Yomeiride: Haiga as Dowry

                         by Stephen Addiss
 

     One  of  the  most  unusual  forms  of  haiku-painting  consists of yomeiride (dowry haiga), which to my knowledge were created only once in history.  In November 1783, knowing his passing was near, Yosa Buson (1716–1783) summoned his two major pupils, Ki Baitei (1734–1810) and Matsumura Goshun (1752–1811), to his side. He explained that his daughter’s first attempt at marriage had not been successful, and asked if they could plan to raise a dowry so that she could marry again. When the master died the following month, the two young poet-artists searched among his papers to find examples of his poems that he had written at various times of his life. To these they created and appended small paintings in haiga style that related to the themes or seasons of Buson’s haiku and then sold them for the dowry funding.

     Several examples by both Baitei and Goshun still exist, and two are printed in the book-catalogue by Calvin French et. al., The Poet-Painters: Buson and his Followers (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1974, pp. 70–71). Another yomeiride that has only recently come to light and is reproduced here on the includes thirteen Buson haiku with a delightful painting by Goshun showing two itinerants.

One figure relates to the sixth poem by preaching Namu Amida Butsu (“Hail to Amida Buddha”) while striking a gong (all we can see is the thin mallet), while the other is selling whisks for the tea ceremony. Goshun notes on his painting that the calligraphy to the right is a genuine work of his master Buson, while the thirteen Buson haiku celebrate several seasons, primarily late autumn and winter.

     As far as is known, the “dowry haiga” were successful in raising funds.  Baitei  thereupon  returned  to  Shiga  Prefecture,  outside  of Kyoto, to become a successful nanga (literati) painter, while Goshun remained in Kyoto, eventually switched from Buson’s painting style to that of the more naturalistic Maruyama Ôkyo (1733–1795), and helped to spread haiga as a painting genre for professional artists as well as poets.

     Here are Buson’s haiku, which on the scroll are written downwards in single columns from right to left:

     uguisu no                   the warbler

au tamaribi ya            finds a sun-drenched spot—

    fuyu no eda                the winter branch

     yadokase to                 “Give me shelter!”

katana nogedasu          he throws down his sword

    fubuki kana                   the blizzard

     hosomichi ni               voices coming

nariyuku koe ya          into the narrow lane—

    kan nembutsu             winter prayers

     hanken no shayô         the setting sunlight

kamiko no sode no       on the paper kimono sleeve—

    nishiki kana                   brocade!

     kamo samuku             even ducks are chilly—                           

 suki susugu mizu no    the tool-washing water                                                

     uneri kana                   shivers

     yûgao no                      evening glories—                                     

sore wa toguchi ka       is that a doorway?                                        

    kane tataki                   he strikes the begging bell                       

     machibito no              the person I’m waiting for                         

 jô no kowasa yo          has no sympathy at all—                                

     yû shigure                   winter evening rain

    nigemizu no                escaping water                                          

nige soko nôte             twists and turns in its channel—                 

    shigure kana              first winter rain

    hatsuyuki no               when the first snow—                                 

soko wo tatakeba        strikes the lowest culms                                 

    take no tsuki               bamboo moonlight                               

   hatake ni mo               even it couldn’t                                        

narade kanashiki        become a farm, it’s sad—                          

   kareno kana               withered field                                         

   mata uso wo                still telling lies                                        

 tsukiyo ni kama no     on the pot in the moonlight—                  

   shigure kana                late autumn rain                                        

   koi wo yama e                even for one who                                    

suteshi yo mo aru ni      renounced love in the mountains—               

   sakura kana                   cherry blossoms                                      

   haru usu no                   harmonizing with                                 

kokoro ochitsuku         the springtime mortar—

   ochiba kana                  falling leaves

Stephen Addiss is the author of Haiga:Takebe Socho and the Haiku Painting Tradition (1995) as well as of numerous articles and essays about haiga published in journals and books internationally.

This article first appeared in Reeds: Contemporary Haiga, Vol. 4, 2006.

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