizedmyth that pre-industrial societies achieved harmony with nature effortlessly. Japan of the Edo period stands as a remarkable example—a densely populated pre-industrial society that achieved sustainability through innovative resource management and coordinated social institutions. Although initially enforced from the top down in the rigidly stratified feudal society of Edo-period Japan, these practices evolved to become cultural values rooted in conservation. The Eight Views tradition examined in the second part, Eight Views: Place, Picture, and Poem in East Asia, further expands this environmental humanities framework by tracing how landscape representation traveled across cultures and centuries, evolving from Song dynasty China’s politically charged exile poetry to Japan’s celebration of local ecological knowledge. These artistic traditions embody what we now call “environmental literacy”—a deep understanding of the interdependence of human and natural systems and strong emotional connections with nature that, in turn, contribute to environmental stewardship. By applying eco-critical methodologies to these historical artworks, we can read them as more than scenic documentation; they become testimonies to alternative ways of organizing society that prioritized long-term sustainability over short-term exploitation. As contemporary global society grapples with the climate crisis, these exhibitions suggest that the environmental humanities offer crucial insights by recovering and analyzing cultural practices that once sustained human civilization within planetary boundaries. Hasui Kawase (Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水) (Japanese, 1883–1957), Honmonji Temple, 1931. Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Gift of Sarah G. Epstein (OC 1948), 1997.41.20.
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GREEN JAPAN: IMAGES OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN UKIYO-E PRINTS In the 21st century we tend to think of high-tech solutions to our environmental crisis: solar and wind power, geothermal heating and cooling, electric cars, carbon sequestration, and efficient green buildings, to name a few. But equally important are low-tech efforts to encourage changes in behavior to forestall the growing climate crisis and create a robust culture of sustainability, the practice of meeting present needs while ensuring that future generations can also meet their own needs through responsible management of environmental, social, and economic resources. Japan faced its own environmental crisis at the close of the 16th century, after years of civil war and social upheaval. The practice of clearcutting forests for buildingmaterial had led to massive erosion and watershed damage. Agricultural land was limited in this mountainous country—it was unable to expand, and thus unable to support rapid population growth. The crisis prompted government regulation and enforcement, but other solutions evolved over time—ones that reflect Japan’s traditional ethics of community cooperation (結 yui), conservation, use of renewables, and waste reduction. In this section, we use the lens of sustainability to take a closer look at Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Edo period (1603–1868), highlighting often overlooked details to reveal not a future utopia, but a sustainable world that actually existed several centuries ago. “[People in Edo period Japan] … overcame many of the identical problems that confront us today—issues of energy, water, materials, food, and population—[and] forged from these considerable challenges a society that was conservation-minded, waste-free, well-housed and well-fed, and economically robust, and that has bequeathed to us admirable and enduring standards of design and beauty.” —Azby Brown, Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan (2009) Utagawa Hiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858), Camellia Hill and the Hut of the Poet Basho beside theWater Supply at Sekiguchi, no. 40 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857. Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Mary A. Ainsworth Bequest, 1950.1403. See page 33 for detailed information. ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 7
8 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU RICE FIELDS The mountainous terrain of Japan leaves only about one fourth of its total land available for agriculture, and the majority of that land was used for rice cultivation in the Edo period. Great productivity was possible due to the temperate climate and frequent rainfall and snowmelt. Traditional wet-field, or paddy-field, rice cultivation uses a flooded field surrounded by earth berms to keep in the water. Rice can grow there, but fewer weeds, and the water attracted insects that in turn attracted frogs and fish, which attracted other species, creating a complex ecosystem. Paddy-field agriculture was a sophisticated system that required community cooperation (結 yui), to manage irrigation. It was also very labor intensive, andmost of this labor in Japan was done by people, not animals. The adaptability of human labor, combined with the variability of the size and shape of a rice paddy, allowed farmers to fit fields in anywhere with access to water, maximizing the use of available land. This flexibility is seen in these three prints. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Mirror StandMountain and theMoonReflected in theRice Fields at Sarashina inShinano Province, no. 25 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-oddProvinces, 1853. Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1280 The terraced rice fields at Sarashina were famously beautiful, resembling glistening steps climbing the side of a mountain. They were built not only to maximize arable land, but also to take advantage of the snowmelt that cascaded down the mountainside. Gravity didmost of the irrigation work. The water was caught in a holding basin and then released as needed to fill the paddies below. The StoneYakushi Temple at Ishiyakushi (detail)
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 9 Right: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Distant ViewofMt. Fuji fromtheMountainRoad inTotsuka, no. 6 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places of the Fifty-three Stations, 1855 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1330 A series of paddy fields lies between two low rows of hills, fit carefully into the available space. Three farmers are planting rice in the foreground. A basket with rice seedlings sits on a berm nearby. In the distance, travelers walk along a mountain road lined with small stalls that sell refreshments and provide shade. Rising from the clouds in the distance is Mt. Fuji, located far to the west of this stop on the Tōkaidō, the village of Totsuka on the coastal road linking Edo to Kyoto. Below: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) The StoneYakushi Temple at Ishiyakushi, fromthe series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, ca. 1833 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.835 Amore typical rice field is seen here, a flat open space with young trees and brush separating it from a nearby town. In the foreground is a raised berm of earth used not just for the paddy but also widened to accommodate foot travel. Two figures carrying a heavy load on a pole between them are seen hurrying on the makeshift road (see detail on page 8). Behind them, farmers use large rakes to gather rice straw, adding it to the carefully constructed stacks nearby. Rice straw is highlighted on page 14.
