giga　戯画

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Humorous or satiric paintings, or sketches or drawings done in fun. Typically, giga have human and animal figures that are painted in a simple manner using quick brushstrokes. In Chinese tradition, the literati called their own ink paintings giga, meaning that they painted them in fun as opposed to the works of professional painters. See *bokugi 墨戯. The earliest giga are Asuka period scribblings in the margins or on the back of manuscript sheets. These were probably drawn by students who were copying Buddhist scriptures. Giga were sometimes graffiti-like in that they were drawn on hidden surfaces of Buddhist statues and architecture. A well-known 7c. example is the graffiti discovered on the hidden side of ceiling boards of *Kondou 金堂 of Houryuuji 法隆寺 in Nara. See *rakugaki 落書. Sketchy brushwork similar to these scribblings is found in handscroll paintings *emaki 絵巻 of comic popular tales dating from the Heian period, and later in the well-known illustrated handscroll painting of The Legends of Mt. Shigi, Shigisan engi emaki 信貴山縁起絵巻 (12c; Chougosonshiji 朝護孫子寺, Nara). Exaggerated expressions and poses characteristic of giga are also found in these handscroll paintings. It is recorded that making comic, satiric paintings called *oko-e 嗚呼絵 was a popular aristocratic recreation in the Heian period. The first two characteristic oko-e are The Frolicking Animals and Humans, Choujuu jinbutsu giga 鳥獣人物戯画 (12c; Kouzanji 高山寺, Kyoto), in which animals are humorously painted in anthropomorphic poses. Comic and satiric elements are found in emaki of the Kamakura period such as The Tale of a Hapless Painter Eshi no soushi 絵師草子 (first half of the 14c.; Imperial Collection) and became important in the illustrated popular tales of the Muromachi period either in handscroll or booklet *soushi-e 冊子絵 format known as *otogi zoushi 御伽草子. A different type of humorous painting appeared in the Kamakura period when the tradition of ink painting was imported from China. Following Chinese tradition, Zen eccentrics such as *Hotei 布袋 (Ch. Butai) and Hanshan and Shide *Kanzan Jittoku 寒山・拾得, were often depicted humorously in a simplified manner using quick brushstrokes. Early Japanese examples of these paintings were done by monk painters of the 14c. such as Mokuan 黙庵 (died ca. 1345) and Kaou 可翁 (active in the 14c). Humorous portraits of Zen patriarchs and Taoist immortals continued to be produced in ink *suibokuga 水墨画, until the Edo period. In the early Edo period, the *Rinpa 琳派 artists Tawaraya Soutatsu 俵屋宗達 (?-ca.1640) and Ogata Kourin 尾形光琳 (1658-1716) left many humorous ink paintings of legendary human figures. In the mid-Edo period, Zen Buddhist monks Hakuin 白隠 (1685-1769) and Sengai 仙崖 (1750-1837) established a unique style using broad brushwork. The same subject matter was taken up in grotesque caricatures by the eccentrics, Soga Shouhaku 曾我蕭白 (1730-81) and Nagasawa Rosetsu 長沢蘆雪 (1754-99). Various human figures, including Zen patriarchs, were depicted humorously by Southern school *nanga 南画 artists such as Yosa Buson 与謝無村 (1716-84), whose work is often categorized as haiku painting *haiga 俳画. Other types of popular Edo period giga: *ootsu-e 大津絵, indigenous us to Ootsu, Shiga preference and characterized by exaggerated figures drawn with broad brushstrokes; and *toba-e 鳥羽絵, named after the tradition of giga attributed to the priest Toba Soujou 鳥羽僧正 (1053-1140), which were wood-block prints showing figures of men in a comic or satiric way. A famous example of giga from the late Edo period is the 15 volume, wood-block, printed books Hokusai's Caricatures, Hokusai manga 北斎漫画 (published from 1814 to 1879) by Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849).

REFERENCES:

*manga 漫画

EXTERNAL LINKS:

鳥獣人物戯画断簡 at Tokyo National Museum

NOTES:

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