EIGHT CRANES PAINTING THE HISTORY

EIGHT CRANES
BY SAKAI hoitsu
edo period, 19 japam
color on paper 25,1x 19,9cm
Born in Edo, Sakai Tadazane, the  17ht lord of Himeji Castle. his real given name was
 Tadanao.After the coming-of-age ceremony Hoitsu became his brother provisional adopted son and became a priest in 1797. A man of versatile talents, Hoitsu was most exellent in painting. He especially admired Ogata Korin, he established a decorative  style of his own. This painting of cranes is one of the 72 shikishi.
Inspired by the decorative design of cranes in the beginning of a scroll of waka poems painted by Tawaraya Sotatsu, one of the representative painters of the early Edo period, Hoisu presented the cranes standing in a field are gently elegant, and aptly demonstrates the Rinpa style.