10 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU RICE PLANTING The first step in rice production involved plowing, hoeing and fertilizing the fields, most often using composted plants, industrial byproducts like sardine or rapeseedmeal, and, importantly, manure. Due to the relative lack of livestock, this manure was mostly human, collected locally and from cities, then carefully processed. This collection actually contributed to the higher level of sanitation and lower incidence of diseases like cholera in Japan, compared to Europe or the Americas at the time. Next, the fields were flooded, either by knocking a break in the earthen berm to let in water, or, as seen in two of these prints, by using a small adjustable wooden dam called a weir (堰 seki ). While the field was being prepared and flooded, bound bales of seed rice were soaked in a pond to allow sprouting. After about 20 days of soaking, the bales were ready to be opened and the seedlings carefully removed for planting by hand in the fields. Above: Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 (Japanese, 1790–1848) TheKarasuRiver at Kuragano, no. 13 fromthe series ASet of Pictures of Kisokaidō, 1835 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.861A Signs of spring are everywhere in this playful print. At the center, a young boy balances precariously on the top of a wooden weir (堰 seki ), whose center section can be raised or lowered in the frame to allowwater to flood or replenish the fields as needed. Here, though, the water may be filling a pond to sprout rice seedlings. The yellowish bundles just beyond the weir are probably seed-rice bales. Three other boys are equally enjoying the moment; one laughs as he watches the other two in the water, one holding a turtle, and one netting frogs or minnows. Awoman, the bright colors of her kimono suggesting her youth, watches over them, peacefully sipping her tea. Another woman below her, whose more somber dress indicates her maturity, uses a stiff bamboo brush to clean off a charcoal space heater, preparing to put it away for the season. A blossoming tree on the right further marks the season.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 11 Left: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Yoshitsune’s Cherry Tree and the Shrine to Noriyori at Ishiyakushi, no. 45 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places of the Fifty-three Stations, 1855 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1369 A large, blossoming cherry tree shows us that it is springtime at Ishiyakushi, the same town seen in the fall in the previous section. The tree seems to shelter both the town and the newly planted rice fields surrounding it. In the foreground, an irrigation ditch zigs and zags, bringing water to the fields in the distance. Immediately below the tree is a weir, controlling the flow of fresh water from the ditch into the fields. Left: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Hōki Province: Ōno, Distant ViewofMount Daisen , no. 41 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces, 1853 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1296 Planting rice seedlings by hand was laborintensive, backbreaking work, probably even less pleasant in a rainstorm! But the job was lightened by community effort (結 yui), as farmers helped each other during this critical phase in the growing cycle. Seedlings grew for about 40 days in a nursery bed, planted densely but kept evenly spaced, often with the aid of a grid of ropes stretched across the field. When ready, farmers carefully uprooted the rice plants and transplanted them, more widely spaced, in the larger rice fields. To make sure the seedlings would take, they had to be put into the ground almost immediately. Planters kept up the pace and their spirits with numerous planting songs. Below: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Kakegawa: Akibayama Fork, no. 27 fromthe series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, also known as the ReishoTōkaidō, ca. 1850 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.945 A group of farmers transplant rice seedlings while travelers pass by on the Tōkaidō, a major road running parallel to the coast between Kyoto and Edo. Rice fields made use of the limited arable land, sometimes along the major roads used for transporting goods and people, as seen here.
