Watanabe Shikō or Motooki (渡辺始興; 1683 - 5 September 1755) was a Japanese painter of the

Rinpa school is one of the major historical schools of Japanese painting. It was created in 17th century Kyoto by Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558–1637) and Tawaraya Sōtatsu (d. c.1643). Roughly fifty years later, the style was consolidated by brothers Ogata Kōr ...

. Also known by his common name Kyūma, his other

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...

s included Shōken (松軒) and Soshin (素信).

Life and work

Watanabe was born in 1683, in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

. The first reliable reference to Watanabe comes from a diary belonging to the

Konoe family is a Japanese aristocratic family. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Konoe," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 24 retrieved 2013-8-13. The family is a branch of Hokke and ...

, dating from 1708. Based on this entry, it may be inferred that he was a

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master ...

who entered the employ of

Konoe Iehiro , son of regent Konoe Motohiro, Motohiro, was a ''kugyō'' or Japanese court noble of the Edo period (1603–1868). He held a regent position Sesshō and Kampaku, kampaku from 1707 to 1709 and from 1709 to 1712. Family Parents *Father: Konoe Mo ...

. Another source was a notebook kept by a Samurai doctor named Yamashina Dōan, which dealt with Konoe's activities and mentions Watanabe four times. This notebook was later lost in a fire. In 1717, he was known to be in the Imperial service. In 1735, he completed copies of a set of scrolls known as the

Kasuga Gongen Genki {{Nihongo, Kasuga Gongen Genki E, 春日権現験記絵 is a set of painted handscrolls ( emakimono) that was produced during the early 14th Century (Kamakura period) of Japan, by members of the Fujiwara clan. The work was created in order to honor ...

, dating from the

kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first '' shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, which are now kept in the

Yōmei Bunko Yōmei Bunko (陽明文庫), located in Utanokaminotanicho, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto, is a historical archive containing approximately 100,000 objects collected over the centuries by the Konoe family, the foremost of the five regent houses (go-sekke, 五摂 ...

, an historical archive in Kyōto. This was followed by large format pictures, displaying the development of his personal style. His earliest works are done in the style of the

Kanō School The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided into many d ...

, then show the influence of

Ogata Kōrin Ogata Kōrin ( ja, 尾形光琳; 1658 – June 2, 1716) was a Japanese landscape illustrator, lacquerer, painter, and textile designer of the Rinpa School. Kōrin is best known for his ''byōbu'' folding screens, such as '' Irises'' and ' ...

, so they can be approximately dated. Typical of the Kanō period are screens and wall paintings, for the Zen temple in

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

. His paintings for the

fusuma In Japanese architecture, are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a ''tatami'' mat, and are thick. The ...

s (sliding doors) at the

Daikaku-ji is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Ukyō-ku, a western ward in the city of Kyoto, Japan. The site was originally a residence of Emperor Saga (785–842 CE), and later various emperors conducted their cloistered rule from here. The ''Saga Go-ry� ...

Biddhist temple in Kyoto are in the Ogata style. Watanabe died on 5 September 1755, in Kyoto.

Collections

Watanabe's works is held in the permanent collections of several museums, including the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall or ...

, the Ashmolean Museum, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

, the

Suntory Museum of Art The is an arts museum located in Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi, Tokyo. It is owned by the Suntory corporation. The collection theme of the art works is "Art in life" and they mainly have Japanese antiques. History In 1961, Suntory President Keizo S ...

, the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egypt ...

, the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

, the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, the

Artizon Museum Artizon Museum , until 2018 , is an art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum was founded in 1952 by the founder of Bridgestone Tire Co., Ishibashi Shojiro (his family name means stone bridge). The museum's collections include Impressionists, Po ...

, and the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project complet ...

References

Sources

* Tazawa, Yutaka: ''Watanabe Shikō''. In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. . * Laurance P. Roberts: ''Shikō''. In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. .

External links

{{Authority control 1683 births 1755 deaths 18th-century Japanese painters Kanō school Artists from Kyoto