Miyagawa Chōshun
Who was Miyagawa Chōshun?
Painter (1683-1753)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Miyagawa Chōshun (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Miyagawa Chōshun (宮川 長春; 1683 – 18 December 1753) was a Japanese painter who worked in the ukiyo-e style. He started the Miyagawa school of painting. Born in Miyagawa in Owari Province, he moved to Edo, where he spent most of his adult life and eventually died. Chōshun and his students are known in ukiyo-e history as some of the few artists who focused solely on painted works, never creating woodblock prints.
Trained by artists from the Tosa and Kanō schools, two major painting traditions in Japan, Chōshun also learned from Hishikawa Moronobu, a master of early ukiyo-e. His work shows the influence of these styles along with elements from the Kaigetsudō school. Despite these inspirations, Chōshun developed a unique style that distinguished his school, notably using soft, warm colors to depict a gentle femininity. Art historian Richard Lane praised his use of color as one of the best among ukiyo-e artists.
Chōshun primarily painted courtesans, adopting a fuller and more rounded style compared to many of his peers, such as the later artist Harunobu. Alongside these formal portraits, he and his students created a significant collection of shunga, a type of Japanese erotic art common among ukiyo-e artists of the time. His students included his son Shunsui, Chōki, who might have been another son, and Isshō.
In 1751, Chōshun was asked by a Kanō school artist to restore the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, the ornate mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. After the restoration was completed, a payment dispute led to a violent conflict ending with the Kanō artist's death by Chōshun's son. As a result, Chōshun faced serious consequences: he was exiled from Edo for a year during the last years of his life. He passed away in Edo on 18 December 1753, shortly after his return from exile.
Before Fame
Miyagawa Chōshun was born in 1683 in Miyagawa, a settlement in Owari Province, now part of Aichi Prefecture in central Japan. Not much is known about his early childhood or exactly when he moved to Edo, but that's where he began his artistic education. He learned from artists in the classical Tosa school, known for traditional Japanese yamato-e painting, and the Kanō school, the leading school of official and samurai-sponsored painting. He was also influenced by Hishikawa Moronobu, whose work in the late seventeenth century helped create ukiyo-e, an artistic style focused on the urban demimonde and its pleasures.
These early experiences put Chōshun at the crossroads of classical Japanese painting and the growing popular art scene in Edo. By mixing techniques and styles from different traditions and creating his own unique approach, he was able to start a new school. The Miyagawa school focused solely on painting rather than printmaking, which allowed for a greater sense of intimacy and vibrant color that woodblock prints couldn't match.
Key Achievements
- Founded the Miyagawa school of ukiyo-e painting, an independent tradition that persisted through multiple generations of students.
- Developed a distinctive figural style combining Tosa, Kanō, Kaigetsudō, and Moronobu influences into a uniquely personal approach.
- Produced a celebrated body of painted courtesans recognized for exceptional warmth of color and a voluptuous figural aesthetic.
- Trained several notable pupils, including Shunsui, Chōki, and Isshō, ensuring the continuation of the Miyagawa school after his death.
- Executed restoration work at the Nikkō Tōshō-gū, one of Japan's most significant and ornate Shinto shrines, in 1751.
Did You Know?
- 01.Chōshun and his entire school are among the very few ukiyo-e artists who never produced woodblock prints, working exclusively in hand-painted formats throughout their careers.
- 02.Richard Lane, a leading Western scholar of ukiyo-e, singled out Chōshun's coloring as among the best achieved by any artist in the entire ukiyo-e tradition.
- 03.Chōshun was banished from Edo in 1751 not for any act of his own, but as a consequence of his son killing a Kanō school artist during a dispute over unpaid restoration work at the Nikkō Tōshō-gū.
- 04.The figures in Chōshun's paintings of courtesans are notably fuller and more voluptuous than those of many contemporaries, a stylistic choice that distinguishes his work especially when compared to the more slender figures favored by Harunobu.
- 05.Chōshun's pupil Chōki may have been his biological son, though this familial relationship remains uncertain among art historians.