12 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU RICE HARVESTING During the growing season for rice, the flooded fields created a mini-ecosystem as creatures adapted to these temporary wetlands. Fish entered with the irrigation water, frogs laid eggs that stuck to growing rice stalks, snails and mosquito larvae grew, and all of these attracted ducks, herons, and egrets. At harvest time, the community came together again to perform this labor-intensive task. Farmers used sickles to cut rice stalks near the bottom to ensure a good length for the straw left after the rice grains were removed. Next, the stalks were threshed to remove the grains, either by beating themwith flails or stripping themby hand. The grains were then hulled in a mill, removing the outer hull. Finally, the hulls were separated from the grains by winnowing. For farmers, self-sufficient and able to live on the food they produced, the rice harvest was a central part of their livelihood. Half of the yield was used for taxes and/or rent. For the other half, part was eaten, part was saved as seed, and part was sold or exchanged. Whole grain rice, today known as brown rice, was mixed with other grains to serve as a staple of the rural diet. Polished rice, or white rice, preferred for its taste and easier to preserve and ship, was in demand in the cities. However, it was also more expensive, and less nutritious, leading to widespread vitamin-B deficiency in urban populations. Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (Japanese, 1797–1861) Emperor Tenji, no. 1 fromthe series TheOneHundredPoets, OnePoemEach, early 1840s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.527 The most famous anthology of Japanese poetry is the Hyakunin Isshu 百人一首, or “One Hundred Poets, One PoemEach,” compiled in the early 13th century. In the very first poem, illustrated in this print and translated above, Emperor Tenji 天智 (626–672) recalls a time he took shelter from the rain in a simple hut near a field during harvest time. The poem is often interpreted as an expression of his sympathy for the farmers’ labor; the moisture he refers to may be from his own tears. In the autumn fields the hut, the temporary hut its thatch is rough; and so the sleeves of my robe are dampened night by night with dew. —Translation by Joshua S. Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu inWord and Image (2023)
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 13 Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 (Japanese, 1790–1848) AgeoStation: theKamoShrine, no. 6 fromthe series ASet of Pictures of Kisokaidō, 1835 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.854A Winnowing rice grains, a process that removes inedible hulls from the edible grain, was most simply done by pouring the rice out of a scoop-like basket and letting the wind blow the hulls away. Other methods used a special device called a mangoku tōshi 万石通し (shown in the foreground), the most advanced winnowing tool in the Edo period. It was a frame with a large, round drum attached to a central handle. Look closely and you can see a woman pouring rice into the opening at the top. When she cranked the handle, the drum rotated and created a strong airflow that blew the heavier rice apart from the lighter hulls. Both emerged separately below. The device was too expensive for most farms, but in this print we see an enterprising roadside shop that made it available to local farmers, probably taking a portion of the rice in trade. Even the rice hulls were not wasted, but used for things such as pillow stuffing or as an abrasive for scrubbing and polishing. Finally, the hulls ended up as fuel or compost for the fields. Below: KatsushikaHokusai 葛飾北斎 (Japanese, 1760–1849) FarmersHarvestingRice in theCountryside, 1799 Color woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.766 Farmers harvesting rice emerge from the mist in this rare limited-edition print (surimono 摺物) by the renowned designer Katsushika Hokusai. Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 (Japanese, 1790–1848) Okegawa Station: Viewof thePlain, no. 7 from the series ASet of Pictures of Kisokaidō, 1835 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.855 A traveler at the right stops to ask a question of a seated farmer, at the center. The farmer is threshing rice stalks by hand and then feeding the hulled grains into a small, roundmill on the woven mat. Small piles of hulled rice surround the mill. To the left of the image, waiting to be threshed, you can see stooks, or taba 束, bundled sheaves of grain tied up with the grain-end elevated to protect from rot and vermin while drying. Inside the farmhouse a man leans over a fire pit to light his pipe. Note the drying tobacco leaves hanging above the window at the far left. Tobacco was introduced to Japan by the Portuguese and possibly other foreign traders in the 16th century, and pipe smoking quickly became widespread. It was a valuable secondary cash crop for farmers.
