Tawaraya Sōtatsu

1570 - 1640 Japanese

Cofondatore Rinpa, tecnica tarashikomi

Tawaraya Sōtatsu was a Japanese furniture designer and painter of the Rinpa school. Sōtatsu is best known for his decorations of calligraphic works by his partner Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558–1637), and his spectacular and highly influential byōbu folding screens, such as National Treasures Wind God and Thunder God and his painting of the Sekiya and Miotsukushi chapters from The Tale of Genji. He also popularized a technique called tarashikomi, in which a second layer of paint is applied before the first layer is dry. He is also credited with co-founding the Rinpa school of Japanese painting, together with Kōetsu. Rinpa was not strictly a school, but a group of artist directly influenced by Sōtatsu and Kōetsu. Some of the most notable Rinpa artists are Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716), Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743) and Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828). While not particularly known at the time he lived and painted, he is now the second-most recognized Japanese painter in terms of number of inclusions in the National Treasures of Japan list. The exact date of Sōtatsu’s birth, probably around 1570, remains unknown, and so does the place of his birth. The painter Tani Bunchō (1763–1841) stated that Sōtatsu was originally from Noto and that he studied under Sumiyoshi Jokei in Kyoto. His family name may have been Nonomura. In 1602 he was hired by the Taira family to repair the 12th-century sutra scrolls Heike nōkyō at the Itsukushima shrine on Miyajima. This is the earliest paintings attributed to Sōtatsu, but it already features the characteristics of his later work. It is suspected that Kōetsu might have also worked in the repair of the scroll. The first confirmed collaboration with Hon’ami Kōetsu (1558–1637) is in the Sagabon (Saga Books), an ambitious project started around 1606 by Suminokura Soan (1571–1632) to publish elaborate editions of classical Japanese book and Noh librettos. Sōtatsu created the designs for the covers and paper of many of the books, while Kōetsu was the calligrapher of some of the texts. The name Sagabon comes from the suburb of Kyoto where the book were produced. Sōtatsu married a cousin of Koetsu. He also opened a shop in Kyoto, named Tawaraya, where he sold a variety of decorated objects, including fans, lantern paper, screens, dolls and patterns for kimono, and also took commissions for decorating interiors. The shop soon gained recognition for its artistic excellence. La collaborazione tra Sōtatsu e Kōetsu giunse al termine intorno al 1620, forse perché si stava allontanando dalla professione di decoratore e designer, e iniziò a concentrarsi maggiormente sulla sua carriera di pittore. Decorò le porte e i paraventi del tempio Yōgen-in durante la ricostruzione ordinata dalla moglie di Tokugawa Hidetada nel 1621, e nel 1630 gli fu conferito il titolo di hokkyō («Ponte del Dharma»), il terzo grado più elevato assegnato agli artisti buddisti. Le circostanze della morte di Sōtatsu non sono note, ma probabilmente morì intorno al 1640. I più riusciti tra i suoi studenti diretti furono Tawaraya Sōsetsu e Kitawaga Sōsetsu.