Ike Taiga's "Karayo" Calligraphy

This dissertation concentrates on Ike Taiga's (1723-76) karayo or Chinese-style calligraphy: a search for Chinese prototypes and a study of his emulation and individual expression. The first chapter explains the background of eighteenth-century Japan and the most conspicuous phenomenon in that calligraphic world: the increase in the making of hojo or calligraphic copybooks. Merchant-class people supported Taiga financially and gave him spiritual encouragement. In Tokugawa society, it was possible for Taiga to write calligraphy in a relaxed state that was unknown in China. The second chapter is devoted to a study of source materials and the biography of Taiga, which reveal that Taiga did not excell in academic precision but his calligraphy captured the essency of literati art learned mainly from Wang Wei, Ni Ts'an, and Tung Ch'i-ch'ang. Taiga had excellent friends: Ko Fuyo was an expert in the Chinese classics and the study of Chinese characters; Kan Tenju collected original Chinese copybooks and recarved Japanese versions of them; Kimura Kenkado had a vast collection of art objects, including hojo. The third chapter introduces the history of calligraphy in Japan, calligraphic theories and teachers that influenced Taiga, and hojo available to him. The fourth chapter discusses general characteristics of Taiga's calligraphy: split-up quality, advanced deformation, large compositional scheme, rounded corners, and slow rhythm with accentuations and halts. This chapter also discusses his minor styles: tensho or seal script and reisho or clerical script. The fifth chapter discusses Taiga's major styles: kaisho or standard script, gyosho or running script, and sosho or grass script. Taiga adapted techniques originally meant in Chian for fast writing styles (gyosho and sosho) to kaisho. The majority of his oeuvre is written in fast scripts, which express characteristics learned from both traditionalists and reformists, exemplified by Wang Hsi-chih and Wen Cheng-ming, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang and Hsu Wei. Taiga was an eclectic artist who studied and emulated many Chinese as well as Japanese calligraphic styles, but he never blindly followed them. His individualistic style is prominent in his oeuvre.