14 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU RICE STRAW AND REEDS Not simply a byproduct of rice production, rice straw (wara わら), the dried stalks of rice plants, was one of the most versatile and useful materials of the Edo period. Most frequently used for rope, rice straw also became the raw material for making sandals, floor mats and cushions, pouches and bags, aprons, and even rain coats. These items could be roughly or finely woven, depending on what was needed, and were lightweight, flexible, and surprisingly durable. For farmers, making such products was a potential source of extra income. Reeds were another important renewable material, used to thatch roofs in most rural areas. Often grown on otherwise unusable hillsides, dried reeds were widely used as an inexpensive, if labor intensive, thatching. Such roofs could be patched easily when needed, and lasted about 20 years before needing complete replacement. Both rice straw and reeds were completely renewable resources. After use, they simply became compost or mulch. If used as fuel, even the leftover ash was used in dyes, ceramic glazes, cleaning abrasives, andmore. KatsushikaHokusai 葛飾北斎 (Japanese, 1760–1849) LowerMeguro, fromthe series Thirty-sixViews ofMt. Fuji, early 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.719 In this print fromHokusai’s renowned series of landscapes, Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, the mountain is barely seen, peeking above the hills at the center. Much more prominent are the terraced fields coveringmany of the hills. We can see both rice straw and reeds here. In the lower right, two samurai are taking their falcons out to hunt, and a farmer kneels to show his deference to these members of the ruling elite. Above the farmer, tucked in the hills, are two stacks of drying rice straw. Near the farmhouses at the lower left are stacks of reeds, close to where they will be needed for roof repair. After drying for a fewmonths, the reeds could be stored in the lofts under the roofs, where they could dry further, adding insulation to the home and also gaining insect resistance through exposure to the rising hearth smoke.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 15 KatsushikaHokusai 葛飾北斎 (Japanese, 1760–1849) ThePaddies of Ōno inSurugaProvince, fromthe series Thirty-sixViews ofMt. Fuji, early 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.710 In another print from Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, the mountain floats in the distance beyond a vast rice field. In the foreground, farmers transport huge bales of reeds. The bales were lightweight, but very bulky and awkward to move. Here the farmers are lucky to have five oxen to help with this job. Draft animals were fairly rare in Japan at the time; only about 10 percent of farming households owned them. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Tarui, no. 58 fromthe series Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, late 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.907 In this print we see a rainy day at a station, or rest stop, on the Kisokaidō, the mountain route linking Edo to Kyoto. Japan is known for its frequent rainfall, and the water-repellent quality of rice straw led to one of its more creative uses. Straw rain capes called mino 蓑, often combined with a straw skirt, provided lightweight, if bulky, rain protection. At the center of the print, two figures in mino lead a procession of samurai, escorting their lord either to Edo or back to his domain. The man in front, in blue with the umbrella, is probably the village headman, showing the party to their lodging for the night. The shopkeepers and other travelers must kneel as the procession passes by. Another figure in a mino kneels at the lower right. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Fujieda, no. 23 fromthe series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, also called the Reisho Tōkaidō, ca. 1850 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.941 On a rainy day on the Tōkaidō, travelers walk on the road between two vast rice fields. In the distance is Tanaka Castle, seat of the Tanaka Domain in what is today Shizuoka Prefecture. The people cover themselves with whatever is handy: a cloak, a sedan chair, and, for the two figures on the right, a mat or cape made from rice straw. We can see rice straw stacked up to dry in the field in the foreground.
16 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU INLAND FISHING The diet in the Edo period was primarily plant-based. Much of the protein, particulary in rural areas, came frombeans, grains, and, to a lesser extent, fish and other seafood. In many inland rural areas the only fish available was dried, preserved or fermented—brought in from the coasts. In areas with access to lakes or rivers, however, freshwater fish was a welcome treat. Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (Japanese, 1797–1861) PoembyGonchūnagonSadayori, no. 64 fromthe series TheOneHundredPoets, OnePoemEachs, early 1840s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.518 A fisherman sits on a fishing weir, or yana 梁, using a reed mat as a simple net to catch small fish that have been channeled into a fish trap, or eri 魞, made with a fence of closely spaced logs. This is another print fromKuniyoshi’s illustrations of the poetry anthology Hyakunin Isshu, the “One Hundred Poets, One PoemEach,” seen earlier. The poem is translated above. To an Edo-period viewer, the association of this refined, classical poemwith an image of an ordinary country fisherman would have been an amusing pairing known as mitate-e 見立絵. The term literally means “look-andcompare pictures,” referring to a visual analogy where contemporary scenes or figures are depicted in ways that allude to classical literature, historical events, or traditional themes. This artistic approach created a playful intellectual dialogue between the artist and the viewer, who needed cultural knowledge to fully appreciate the layeredmeanings and references. As the winter dawn breaks, the Uji River mist thins in patches and revealed, here and there, are all the shallows’ fishing stakes. —Fujiwara no Sadayori 藤原定頼 (995–1045) —Translation by Joshua S. Mostow, Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu inWord and Image (2023)
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 17 Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 (Japanese, 1790–1848) Kōdo: Cormorant FishingBoats on theNagae River, no. 55 fromthe series The Stations of the KisoRoad, 1835 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.904 Cormorant fishing, known in Japan as ukai 鵜飼, has been practiced for over a thousand years in specific parts of Japan and China. One famous location is in Japan’s Gifu province on the Nagae (or Nagara) River, seen here. The fisherman uses trained cormorants, seabirds known for their skill at fishing. A cord or ring is placed around the bird’s neck, loose enough so it can swallow small fish but not large ones. When the bird catches a big fish, it is pulled back to the boat andmade to drop the fish. Cormorant fishing is done at night, using a torch to attract fish to the boat. Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (Japanese, 1797–1861) Takamiya: Kamiya Iemon, no. 65 fromthe series The Sixty-nine Stations of theKisokaidō, 1852 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.649 A fisherman sits by a stream, grasping a thin bamboo fishing rod. He is multitasking, using two other rods simultaneously, anchored by a rock and his foot, which suggest his work is for subsistence, not entertainment. A small, rectangular tackle box lies at his feet and a creel for his catch, which is the bottle-shaped basket with a net opening that floats in the water nearby. But the man’s two swords indicate that he is a samurai. Why is he fishing in the countryside? This print is from a series by Kuniyoshi inspired by the names of the 69 stations on the Kisokaidō. The artist creates clever puns on the name of each station, here Takamiya. The fisherman, Kamiya Iemon, was a famous villain in many popular plays, driven to live in the wilderness after committing a pair of murders. In one popular version of the story, his name is Tamiya, so Kuniyoshi associates both names, Tamiya and Kamiya, with the station’s name, Takamiya.
