Tsuda Hokkai followed his family tradition as clan director for the Owari clan in modern Nagoya. Well-known as a painter of landscapes and bird and flower subjects, Hokkai is credited with having introduced the so-called Shen Nanpin or Chinese Nanga style to the Nagoya area. A contemporary of Yosa Buson (1716-1783) and Ike Taiga (1723-1776), Hokkai was thus a member of that important generation of Nanga artists.
The likely recipient of this charming painting was Matsubara Taroemon, called Kunzan, a poet, scholar, and prolific author who served the Owari clan as private secretary. This landscape dedicated to him demonstrates the early Nanga style of relaxed brushwork within a relatively simple composition. The cliff rising on the right is a compositional device of much late Ming dynasty Chinese painting, and here it contrasts with the open space on the left that is enlivened by a boat and distant islands. Two sage-poets converse beneath three tall trees; might they represent Hokkai and Kunzan themselves?
Painting details:
Box details:
津田應奎 Tsuda Ōkei
山水図 Landscape painting
絹本淡彩 Silk – Lighty colored
Box document:
津田應圭
名は乗文 通称 織部 縫殿 字ハ
應圭 北海 柘榴園の別号あり
尾藩の重臣にして三の丸東南
櫓の角に住み隅の津田と称せ
らる
画技を好み沈南蘋を研め元明
の古法を吾かものとし特に花
鳥山水を得意とす後世
明清画の先覚者の一人と称
誉せらる
安永九年十一月没
Tsuda Ōkei, called Hokkai was a senior vassal of the Owari clan. He lived in a corner of the south east turret of the castle, so he was called “Tsuda in the corner.” Liking painting, he studied Shen Quan, mastered the ancient techniques of the Yuan-Ming, and was good at bird & flower and landscape painting. He was later admired as one of the pioneers of the Ming-Qing style painting.
He died in the 11th month of the 9th year of the An-ei period (1780).