Uragami Gyokudō　or Urakami Gyokudō (浦上玉堂 1745, Kamogata,

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

- October 10, 1820) was a Japanese musician, painter, poet and

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

. In his lifetime, he was best known as a player of the Chinese seven-string zither, the

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

, but people came to appreciate his paintings after his death. His art features strong brushwork, often in patterns of strokes that build up a strong rhythm, and they reflect his musical compositions in relying on a limited number of possibilities that build up to powerful compositions. His ''Snow Sifted Through Frozen Clouds'' (紙本墨画凍雪篩雲図 shihon bokuga tōunshisetsuzu) is recognized as a

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...

. After working as a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

for the Ikeda daimyō, he left his position for ideological reasonsTotman, Conrad. ''Early Modern Japan'', University of California Press to devote himself to travel and the arts. He named his sons ""Spring Qin" and "Autumn Qin." Gyokudō was expert in calligraphy, featuring clerical and running scripts, and he was a fine poet in Chinese. One of his music works, the ''Gyokudō kinpu'' 玉堂琴譜, i
available online
An excerpt is availabl
Uragami Gyokudō and the chinese zither guqin
based on the book ''Tall Mountains and Flowing Waters; The Arts of Uragami Gyokudō'' by Stephen Addiss, Univ. of Hawaii Press, 1987, .

References

External links

Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Uragami Gyokudō (see index) 1745 births 1820 deaths 18th-century Japanese musicians 18th-century male musicians 19th-century Japanese male musicians Japanese calligraphers Japanese male musicians Japanese painters Japanese poets Artists from Okayama Prefecture {{Japan-musician-stub