Tawaraya Sotatsu: Life, Work, and Artistic Legacy

Introduction

Tawaraya Sotatsu is one of the most celebrated names in the history of Japanese art. He was not always considered thus, however. He had fallen into obscurity for several centuries after his death, and it was not until the early twentieth century that there was a sudden resurgence of interest in the painter's work. This probably had more than a little to do with the fact that Sotatsu's highly intricate designs appealed to the Modernist sensibility of the twentieth century, which was always on the lookout for new innovations. Some have even gone so far as to consider Sotatsu the first true abstract artist.

Sotatsu played a central role in cultural activities throughout the course of the Momoyama period, which lasted from 1573 until 1615. This period is quite an important one in the history of Japanese art, as it marked the first time that Japanese artists had fully broken away from the dominant Chinese influence. According to Tanaka and Grilli (1956), Sotatsu played a major role among artists in court circles and was a close friend of Hon-ami Koetsu, known as the "Leonardo da Vinci of Japan" in his heyday for his wide variety of both artistic and scientific skills and talents.

What has impressed art historians and other scholars over the ages is the fact that Sotatsu was apparently unschooled as an artist. He was a true artistic visionary whose talent propelled him on a marvelous career, rather than his going through the standard routes of apprenticeships and orthodox training schools. While some have suggested that he had a minimum amount of training, it is more likely that he was completely self-taught.

Tawaraya Sotatsu: His Life

The exact dates of Sotatsu's birth and death are not known. It has been established that his career was already underway by the year 1602, during which time he allegedly assisted Koetsu in repairing the world-famous sutra scroll that had been donated by the Taira family to the Itsukushima shrine in the year 1164. Sotatsu certainly would not have been entrusted with such an enormous task had he not already proven himself to be a painter of considerable merit.

It is also known that Sotatsu had earned the rank of hokkyo by 1630. This title was given only to artists of a certain maturity who had achieved a great deal in the course of their careers. This honor is confirmed by one of the few surviving documents relating to the artist—an inscription in Karasumaru Mitsuhiro's hand at the end of the Life of Priest Saigyo, a famous pictorial scroll. This document also confirms that Sotatsu had a highly developed comprehension of the ancient Japanese art of Yamato scroll painting.

A surviving letter also mentions Tawaraya Sotatsu by name. Its author, Shoan, was the son of the esteemed tea master Sen Rikyu. In this letter, Shoan says that Sotatsu invited him to a tea ceremony. This confirms that Sotatsu belonged to the elite circle of Kyoto tea masters and aesthetes who would become massively influential in the establishment of groundbreaking new trends in the arts in Japan. This letter must have been written sometime before 1614, the year of Shoan's death.

Another, undated letter, allegedly written by Sotatsu himself, links him directly to the Daigoji in Kyoto. The letter takes the form of a brief note written to Priest Kaian of that temple—a thank-you note for a gift of boiled bamboo shoots. The authenticity of this letter can be supported by the fact that the Daigoji still owns two of Sotatsu's most important works: the screen of the "Court Dance" and a fan screen. The Daigoji also used to own the important screen of the Tales of Genji.

The problem with delving further into the details of Tawaraya Sotatsu's life is that very little is known, and what is thought to be true cannot be confirmed empirically. There are brief mentions of Sotatsu's name in a variety of surviving documents and diaries from this era, but it is not always certain whether the authors are speaking of the same Tawaraya Sotatsu. It is not known, for instance, whether Sotatsu's father was a textile merchant or a fan manufacturer. It is also believed that Sotatsu may have been related to Koetsu by marriage, as the two men are alleged to have married two sisters, though this has not been confirmed.

All that is really known about Sotatsu is that he was active as an artist in the first half of the seventeenth century. As it is generally agreed that he had a close relationship with Koetsu, this would naturally suggest that the two men were around the same age. Thus, it is believed that Sotatsu lived sometime between the years 1570 and 1640.

Tawaraya Sotatsu: His Work

What is more interesting than the artist's life, however, are the beautiful paintings he managed to create in the course of it. There are only a few works that have been definitively assigned to him, with many more attributed either to him or to one of his followers. Many of these works contain the signature "Sotatsu" followed by a circular seal that reads "Inen." No one knows for certain what this last term means; some believe it is associated with a particular atelier or school. This seal has become the source of endless debate among scholars. It appears on some of the works attributed to Sotatsu—but not all of them.

The Saigyo scroll is the sole work that contains a trusted inscription—not by Tawaraya Sotatsu, but by Karasumaru Mitsuhiro, a writer whose style is generally considered inimitable. This is not an independent creation, of course, but Sotatsu's effort to recapture the style of a painting that was several hundred years old. It is the retelling of an old story; it was not necessary to change the quality of the individual's handwriting in the new version, nor would it have been expected of Sotatsu to do so. What his patrons would have wanted was a copy of the contents and narrative of the original, while also adhering in some measure to the original creator's style. But Sotatsu goes beyond the call of duty in this work by perfectly capturing the original's qualities in fine, intricate detail. This attention to the tiniest detail is rooted in the artist's clear interest in Yamato painting, the characteristic Japanese style of painting from several centuries before Sotatsu's own time. This archaistic interest surfaces in several more of his best-known works.

The Saigyo scroll contains many elements that have emerged as defining characteristics of Sotatsu's style. While many of the design features employed are typical of the Kamakura period, what marks this as a true work of Sotatsu are the soft lines found throughout. In the original version, the high-key, clear tones of the Yamato period are featured. In Sotatsu's rendering, however, he added the special Japanese tarashikomi technique, featuring wet over-paintings of dark, rich color blots. This results in an enrichment of the surface of the image as well as a rounding of forms. Occasionally, writers attribute the invention of this technique to Sotatsu himself. It is more likely, however, that it represents a development of the wet "splash ink" method that many other painters in Japan and China had already been practicing.

Conclusion

While Tawaraya Sotatsu may not have founded his own school of Japanese art, he nevertheless inspired leagues of imitators and followers over the years. And while much of the artist's work may have been commissioned by or done in collaboration with the powerful artist Hon-ami Koetsu, this probably has very little to do with any family connection between the two men. It is more likely that Koetsu recognized the vast talents of Sotatsu early on and regarded him as a worthy collaborator. The fact that Sotatsu was not formally trained as a painter was likely seen as a virtue, in that he was free from the formal prejudices of the Kano and Tosa traditions. Today, studying his work in the aftermath of abstract art, viewers come to his paintings with a renewed appreciation for his skillful deployment of line in his intricate designs.

Bibliography

Tanaka, I. & Grilli, E. 1956. Tawaraya Sotatsu. Tokyo: C.E. Tuttle Co.