18 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU MARINE FISHING The two landscape prints here show large-scale fishing in mid-19th century Japan, one inWakasa Province on the northern coast of the main island of Honshu, and the other in Tosa Province on the south coast of the island of Shikoku. Little has been recorded of these regional traditions, but the activites seen in them can be understood based on the better recorded fishing industry centered on the great city of Edo, which exemplifies the sustainable character of commercial fishing in the 18th–19th centures. Once a humble fishing village, Edo grew to a population of about one million by the 18th century, and local fishing expanded to match the demand. Careful organization and regulation allowed Edo Bay to supply fresh fish to the city and its surroundings on a daily basis without depleting marine resources. Fishing rights to certain areas were strictly controlled, andmany guilds of fishermen both cooperated and competed to get their catch to the wholesale market in the downtown Nihonbashi district. From there, the seafood was whisked away to numerous local dealers and finally to thousands of homes and restaurants throughout the city. Attributed toKitao Shigemasa 北尾重政 (Japanese, 1739–1820) BoywithSeaBream, FishingPole andCap, Attributes of theGod Ebisu, fromthe untitled series Children as the Seven LuckyGods, late 1770s to early 1780s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.292 A happy boy sits with a fishing pole in one hand and the other armwrapped around an immense fish known as a red sea bream (tai 鯛). This popular seafood had numerous auspicious associations in 19th-century Japan and beyond. Its red color related to good fortune, and tai fish are often seen in the arms of Ebisu, a god of good luck and patron of fishermen. In fact, Ebisu’s characteristic floppy hat can be seen hanging upside-down from the boy’s pole, cementing his connection with the god. This kind of print would have been considered both amusing and a wish for good fortune and abundance. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) WakasaProvince: FishingBoatsNettingFlounder, no. 30 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-oddProvinces, 1853 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1285 This print shows large-scale commercial fishing in action, as uniformly dressed and disciplined fishermen haul in an immense net brimming with flounder and crab. Note the rice-straw rain gear many of themwear against the ocean spray. The scene is probably inWakasa Bay, one of the most important ports on Japan’s northern coast, and still an important site for commercial fishing.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 19 UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) TosaProvince: BonitoFishingat Sea, no. 58 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-oddProvinces, 1855 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1313 Particularly prized for its flavor, bonito, or skipjack tuna, known in Japan as katsuo 鰹, is a major part of Japanese cuisine. A fish primarily eaten raw in sashimi or sushi, it is also used to make a popular fish stock called dashi 出汁. Bonito is also smoked, fermented, dried, and then shaved into flakes to make the widely-used condiment and seasoning called katsuobushi 鰹節. The first bonito of the season, known as hatsu katsuo 初鰹, was considered the most delicious and was a symbol of spring, or the first month of the lunar year. The south-tonorth springtime migration of the fish meant that southern ports, like those in Tosa Province, got the first bonito of the year. Note that, unlike the fishermen who use nets in the nearby print, these men use fishing rods and lines. This was believed to limit the potential damage to these valuable fish.
