Flowering in the Shadows. The 3 Women of Gion, and Cho Koran Women in the History of Japanese Painting

Today I read an essay , from Marsha Weidner's "Flowering in the Shadows "  Women In the history of Chinese and Japanese Painting.   (Dr Weidner seemed so disconsolate at Dr. Cahill's Memorial reception and  did not contribute a speech; she might have felt better if she had...the book she edited is one I read over 20 years ago, and it has been a pleasure refreshing my memory, especially after the lecture course on Japanese art this Spring at the Asian Art Museum. Like in Western Art, for the most part women writers and painters  are the wives of artists or the daughters of artists, before they are permitted to nurture their talent. "The Three Women of Gion" by Stephen Addiss, read a while ago,  and "The Life and Arts of Cho Koran" by Patricia Fister, which I read today, are my favorite.  Fister has another essay, more generalized, in which she looks at Japanese women in several paintings and makes reference to the women who wrote hakka and waka poetry. (Fister's essay on Cho Koran seemed  especially relevant to me, as yesterday,  I finished the last essay  in the exhibition catalogue Modern Nature  Georgia O'Keeffee and  Lake George exhibited this past February-May, 2014  at the Fine Arts Museum, De Young in San Francisco  --(formerly at the Hyde Collection, Glen Falls, New York, in 2013 and will be at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico in Fall of 2014) , which provides analogies with Luther Burbank's studies of flowers and her own.  Cho Koran's seeking the "essence' might be viewed as  a corollary for O'Keeffee's practice.

Cho Koran (1804-1870) was the young wife  of a priest, Yanagawa Seigan, who was her teacher, as she was the daughter of a country samurai.   She, was only 17 at the time of their marriage, and he, 32 years of age.  Cho Koran became  associated with "the plum blossom" in her paintings, as well as bamboo,  symbolizing the passage of time and loss and youth.  Such inspiration is from the Chinese literati.   The couple were inseparable, and very unusual for a Japanese wife, Cho Koran  travelled with Seigan on all his visits.  She, of course, outlived her husband, and became a respected teacher.  She did not give birth to any children. As she grew older, her calligraphy and her painting brushwork became more free and forceful and bold, and she wrote some of her best poems. She died at age 73, the plum blossom a metaphor for herself, that flower which blooms early, as she had,  and which  survives adversity, as she endured poverty, a change in government in Japan, and loss of her husband.  

Some lines from Cho Koran:  "Last night the Spring wind wove a brocade of flowers -- "

"Hidden orchids and tall bamboo -- they are two of a kind.
Under the window I burn incense and read the "Women's Admonishments.
Who speaks of painting  only in terms of resemblance?
The tip of my brush records the essence of winter.""

"A lucky person knows the time and place for opportunity,
From ancient times, the hidden and obvious are naturally distinguished.
Putting away my ch'in and books I go outside,
Desiring to enter the mountains and lie down amidst the white clouds. "

Yuri Gion renounces her lover, Sanyo,  when he obtains high position in his family as she knows he will need someone more "appropriate" than herself, though they have a child together and he implores her to follow him back to his home.  This poem expresses her sadness and loss.  Yuri was the adopted daughter of Kaji.

"Just like the dewdrops
beaded into a long thread
on the willow leaves,
this pledge I have now taken
will remain deep in my heart."

In his essay on the Three Women of Gion, Addiss explores all three women's temperaments and illustrates their distinctiveness with comparison of their poems.  The three sisters are Kaji, Yuri, and Gyokuran who was considered one of the finest painters. The trio operated a tea house just south of the gate of Gion Park in Kyoto, not far from a Shinto shrine. 

I stayed at the Inn of The Three Sisters in Kyoto; it is well known.  At dawn, I could hear the sound of hands clapping in the Shinto Temple, and the bells ringing in the Buddhist temple, both nearby. I am wondering if it is the inn which these three sisters created, or an inspired  model, as they are celebrated and ritualized in Japan. It was traditional style with rice paper windows, tatami mats for sleeping, a bath,and tea, all in the traditional style.  Three sisters did run the inn.  It was very memorable.  I stayed there just as the Autumn festival was approaching and visited all the major temples in Kyoto, then studying and meditating in rock and water gardens, a whole new aesthetic.