Lot 3282: Sakai Doitsu (1845-1913)

Pair of hanging scrolls, ink and colors on silk; depicting episode nine, Azuma kudari Fujisan, with Narihira dressed in a blue kariginu and mounted on a black steed, at right, his young attendant beneath the snow-capped peak at left; signed Doitsu hitsu with seal Gengu; together with a wooden tomobako inscribed zoshu zeichi taisho juichinen tango (congratulatory gift, Boy's Festival Day (May 5), 1922), signed Nonaka Kosugi with seal
44 1/4 x 16 1/8in (113 x 41cm)

Provenance: Purchased in Tokyo, 1980.

Born in Edo, Doitsu's father was Yamamoto Sodo, a disciple of the Rinpa master Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858). He studied painting with Nozaki Shin'ichi (1821-99), and later brought the techniques of Rinpa into the Meiji period.

In this work, Doitsu revisits a formula refined by a series of earlier Rinpa masters. The theme of Narihira pausing to recite a poem inspired by the snow at Fuji appears in painting as early as the thirteenth century, notably within the Ise monogatari emaki (Kuboso Memorial Art Museum), and can be traced through the Rinpa lineage from Ogata Korin (1658-1716) to his later admirer Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828). The direct precedent for Doitsu's composition may be a single hanging scroll by Suzuki Kiitsu (collection Toyama Kinenkan, Saitama Prefecture), or possibly a close copy of Kiitsu's version by his late nineteenth century follower, Suzuki Shuitsu (1823-1889) (private collection). See Yamane Yuzo, Rinpa kaiga zenshu (Tokyo, 1977-1980), Vol. 5, nos. 23, 30, 89, and 234 and Toru Shimbo, Exquisite Visions: Rimpa Paintings from Japan (Honolulu, 1980-81), nos. 40, 47.