20 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU Above: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) ReturningSails at Tsukuda, fromthe series Eight Views of Famous Places inEdo, mid-1840s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1249 Although the closed borders enforced by the Edo government restricted international shipping, a lot of domestic trade was carried out with large cargo vessels such as the ones seen in the background of this print. The location here is the mouth of the Sumida River, one of the major rivers that flowed through the city of Edo into Edo Bay. To the left is Tsukuda Island, with the white banners of the Sumiyoshi Shrine waving in the breeze. The island was home to a community of specialized fishermen brought from Osaka to Edo by orders of the shogun. They knew how to catch tiny but tasty icefish, or shirauo 白魚, that could only be caught at night. The shogun also gave these nocturnal fishermen the duty to act as night watchmen for any activity in Edo Bay. Top right: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広 重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) GreyMullet (Bora), Camellia, and Lotus Root, froman untitled series of ten pictures of fish, early 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1237 This depiction of fish by Hiroshige, and the one below, are not only still lifes matched with poems, but also suggest the refined food culture of Edo. Unlike today, when any food from any climate is available yearround—and we incur the environmental costs of transporting it—these prints point to a strong sense of seasonality and locality for various foods. The grey mullet (Mugil cephalus; Bora 鯔) and the lotus root were available in the waters near Edo only in the fall, when the camellia also began to blossom. The playful poem reads: Look at Fuji’s reflection in the water, And see the mullet climbing up its sides. Thunder shakes the water. The mullet takes fright from a flash of lightning, Or was it a fishhook? —Translation by Ellen Cary and Sally Fisher, from Hiroshige, a Shoal of Fishes (1980) Bottomright: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌 川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Scorpionfish (Kasago), Lavender Snapper (Himedai), andGinger Stalks, froman untitled series of ten pictures of fish, early 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1236 Sea ruffe or scorpionfish (Sebasticus marmoratus; Kasago 笠子) and lavender snapper (Pristipomoides sieboldii; Himedai 姫鯛) were caught frommid-summer to early fall. The poem notes Misaki Bay, nowMiura, at the mouth of Tokyo Bay. The ginger shoots in the print were harvested in July. Together they suggest a fresh summer dish. The poem reads: The fishermen sail in their boat fromMisaki Bay. Friends shout goodbye, and wish They could hear the replies —Translation by Ellen Cary and Sally Fisher, from Hiroshige, a Shoal of Fishes (1980) Here Hiroshige may be combining the European tradition of still life, or images seen in imported zoological texts, with the Japanese tradition of making prints (gyotaku 魚拓) that record notable catches by inking the fish’s body and printing it on paper.
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22 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU OTHER SEA COMMODITIES Apart from fish, seaweed, shellfish, and salt also were harvested in a sustainable fashion in the Edo period, by and for individual families or for commercial production. These harvests were often labor intensive, and built on centuries of accumulated knowledge. They also took advantage of natural processes such as drying by sun and wind, tidal movement, and the geographical benefits provided by wide beaches or shallow bays. Left: KitagawaUtamaro 喜多川歌麿 (Japanese, 1754–1806) Poems andShells, fromthe series Gifts of the EbbTide, ca. 1789 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, embossing, mica, metallic powder MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.403 This print is a page from a deluxe illustrated volume of poems inspired by shells, an anthology of 36 poems, on 36 shells, by 36 poets. This page follows a title page that shows people collecting shells and shellfish on a beach at low tide. Here, as in the fish prints seen earlier, the “gifts of the sea” that were so central to the Edo-period urban diet are celebrated and elevated by poetry. Above: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) GatheringShellfish at LowTide at Susaki, from the first series Famous Places inEdo, 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1113 Right: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) GatheringShellfish at LowTide on theBeach at Susaki, fromthe series Famous Places in the EasternCapital, late 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1129 The name Susaki simply means a projecting spit of land but came to refer to one beach on Edo Bay famous as a spot for gathering shellfish in the spring. In these prints we can see men, women, and children combing the beach for clams and mussels. They were free for the taking andmade up an important part of the diet—and a commodity to sell—for Edo’s working poor. For those better off, clamdigging at Susaki was an entertaining diversion, perhaps linked to a visit to the shrine to Benten, goddess of water and prosperity, seen at the tip of the spit in the background.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 23 Left: Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (Japanese, 1797–1861) SeaweedGatherers at Ōmori, fromthe series Famous Views of the Eastern Capital, ca. 1834 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.533 Women in a small boat use chopsticks and a small rake to carefully gather a kind of edible seaweed used to make the popular dried, paper-like sheets of seaweed called nori 海苔. Nori is widely used, but most famous as the wrap for sushi. It is highly nutritious and packed with vitamins andminerals, especially iodine. During the Edo period, people in Ōmori, on the west coast of Edo Bay where the water was relatively shallow, developed a system to mass-produce nori. They harvested it from special beds where the seaweed, technically a kind of red algae, grew on bamboo poles or nets. It was then chopped into a paste and spread on small screens, where it dried into thin sheets. Right: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Iwami Province: Mount Takazuno, Salt Beach, no. 43 fromthe series Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-oddProvinces, 1853 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1298 Salt was important not only as a seasoning but also in drying and preserving foods, particularly fish, for storage and transportation. The most common method of salt making in Edo-period Japan was by evaporating sea water, a process called agehama 揚げ浜, seen in this print. First, sections of beach sand are flattened with large rakes, seen here on the right. Buckets of sea water are spread over the area and left to dry in the sun. Then, the top layer of salty sand is carefully scraped off and put into a square, wooden tank, andmore sea water is added to raise the salt content. Here you can see these tanks, covered with little roofs, on the beach. This concentrated salty brine is then drained from the tank and put into a large cauldron, where it is slowly boiled, leaving salt crystals behind. The cauldrons are seen in the larger huts on the beach—note the piles of firewood next to them. This sea salt was made with tremendous variety throughout Japan, and its high mineral content was an added benefit to people’s health.
