Matsumura Goshun sometimes also referred to as Matsumura Gekkei , was a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 Painter of the Edo Period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 and founder of the Shijō school

Shijo school

The Shijō school , also known as the Maruyama-Shijō school, was an offshoot school of the Maruyama school of Japanese painting founded by Maruyama Ōkyo, and his former student Matsumura Goshun in the late 18th century. This school was one of several that made up the larger Kyoto school...

 of painting. He was a disciple of the painter and poet Yosa Buson

Yosa Buson

was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province...

 (1716–1784), a master of Japanese southern school painting

Nanga (Japanese painting)

, also known as , was a school of Japanese painting which flourished in the late Edo period among artists who considered themselves literati, or intellectuals. While each of these artists was, almost by definition, unique and independent, they all shared an admiration for traditional Chinese culture...

.

Life

Goshun was born into a wealthy family of government officials working in the royal mint (jap.

Japanese writing system

The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...

 kinza ) as the oldest of six children.
His parents wished him to be well educated in the basics of Chinese and Japanese culture and had him tutored in skills such as classical history and literature, calligraphy and painting as well as writing poetry. Thus he began his education as a painter very early. In those years his masters were painters of the nanga

Nanga

Nanga may be:*Nanga *Nanga Brook, Western Australia*Nanga, Mali*Nanga , an Egyptian musical instrument*In Pakistan, a subcaste of the Sial *N'anga, name of African traditional healer in Zimbabwe...

-style, learned scholars of the literati-traditions that had come over from china, among them Yosa Buson

Yosa Buson

was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province...

 (1716–1784) who taught Goshun among other things literati-painting and haiku

Haiku

' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

-poetry.

He wasn't immediately successful as a painter but managed to support himself with the aid of Buson, who arranged him to be an advisor on literature for wealthy provincials. In 1781 his career took a turn for the worse when both his wife and his father died and his protégé Buson, himself nearing death was apparently no longer able to support him. As a result of that he left his residence in the Shijō-district of Kyōto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 and moved to Ikeda

Ikeda, Osaka

is a city located in Osaka, Japan. As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 104,704 and a density of 4,740 persons per km². The total area is 22.09 km²....

 near Ōsaka. During his time in Ikeda he continued to paint in Busons Literati-style yet was not successful enough to support himself with his painting alone.

By 1787 it was certain that he would have to join up with another band of painters, so he worked with the circle of painters around Maruyama Ōkyo

Maruyama Okyo

, born Maruyama Masataka, was a Japanese artist active in the late 18th century. He moved to Kyoto, during which he studied artworks from Chinese, Japanese and Western sources. A personal style of Western naturalism mixed with Eastern decorative design emerged, and Ōkyo founded the Maruyama school...

 (1733–1795) to work at the screen-doors of the Daijō-ji, a temple in Hyōgo prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

. Later he would meet up with Ōkyo again, when they both sought shelter in the same temple after a fire devastated parts of Kyōto. What was apparently a good working partnership in Hyōgo now became friendship. Around 1789 Goshun returned to the Shijō-district of Kyōto, by now he had begun to incorporate elements of Ōkyos decorative and realistic art styles. He was never a formal member of Ōkyos Maruyama-school, the older friend had declined his offer to accept him as disciple stating he wanted him to remain on equal footing with his younger friend, he nonetheless became proficient in Ōkyos painting techniques.
However only after Ōkyos death in 1795 did he found his own, the so called Shijō-school (after the location of Goshuns residence and workplace) where he refined his own blend of literati-stile brushwork and decorative Maruyama-style composition and techniques.

Artistic Development

In his early career Goshun was predominantly a painter of the nanga

Nanga

Nanga may be:*Nanga *Nanga Brook, Western Australia*Nanga, Mali*Nanga , an Egyptian musical instrument*In Pakistan, a subcaste of the Sial *N'anga, name of African traditional healer in Zimbabwe...

-literati-style of painting as were most of his teacher, not the least of which Yosa Buson

Yosa Buson

was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province...

left a great impression on Goshun. Until around 1785 he refines this style of painting until he is proficient in Buson-style, which he seems to copy faithfully. His time in Ikeda can be viewed as a period of maturity for Goshuns Literati-style painting.

After his time with Ōkyo (after 1787) his style changed significantly. Under the influence of the Maruyama-school he began to incorporate elementes of Ōkyo and his disciples into his oeuvre and developed them.

His style can be considered mature, however, only after the death of Ōkyo in 1795 when he refined his painting style in his own school without the influence of his former masters. In this late stage of his career he seems to have all but abandoned Busons literati-style of painting even though in Kyōto he was for a while widely considered to be his successor.

Literature

• Addiss, Stephen: Zenga and Nanga: Paintings By Japanese Monks and Scholars. New Orleans museum of Art. (1976)
• Cunningham, Michael R.: Byōbu: The Art of the Japanese Screen.Cleveland Museum of Art. (1984)
• Deal, William E.: Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press, US. (2007) ISBN=0195331265.
• Mason, Penelope E.: History of Japanese Art. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. (2004) ISBN=0131176013.