rantei kyokusui　蘭亭曲水

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ch: Lanting qushui. Lit. meandering stream and orchid pavilion. A painting theme which refers to a gathering held in 353 at the Orchid Pavilion (Jp: Rantei 蘭亭) in Guiji 会稽, Zhejiang 浙江, held by the famous Eastern Jin calligrapher Wang Xishi 王義之 (Jp: *Ou Gishi; 321-79). In order to celebrate the annual -Spring Purification Festival (held on the third day of the third month), Wang Xishi invited 41 scholar-poets to engage in poetry and drinking while seated along the bank of a winding rivulet. Wang arranged for servants to float cups of wine down the stream, and those guests who had not yet written a poem before a cup had passed by were required to imbibe a penalty cup. From this event Wang assembled the poems of his friends and wrote his famous LANTINGJIXU 蘭亭集序 (Jp: RANTEISHUUJO or "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Compilation"), a melancholy discourse on the meaning of life. The theme was very popular in Chinese painting, and became revered by the Japanese. According to both the NIHONSHOKI 日本書紀 and archaeological remains, a meandering stream built of stones was constructed in the southeast corner of the 8c Heijou 平城 palace, probably so that aristocrats could re-enact the "meadering stream party" (kyokusui-no-en 曲水の宴). Such re-enactments continue today at various locations. For sinophile Japanese painters the theme was symbolic of refined scholarly pleasure. Paintings of rantei kyokusui typically feature a number of scholars seated beside a twisting stream. Notable paintings include works by Kanou Sansetsu 狩野山雪 (1589/90-1651; Zuishin'in 随心院, Kyoto), Nakayama Kouyou 中山高陽 (1717-80) and Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-84; Tokyo National Museum).

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