Art Ew - National Gallery of Australia

With her work sought after and a reputation for beauty
as well as generous acts of charity, the reclusive Rengetsu
often moved several times a year to avoid unwanted
attention. She eventually settled at Jinkoin, a Shingon
Buddhist temple outside Kyoto city, and stayed there
until the end of her life. Rengetsu’s time at the temple
resulted in thousands of works, especially paintings and
calligraphies. In a poem about calligraphy that evokes
the feeling of her delicate, but powerful, rounded hand,
Rengetsu wrote:
Taking up the brush
just for the joy of it,
writing on and on,
leaving behind
long lines of dancing letters.
(translation John Stevens) 2
At Jinkoin, Rengetsu often collaborated with Wada
Gozan/Gesshin (Moon Mind), who became a priest at
the temple after the death of his wife. She also created
collaborative works, gassaku, with a number of other
artists, including the painters Mori Kansai (1814–1894)
and Tomioka Tessai (1835–1924). Rengetsu and the much
younger Tessai were very close and she thought of him as a
son. A scroll painting in the Gallery’s collection featuring a
painting of eggplants by Tessai and calligraphy by Rengetsu
reads: ‘In this world there are certain forms which bring
[welcome] thoughts to mind. The eggplant serves as a
symbol of happiness’ (translation Patricia Fister). 3
Rengetsu’s poems also appear without illustration on
tanzaku poem sheet and scrolls.
In 1875 Rengetsu died in the temple tearoom she
had lived and worked in for a decade. She requested that
Tessai alone be contacted following her death, and it was
her adored friend who designed the calligraphy on her
unassuming memorial stone near Jinkoin. In her eighties,
Rengetsu wrote her autobiography in waka and prose in
a letter to Tessai. It included the poem:
The day begins
I’m busy with my crafts
the day ends
I pray to Buddha
and I have nothing to worry about.
(translation Lee Johnson) 4 a
Melanie Eastburn
Curator, Asian Art
The exhibition catalogue is available from the National
Gallery of Australia Shop on 02 6240 6420
Further information at nga.gov.au/Rengetsu
notes
1 Lee Johnson, ‘The life and art of Otagaki Rengetsu’, Master of Arts
thesis, University of Kansas, 1988, appendix 2.
2 John Stevens, Lotus Moon: the poetry of the Buddhist nun Rengetsu,
Buffalo: White Pine Press, 2005, p. 98.
3 Patricia Fister, ‘Waka poet-painters in Kyoto’, in Japanese women
artists: 1600–1900, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas,
New York: Lawrence, Harper & Row Publishers Inc., 1988, p.153
4 A translation of Rengetsu’s autobiography appears in Johnson, 1988,
appendix 2.
Set of five sencha tea cups
1873 glazed stoneware
height: 4.5 cm each
Private collection, Brussels
(opposite)
Let us consider ageing,
teapot [kyusu] c. 1850
ceramic, incising
11.1 x 17.0 cm
National Gallery of Australia,
Canberra
Fluttering merrily sake flask
[tokkuri] 1870 glazed
stoneware, incising
15.0 x 8.0 x 8.0 cm
Museum DKM/Stiftung DKM,
Duisburg, Germany
artonview spring 2007 39