tarashikomi　溜込

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

A painting technique in which pale black ink *sumi 墨 or a color (including gold or silver) is brushed onto an area of a painting, and then, either darker sumi or the same or a contrasting color is dropped into the first before it has completely dried, creating an effect of pooled colors with softly blurred edges. Although the technique probably originated in Chinese ink painting as early as mid-8c (see *hatsuboku 溌墨 technique), the first Japanese painter to consistently use it was Tawaraya Soutatsu 俵屋宗達 (?-1640?). Two decorative Soutatu examples are his ink paintings of Oxen Ushi-zu 牛図, Choumyouji 頂妙寺 and the colored screens of Gods of Wind and Thunder Fuujin Raijin-zu 風神雷神図, Kenninji 建仁寺, both in Kyoto. Ogata Kourin 尾形光琳 (1658-1716) brilliantly employed the technique in The Red and White Plum Screens Kouhakubai-zu 紅白梅図 (ca 1714/5), Museum of Art MOA in Shizuoka prefecture, by adding green pigment *rokushou 緑青 to the black of the tree trunks to create an effect of patches of moss. The tarashikomi technique continued to be used by Soutatsu's followers, and by *Rinpa 琳派 members in 18- 19c.

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