Tou Enmei　陶淵明

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ch: Tao Yuanming (365-427). The Jin dynasty poet and quintessential Chinese scholar-recluse. a virtual prototype for the literati ideal, Tao was a favorite subject for Japanese bunjin 文人, his popularity stretching from monks of the Muromachi gozan 室町五山 to Edo period literati. His real name was probably Yuanming, while another tradition holds that this was an assumed name and that his real name was Qian (Jp: Sen 潜). He retired from his post as governor of Pengze (Jp: Houtaku 彭沢) prefecture at the age of 41 to his country retreat where he lived in seclusion. The popular image of Tao Yuanming derives from two of his poems, Returning Home *Kikyorai 帰去来, written on his trip from Pengze, and Drinking Wine inshushi 飲酒詩. In both works Tao describes his detachment from society and his fondness for yellow chrysanthemums. The image of the poet plucking the autumn flower from a hedge to the east of his house became a painting theme Touri saigiku-zu 東籬採菊図. His fondness for the flower also led to his inclusion in the painting theme Four Favorites *Shiai 四愛. Because Tao lived at a small estate where he planted five willows he earned the nickname Wuliu Xiansheng (Jp: Goryuu Sensei 五柳先生) or Master Willow, and is often shown under willows, usually inebriated. The poet is also shown walking, playing a stringless koto 琴, looking at the moon, riding in a boat or a cart, releasing a white pheasant, and writing poetry. Tao Yuanming also appears in Three Laughers at the Tiger Ravine *Kokei sanshou 虎渓三笑 and, in some accounts, in the Three Tasters of Vinegar *sansan-zu 三酸図. Another of Tao's poems, Peach Blossom Spring *tougen-zu 桃源図, which tells of an old fisherman's discovery of an ideal place, was also frequently illustrated. Notable Japanese paintings of Tao Yuanming range from Muromachi period ink monochrome hanging scrolls such as those by Shuubun 周文 (mid-15c; Umezawa Kinenkan 梅沢記念館) and Sesson 雪村 (1504?-1590) to large screens by Edo period *nanga 南画 artists such as Ike no Taiga 池大雅 (1723-76) and Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-84).

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