“Morning Glories”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
101.4 x 35.9 cm. (40 x 14 1/8 in.)
Inscription: “Koko Sodo.”
Artist’s seal:
Nobutaka
(see write up below)
“One Hundred Chickens”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
112.7 x 47.2 cm. (44 3/8 x 18 5/8 in.)
Inscription:
“Painted by Jakuyu of Nagasaki.”
Artist’s seals:
Hoko-sai; Jakuyu
(see write up below)
“Paper Tiger with Rice-planting in Miniature”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
91.3 x 26. 4 cm. (36 x 10 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions:
“Painted by Hoitsu.” “Painted by Oho.”
Artists’ seals:
Bunsen; Bansei
Colophons:
1)”A little cuckoo all Matsushima at a glance cries, giving his name (like a Noh flute). Butsunichi-an.” Seal: Hosen
2) “Returning home with success in peonies (the flowers of fame). Kitoku.” Seal: Kitoku
3) “Having often heard of it (in the Noh play Sanbaso) please come here the rice planting song of one thousand cho fields. Chosa.” Seal: Chosa
4) “Deutzias (flowering plants) see off a traveler in the morning haze. Shoran.” Seal: Myoge
5) “River of one hundred li long returning sail is fast in Bamboo Spring (the fifth month). Oson (Hoitsu).” Seal: Bunsen
Recent provenance:
Myron and Pauline Falk, New York
Published:
Kuriyama Family auction, Tokyo 1930, cat. 78;
Hoitsu sanjin gasho, Kyoto, 1935,
“Hina Dolls”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
167 x 42.3 cm. (65 3/4 x 16 5/8 in.)
Inscription: “Tangai.”
Artist’s seal:
Tangai
(see write up below)
“Waterfall” 1845
Hanging scroll, ink on silk
139.9 x 49.5 cm. (55 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
Inscription
“During summer of the year 1845, painted by Baiitsu, called Ryo.”
Artists’s seals:
Ryo in; Baiitsu
Recent provenance: Shoji Kyozo, Akita
Published:
Kokka, Tokyo, no. 399, 1923, p. 55.
(see write up below)
“Plum Blossom Study”
“Cottage with Paulownias and Bamboo” 1853
Pair of hanging scrolls, ink and color on satin
Each 131.2 x 51.3 cm. (51 5/8 x 20 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions:
(right hand): “‘The Plum-Blossom Study.’ Baiitsu painted this in the Gyouzen-sitsu (studio).”
(left hand): “‘Cottage with Paulownias and Bamboo.’ During summer of the year 1853, painted by Baiitsu.”
Artist’s seals:
Yamamoto Ryo; Meikei
Box Inscription: Yamamoto Baiitsu
(see write up below)
“Landscape with Old Tree and Crows”
Hanging scroll, ink and color on satin
146.6 x 52.8 cm. (57 3/4 x 20 7/8 in.)
Inscription:
“Through the whole scroll the smoke is as pulled,
as the sun sets at the old ferry landing;
Cold crows decorate the evening colors,
ten thousand dots of ink mark the autumn.
Artist’s seals:
Shizan; Kyurin DaKen (“Lazy Ken at Kyurin,” in Kyoto where he lived); Shojizai-en (“Studio of Small Satisfaction,” one of Shinten’o’s studio names); Rikiko ware wo azamukazu (“Hard work in the field doesn’t betray me,” from a poem by T’ao Yuan-ming); Sono michi wo itaseba kenpyo ni itaru nari (“Pursuing its way, hard ice will form,” from the I-ching).
(see write up below)
“Sixteen Arhats Strolling Through the Woods” 1878
Hanging scroll, ink on satin
181 x 66.7 cm. (71 1/4 x 26 1/4 in.)
Inscription:
“Who built among numerous trees this ancient garden hall? with gate shut and walls in place we need not bar the door; Hoping to rely on the landscape to open our hearts and minds, we then take wine and tea to know intoxication and awakening.
The Classic of Rivers unites principles both abstruse and profound, grass and flowers together have the fragrance of moral beauty; Old rocks and strange trees naturally show their beauty, interrupted mist and flowing haze on the other hand have spirit.
Beginning close to rocks and springs both pure and cold, distant from the city the moss is thick and especially green; River frogs croak and preach prajna wisdom, mountain birds sing in tune with the Treasure Sutra.
Few men face the wall (in meditation) and seldom inscribe poems, the earth is old and beside the road are many mushrooms, Lights flickering through the clouds interfere with gazing above, far and near heavenly music delights the leisured ear.
Felling trees cheng! cheng! like a wooden bell, pine-wind gusts gracefully like a suspended wind chime; At sunrise and sunset our spirits communicate as we worship the red mirror, going or staying with subtle practice we play with green duckweed.
The Teacher of Law’s pleasures are simple and convey his tastes, the immortal’s spirit is pure and extends his age; Breaking and setting aside a dream of one thousand years, I drink three cups of ling wine from a hundred houses.
Don’t say that these circumstances seem to imply the lack of a master—its fullness leaves the universe empty! During the seventh month of the year 1878 of the Meiji era, in order to salute the worthy, inscribed by Chokunyu the Mountain Woodcutter, the Monk of Foolish Fields.”
Artist’s seals:
Kyushi ichiraku (“One pleasure in nine lives”); Den-chi (“Field of Fools”); Chiku-o oji (“Old man bamboo the recluse”)
Published:
Tanomura family: Chokunyu koji myoseki shu, Kyoto, 1917, pl. 16.
Recent provenance:
Mano Matsutaro, Owari