24 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU TRANSPORTATION BY LAND For short or even long-distance land travel in the Edo period, walking was by far the most common mode of transportation, and certainly the most environmentally friendly. Look closely at many of the landscape prints in this exhibition and you will see that most of the figures are traveling on foot. The main reason was the low number of draft animals in use. By the 18th century, the population in Japan was so great that very little arable land could be spared to grow feed for livestock or draft animals. Ox carts were used for moving heavy things, but only in the cities. Wheeled vehicles were prohibited on major highways because the roads were unpaved and easily torn up by heavy loads. Horses were mostly restricted tomiddle- and high-ranking samurai, although packhorses or riding horses, led by a groom on foot, could be rented for day trips. For most people, the only alternative to walking was a sedan chair (kago 駕籠), a seat mounted below a pole and carried by two bearers. Above: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Takamiya, no. 65 fromthe series Sixty-nine Stations of theKisokaidō, late 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.914 Two women carrying immense loads on their backs walk toward us on the Kisokaidō from the town of Takamiya, today the city of Hikone near Kyoto. Walking was not only the typical mode of travel, it was also howmost goods were moved throughout the country. Bottomright: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Ishiyakushi: The StationHouse, with aPoemby Tomogaki Matsura, no. 45 fromthe series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō also known as the Kyōka Tōkaidō, ca. 1840 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1018 At the important way station at Ishiyakushi was a busy station house that managed transportation on this section of the Tōkaidō. This is where porters, bearers, and horses could be changed out for the next leg of travel. At the right, porters chat while wiping off sweat. Next to them, two porters check a load while another man cleans dirt from a horse’s hoof. In the foreground a load is removed from a pack horse, and behind, a third horse drinks water from a round trough. At the left are two types of sedan chair: one, in red, is a closed chair, providing wealthier travelers with more privacy and protection from the elements; the other sedan chair is the more common, open style. Aman sits in it, waiting for one bearer to stop arguing with a dispatcher, in blue. Inside the accounting house two standing customers make travel arrangements with the other dispatchers, who are seated on a platform covered with paperwork.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 25 Left: UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Ōtsu: Hashirii Teahouse, no. 54 fromthe series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, ca. 1833 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest,1950, 1950.845 Ōtsu was the last stop on the Tōkaidō before reaching Kyoto. Here, heavy loads could be transferred onto ox carts to be moved into the city. In this print, we can see three carts piled high with products from the countryside: rice bales in the first cart and piles of charcoal in the second two. Charcoal was preferred in the cities for heating and cooking because it didn’t smoke as much as hardwoods. Making charcoal was another big cottage industry for rural people.
