Maruyama Okyo (1733–95) was born in Tanba, the northern part of Kyoto, the second son in a farming family. Unhappy with the possibilities presented by that occupation, Okyo entered a local temple, the Kongo‑ji, and then was allowed by his father to seek work in town during his early teenage years. His first job was in a textile and kimono shop. Okyo then worked for Owariya Kanbei, who sold toys and perspective devices introduced from the West. Okyo learned to paint megane‑e, which were landscapes and other subjects designed to be viewed through lenses placed in a tube in such a way that startling effects of depth were achieved.
From about the age of fourteen Okyo also studied with Ishida Yutei (1721–86) and learned the Kano approach to painting. Okyo’s mature style and the basis for the Maruyama school he founded was thus a combination of Western realism, the Kano style, and a decorative taste akin to that of the Rimpa school. Okyo’s attitude and approach to painting were recorded by one of his disciples, Oku Bunmei (d. 1813): “Observe and sketch the objects, then convey their spirit.” “If objects are not first observed and then sketched, it cannot be called painting.”
In his inscription on the present painting Okyo referred to himself as Rakuyo Sanjin, “Mountain man in the capital,” a name that appears only on early works by the artist, for example, the “Landscape” of 1749 and the handscroll drawings for a “Battle between Monkeys and Crabs”. The name Issho was used by the artist only when he was twenty‑three or so, and the calligraphy style of the present painting also accords with other paintings known to date to Okyo’s early period, all of which confirm that the present “White‑robed Kannon” must have been done when Okyo was in his very early 20s.
In 1753, when Okyo was twenty, Keishu Dorin, who wrote the colophon here, became the 221st abbot of the Tenryu‑ji temple, and both men seem to have exerted their very best skills in the present collaborative effort.
One of the primary influences on Okyo during this early period was Shokado Shojo (1584–1639; see catalogue 33). Shokado had studied painting with both Kano Sanraku (1559–1635) and Kano Sansetsu (1589–1651) but then developed his own style based on his study of the Chinese priest‑painters Fa‑ch’ang Mu‑ch’i of the 13th century and Fan‑yin To‑lo of the Yuan dynasty.
Shokado’s “Self‑portrait” of 1637 (figure 1) and his “Dancing Hotei” (figure 2) suggest that he was especially struck by the combination of descriptive line and modeling wash used by the Chinese monks and also by the visual effectiveness of strong contrasts of ink tonality. Okyo inscribed several of his early works as having been painted in the manner of Shokado, and his “Kannon with Fish‑basket” (figure 3) as well as the present painting suggest the importance of the earlier master on Okyo’s development during his 20s.
This influence is most apparent in the lineament with which the present “White‑robed Kannon” was rendered. Ranging from pale and delicate to much darker and stronger strokes, the linework seems to pulsate with life and energy, a characteristic that works to animate the environment within which the deity meditates so serenely.
The darkest ink was applied in haboku style, quick and spontaneous splashes that were then incorporated into the natural forms by the use of more premeditated washes and strokes, creating an image that is balanced perfectly between realism and abstraction.
In Okyo’s later paintings of the same subject, his “White‑robed Kannon” of 1783 (figure 4), for example, the style is less calligraphic and more realistic, an approach that allies him with such artists of the Muromachi era as Isshi (active ca. 1400–1450; see catalogue 28). Although it can be argued that the late image is more mature, profound, and subtle, the youthful simplicity and exuberance of the early painting has its own very special appeal and value.
1. Reizei Tameto, “Okyo no Shasei‑ga,” in Maruyama Okyo—Jojo to Kakushin, Kyoto, 1995, pp. 18–19.
2. Keishu Dorin, go Gankyokutei, Raihoken, and Kinugasa‑dojin, was born into a merchant family in Sanjo, Kyoto. His father, Yusen, was good at waka poetry. As a child Keishu became a disciple of the monk Ungai and travelled with him on a pilgrimage to Hojo‑ji in Tanba. In 1753 Keishu became abbot of Tenryu‑ji and developed into a noted teacher, lecturing at Tofuku‑ji in 1766, at Shokoku‑ji in 1767, and at Enkaku‑ji in Kamakura in 1785. In his old age Keishu built the Koboku‑do (“Old Tree Hall”) within the precincts of Tenryu‑ji and lived there to the end of his life, teaching and writing on Buddhism and practicing calligraphy and painting.
3. For Fachang Muqi see Kaikodo Journal II (Autumn, 1996), cat. 1; for Fanyin Tuolo see Kaikodo Journal I (Spring, 1996), cat. 6.
Fig. l. Shokado Shojo: “Self-portrait” 1637, after Tokubetsu-ten Shokado Sojo—Chanoyu no Kokoro to Hitsuboku, Nara, 1993, pl. 25, p. 9.
Fig. 2. Shokado Shojo: “Dancing Hotei,” after Tokubetsu-cen Shokado Sojo—Chanoyu no Kokoro to Hitsuboku, Nara, 1993, pl. 29, p. 56.
Fig. 3. Maruyama Okyo: “Kannon with Fish-basket,” after Maruyama Ōkyo Jojo to Kakushin, Kyoto, 1995, pl. 31, p. 140.
Fig. 4. Maruyama Okyo: “White-robed Kannon,” 1783, after Maruyama Okyo Kenkyu Zuroku-hen, Tokyo, 1996, pl. 248, p. 153.
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