In 17th-century Kyoto, amidst the hum of calligraphy brushes and incense smoke, Tawaraya Sōtatsu worked quietly behind the doors of his design shop, Tawaraya. Known then as a craftsman rather than an artist, Sōtatsu created folding fans, scrolls, and decorated papers for aristocrats and poets. Yet his touch—rhythmic, fluid, and unmistakably modern—would ripple through centuries of Japanese art.
Born around 1600 and active until the 1640s, Sōtatsu mastered the art of transforming humble materials—paper, ink, and gold—into visions of movement and spirituality. He collaborated with the calligrapher Hon’ami Kōetsu, combining image and poetry in a partnership that defined early Rinpa aesthetics: lush color, bold asymmetry, and serene rhythm.
1. The World of Rinpa: Elegance in Simplicity
The Rinpa school, later associated with Ogata Kōrin and Suzuki Kiitsu, was less a formal academy than a lineage of shared sensibility. Its artists embraced decorative elegance, organic rhythm, and a balance between natural spontaneity and deliberate design.
Sōtatsu’s hallmark was tarashikomi—a technique of layering pigment while still wet, creating pools and veins of color that echoed water, clouds, and dreamlike landscapes. The results were painterly yet abstract—an invitation for viewers to sense motion, not just see it.
2. Waves at Matsushima: A Monument of Movement
Perhaps no work captures Sōtatsu’s genius better than “Waves at Matsushima” (1628), a pair of twelve-foot-wide gold-leaf folding screens housed today in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.
Waves at Matsushima, Japanese folding screens by Sōtatsu
At first glance, the screens seem to depict a coastline—rolling waves curling like calligraphic forms beneath floating clouds. But according to Smithsonian curator James Ulak, the composition represents no literal place. The title “Matsushima”—a reference to a famous coastal site in northern Japan—was attached centuries later. In truth, Sōtatsu painted a metaphysical seascape: a meditation on impermanence, fortune, and the afterlife.
Artwork Details
Year: 1628
Dimensions: 3699 cm width x 1660 cm height
Period: Edo period
Provenance: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Medium: Painting with ink, color, gold, and silver on paper
Symbolism and Patronage
Commissioned by the wealthy merchant Tani Shōan for a Zen temple dedication in Sakai, the work was both a celebration and a prayer. Shōan’s fortune came from sea trade, and the waves signified both his worldly success and his hope for a peaceful voyage beyond death.
In Sōtatsu’s time, waves carried deep symbolism: divine gifts of the sea, renewal after struggle, and safe return to harbor. The silver and gold pigments shimmered like light on water—an offering of gratitude and transcendence.
Technique and Vision
Look closely, and the waves are not realistic but symbolic—rising arcs rendered through dark outlines, layered bleeding pigments, and even visible pigment granules. Sōtatsu wanted viewers to see the construction of art itself. The visible granules and pools of color weren’t flaws—they were intentional, exposing the beauty of process and imperfection, anticipating what we now call wabi-sabi.
In certain sections, silver has oxidized to black over the centuries, creating haunting depth. One recurring design—perhaps a cloud, perhaps an island—echoes a motif from a 12th-century Buddhist sutra cover that Sōtatsu once restored early in his career. Even as he innovated, he never lost touch with tradition.
3. Beyond Matsushima: The Language of Gold and Water
Sōtatsu’s influence extended to screens such as Fujin Raijin-zu (Wind and Thunder Gods), where mythic figures swirl across gold backdrops in rhythmic, near-abstract compositions. In his hands, gold leaf wasn’t decoration—it was space itself, representing both emptiness (mu) and divinity.
ujin-Raijin-zu Byobu by Tawaraya Sotatsu, located at the Kyoto National Museum
His paintings evoke not literal landscapes but mental states—the still mind within movement. The waves, clouds, and islands merge into a single breath of brushwork, aligning with Zen notions of unity between form and void.
While Waves at Matsushima reveals Sōtatsu’s command of abstraction and rhythm, his range extended into the world of classical literature. In his celebrated “Miotsukushi” screens—a Genji Monogatari scene now housed in the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum in Tokyo—Sōtatsu transformed the famous episode of Lady Murasaki’s tale into a shimmering composition of gold and color. The flowing water motifs and the graceful geometry of the bridge echo the same rhythmic harmony seen in his wave paintings.
Genji Monogatari- Miotsukushi, a pair of six-fold screens by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, color on gold leaf; Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo.
His treatment of Genji scenes bridges the refined narrative traditions of yamato-e with the emerging Rinpa ideal of decorative abstraction. The visual poetry of these screens parallels later ukiyo-e interpretations of Genji by artists such as Kunisada and Chikanobu—topics I explored in The Tale of Genji and Its Representation in Ukiyo-e Art.
4. Legacy and Rediscovery
After Sōtatsu’s death around 1640, his legacy was obscured by class hierarchy. As a craftsman, he lacked the pedigree of court painters. Only centuries later—when collectors like Charles Lang Freer rediscovered his works in the late 19th century—did the art world grasp his impact. Freer and other Western admirers traced Sōtatsu’s aesthetic “DNA” through two centuries of Japanese art, from Kōrin’s Irises to Kiitsu’s Waves and Plovers.
Even European artists during Japonisme—Klimt, Whistler, and the Art Nouveau designers—unknowingly echoed Sōtatsu’s shimmering surfaces and dynamic emptiness.
Today, Sōtatsu is recognized not only as a founding father of Rinpa but as a visionary precursor to abstraction—a man who painted not the sea, but the sensation of seeing.
5. Deep Reflection: The Zen of Sōtatsu’s Waves
Sōtatsu’s Waves at Matsushima remains a masterpiece not because of its grandeur, but because of its restraint. The rhythm of gold and blue evokes meditation; its surfaces breathe. In the motion of the waves lies the silence of enlightenment—the Mu between crests.
For Sōtatsu, waves weren’t metaphors for chaos; they were pathways to stillness. His art invites us to surrender control, to find beauty in change, and to see—as the Zen masters teach—that the sea and the self are not separate.
Tawaraya Sōtatsu’s art endures as a bridge between worlds: craft and art, tradition and innovation, the visible and the unseen. His Waves at Matsushima doesn’t show a place—it shows a state of mind. Each wave is an act of letting go; each pool of pigment, a breath of eternity.
In a world obsessed with perfection, Sōtatsu reminds us that meaning lives in the flow—the beauty between creation and dissolution.
Add some zen to your space with brilliant original art from the Art of Zen shop.
Salman A
Based in the vibrant city of Dubai, I thrive as a designer and filmmaker with a passion sparked in childhood by the thrilling adventures of UFO Robot Grendizer and Speed Racer. My journey took a deeper dive into the world of art through a profound fascination with Japanese culture, enriched by memorable times spent in Japan. Creativity pulses at the core of who I am. Connect with me for tailor-made design and film projects that bring your visions to life.
The Rinpa aesthetic defines Japanese elegance—nature distilled into rhythm and form. Meet its masters, from Sōtatsu to Kōrin, and see how Rinpa shaped ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and modern Japanese design.
What is the meaning and artistry of the wave motif in Japanese art? From seigaiha patterns to Hokusai’s Great Wave—a timeless symbol of motion, impermanence, and beauty.
0 Comments