26 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU FORESTRY By the beginning of the Edo period, overexploitation of forest resources, particularly from clear-cutting of the most desirable old-growth conifers, had led to a crisis, as the forests could not recover effectively. After an initial period of tree censuses and overly harsh restrictions on forest use, followed by local protest, the Edo government developed a flexible arrangement for sustainable, mixed-use forestry. Local administrators enforced the rules and judged disputes, but also supervised forest management and replanting. Rural villagers had access to the lower forests of broad-leaf trees and bamboo to gather firewood, but only what had fallen naturally. The big conifers like sugi (cryptomeria) and hinoki (cypress) in the upper, deeper forest were reserved by the government for urban buildingmaterial. Commercial logging of the upper forests was done by isolated lumberjack communities living deep in the forests. Cut trees were lashed together into rafts and floated downriver to the cities. There, guilds of brokers and dealers sold the lumber for building projects. The complexities of this regulatory systemwere mitigated through adaptability to local conditions, flexibility from the government, a system for filing claims or grievances, and a general cultural commitment to reducing waste and respecting long-term needs. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Winter: Snowon the SumidaRiver, fromthe series Famous Places inEdo inFour Seasons, ca. 1834 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1126 On a snowy day, a lone figure poles his raft along the Sumida River in Edo. Awonderful example of the synthesis of high-brow and low-brow in Edo period popular culture, this serenely beautiful print combines a style and composition rooted in elite painting traditions with an image of everyday labor in the lumber industry and a witty kyōka poem. Even on the waters of Sumida River the snow that falls fails to melt –Or could they be seagulls? —Translation by Matthi Forrer, Hiroshige: Prints and Drawings (1997) UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) No. 33, Motoyama, fromthe series Sixty-nine Stations of theKisokaidō, late 1830s Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.881 Two men sit on a log next to a mountain road near Motoyama, in the mountains of central Japan. They seem to be sharing a pleasant moment smoking and warming themselves by a fire. They are probably local villagers, out collecting fallen twigs and branches for firewood. Next to the man on the right lies a small saw for cutting up branches, its blade protected by a woven cover. Two young boys carry large baskets of firewood down the mountain andmay be just catching up to the two men, ready for a break as well. Another traveler on the road crests the hill behind them. The tree stump in the backgroundmay suggest recent logging, but may also have been cut as a safety measure. Similarly, note the pine stretching over the path, propped up by a frame to keep the road passable.
ALLEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM 27 UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) The Sagami River, no. 18 fromthe series Thirty-sixViews ofMt. Fuji, 1858 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1476 Mt. Fuji rises in the distance as two men use poles to steer large rafts of logs on the Sagami River, east of Edo. A plume of smoke comes from a fire contained in a brazier on the raft and protected with a small A-frame shelter. Having a fire on board could provide both heat and a place to cook a meal or boil water for tea. The image of a lone boatman piloting a raft down a river is so commonplace in landscape prints of the Edo period that it is easy to overlook. These rafts, however, were a crucial part of the lumber industry, moving timber from distant mountain forests to the brokers in the big cities. Although it may have been easier to float individual logs downstream, rafts could be controlled. They did less damage to riverbanks and river structures, as well as reduced losses from stranded logs or theft. UtagawaHiroshige I 初代目歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797–1858) Fukagawa Lumber Yards, no. 106 fromthe series OneHundredFamous Views of Edo, 1856 Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper MaryA. AinsworthBequest, 1950.1447 The lumber yards (kiba 木場) in Fukagawa, on the east side of the Sumida River in Edo, were home to nearly 500 different lumber brokers and a number of large wholesale guilds. Both the rough-hewn logs brought in and the processed lumber going out used Edo’s waterways for easy transport, so the riverside location of Fukagawa was ideal. In fact, much of the land here was reclaimed from swamps, and was built up as the lumber industry grew. The high water table had additional benefits: it was a check on termite nests, and the many waterways in the area acted as a firebreak to protect these valuable assets.
28 AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU BUILDING The Edo period saw a rise in the standard of housing for both urban and rural residents. Better, cheaper, andmore resource-efficient methods of building spread throughout Japan, in part through the publication of handbooks for specialist and general readers. When constructing urban residences, whether tenements, townhouses, or mansions for a high-ranking samurai, carpenters used a standardizedmodular system that helped them cut down on waste and complete projects quickly. Japanese builders had great skills at joinery, fitting together carefully carved posts, beams, and roof timbers without the need for nails. This had the added benefit of making these buildings more flexible and able to withstand the frequent earthquakes in the region. Building required the skills of many specialists: carpenters, stone cutters, mat makers, plasterers, sliding screen makers, and roofers. After TosaMitsuoki 土佐光起 (Japanese, 1617–1691) MatMakers, early 20th century Color woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper Gift of SadamotoKawano (OC 1938), 1938.35 One of the most characteristic and recognizable features of Japanese traditional interiors is the use of tatami 畳, mats used as a floor covering. Made with a core of rice straw, covered with tightly woven rush (igusa 藺草), and edged with cloth, tatami are made in a standard size, although the dimensions differ slightly in various parts of Japan. When people in Japan discuss the size of a room, even today people often use the number of tatami as a measurement. Tatami are appealing on many levels. Visually, the cloth border creates regular, geometric patterns on the floor, matched by similar geometry in sliding screens. Sunlight falling on the surface reflects a warmglow to the room. The mats also have a distinctive and pleasing grassy smell. In Edo period buildings, tatamis also worked with the wood frame and earthen walls to help regulate humidity, absorbingmoisture in damp weather and releasing it in dry periods. Finally, when the tatami was worn out, it could be used as fuel or mulch.
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