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Toshihide, The Assassination of Kawzu Sukiyasu |
It’s maybe useful to use the name Kamigata to describe the Osaka school as a whole - Kamigata is the region that includes not only Osaka but also the surrounding region and Kyoto. Kamigata-e (prints of the region) languished in obscurity for centuries, mainly due to inaccessibility to the western collectors who categorised, dealt in and heirarchised Japanese woodblock prints from the nineteenth century onwards. Almost no academic discussion on Osaka school artists prior to the last thirty years exists and Edo culture (now Tokyo) dominated and still dominates the appreciation and taxonomy of the ukiyo-e scene. Wider appreciation of Osaka and the complex relationship between the two centres is recent and reveals not only new works and new artists of outstanding quality and brilliance but a more interesting and deeper awareness of Japanese culture as a whole before the great opening of its borders in 1864.
The truths of this history run quite against the conventions of standard academic thought. It is apparent that Kamigata originated the bunraku (puppet) tradition, the kabuki theatre as a popular genre and the wide-scale production and appreciation of woodblock prints. Though long overshadowed by Edo’s vast output and budgets, Osaka might now well be seen as a creative forge from which much of what has hitherto been considered exclusively Edo culture was formed.
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Kunichika, Bunraku Puppeteers |
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Yoshitaki, Ichikawa Udanji as Monkey & Traveller |
Osaka kabuki is essentially a more naturalistic style of performance and as we see, this is reflected in the prints themselves and in the subject matter and how it is portrayed. The theatre scene in Edo by the turn of the nineteenth century was a vast industry, huge audiences, superstar performances and sophisticated and lavish costumes and sets and lengthy, complex narratives. By necessity, the Osaka scene was smaller and had a quite different sensibility, prefering the wagoto style as opposed to the aggressive aragato style of Edo favoured by the Danjuro clan of actors. Wagato style is softer, more emotional, more naturalistic; and whilst there was a great traffic of actors from Edo to Osaka and back, generally it was very difficult for kabuki actors to adapt from one form to another, leading to greater and greater dissonance between the two theatre styles. We can see this difference clearly in the prints of the period.
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Kunisada, A Contest of Magical Scenes |
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Kuniyoshi, 108 Suikoden |
There were many differences in the society and the make up of the print publishing business. There were very few printers in the Kamigata area compared with those in Edo. Those that there were were often amateur or small private affairs and the woodblock print scene relied heavily on the patronage of small coterie societies of wealthy donors and enthusiasts. Compare that to the huge industry of publishers and the massive output by each artist and publishing house - often funded by the big theatres, and it is easy to see how the consumer was able to dictate both the quality, the economics and the volume of sales in each district.
The format too is strikingly different. Something that immediately strikes one when holding an Osaka print is the jewel like quality of the piece. The majority of Osaka prints are on the smaller, chuban format. There is no overwhelming reason for this - maybe local taste, economics, portability, but given the lavish quality of so many of the deluxe prints themselves, encrusted as they are with polished lacquer, metallic inks, mica, embossing and elaborate, rich colours, the final product has the lush quality of a printed Faberge egg. The smaller chuban format was greatly extended by long polyptych compositions. It is rare in Edo prints to come across a print of more than three sheets, whereas in Osaka a composition of four, five or more sheets is not uncommon, (interestingly, the number four was considered deeply unlucky in Edo and hence whilst common in Osaka, tetraptychs are unknown in Edo).
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Kunikazu, Oguri Monogatari |
This tale of two cities is a story then, of the brash and the metropolitan city against the quiet and the considered world of the coterie. It is really important to stress that not only did Osaka give Edo much of the impetus and drive to originality, but that Edo reciprocated giving apprenticeships to most of the really fine artists of the Kamigata. Hirosada and others were long term pupils at the studio of Kunisada for example and are even commemorated on his memorial stone. Theatre apprenticeships were common in both cities with Edo performers rising up the ranks in Osaka before relocating to the metropolis.
In terms of collecting, despite so many years in the dark, Osaka prints are now recognised as every bit as captivating and extraordinary as their Edo contemporaries and auction prices are beginning to reflect this. It is really a revelation to handle one of these small discreet pieces, these sensitive actor portraits that sparkle in the light, every bit as much as the great master works of Kuniyoshi or Hiroshige.
Edo/Osaka - A Tale of Two Cities is now open at Toshidama Gallery until 7th September 2012.