Shunman

Shunman was born in about 1757 (Hōreki 7 on the Japanese calendar) with the surname of either Kubo ({{lang|ja|窪}}) or Kubota ({{lang|ja|窪田}}) and the given name Yasubei ({{lang|ja|易兵衛}} or {{lang|ja|安兵衛}}).{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}} He was orphaned while young.{{sfn|Marks|2012|p=84}} He studied under {{illm|Katori Nahiko|ja|楫取魚彦}}, a poet, kokugaku scholar, and painter in the style of the Chinese Shen Quan. He later also studied under the ukiyo-e artist Kitao Shigemasa.{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}}

Upon finishing his apprenticeship took the art name Shunman (first spelt {{lang|ja|春満}}, later {{lang|ja|俊満}}). Other art names he used include Shōsadō ({{lang|ja|尚左堂}}) and Sashōdō ({{lang|ja|左尚堂}}), both of which use the character 左 sa, meaning "left", as he was left-handed.{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}} Early in his career he published as a gesaku novelist under the names Nandaka Shiran ({{lang|ja|南陀伽 紫蘭}}) and Kizandō ({{lang|ja|黄山堂}}), as a kyōka poet under the name Hitofushi Chitsue ({{lang|ja|一節 千杖}}),{{sfnm|1a1=Fujisawa|1y=2006|1p=52|2a1=Marks|2y=2012|2p=84}} and as a haiku poet under the name ({{lang|ja|塩辛房}}).{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}} He had a heightened sense of beauty and devoted himself to the pleasure-seeking world.{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}}

Shunman's earliest works dates to 1774: a votive plaque copied from Nahiko. His works include some ukiyo-e prints, book illustrations, paintings, illustrated novels, and poetry. He was the most prolific producer of paintings in the Kitao school; more than 70 of his paintings survive.{{sfn|Marks|2012|p=84}}

His best known prints come from the Tenmei (1781–1789) through the Kansei (1789–1801) eras, when Shunman tended toward boldly florid colours in his prints, and adhered to the {{illm|Beni-girai|ja|紅嫌い|lt=beni-girai}} ("red-hating") trend of avoiding reds and other flashy colours. His bijin-ga portraits of beauties were less in the stately style of his master Shigemasa than in that of the long, slender beauties of Torii Kiyonaga.{{sfn|Fujisawa|2006|p=52}}

Shunman was a member of the poets' clubs Bakuro-ren and Rokujuen, and became head of Bakuro-ren. He stopped making designing commercial prints in 1790 to focus on deluxe commissioned prints, and provided poetry for the prints of Hokusai, Utamaro, and Eishi.{{sfn|Marks|2012|p=84}}

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Kubo Shunman Women smoking under cherry blossoms.JPG

Kubo Shunman Départ nocturne pour un concours de poésie, vers 1787.JPG

Sumiyoshi odori Kubo Shunman.jpg

Kubo Shunman - Toi.jpg

Five cranes on a spit of sand. Surimono by Kubo Shunman (CBL J 2284).jpg|Five cranes on a spit of sand. Surimono, probably 1816. Chester Beatty Library

{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

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• {{cite book

|last = Fujisawa

|first = Murasaki

|chapter = Kubo Shunman

|page = 52

|editor-last = Kobayashi

|editor-first = Tadashi

|title = Ukiyo eshi retsuden

|script-title = ja:浮世絵師列伝

|language = Japanese

|series = Bessatsu Taiyō

|year = 2006

|publisher = Heibonsha

|isbn = 978-4-582-94493-8

}}

• {{cite book

|last = Marks

|first = Andreas

|title = Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680–1900

|year = 2012

|publisher = Tuttle Publishing

|isbn = 978-1-4629-0599-7

}}

{{Refend}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Kubo Shunman}}

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Category:18th-century Japanese artists

Category:19th-century Japanese artists

Category:Ukiyo-e artists

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