{"id":7857,"date":"2019-10-06T04:11:17","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T04:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/art-blog-the-tale-of-japanese-ukiyo-e-woodblock-paintings\/"},"modified":"2019-10-06T04:11:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T04:11:17","slug":"art-blog-the-tale-of-japanese-ukiyo-e-woodblock-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/art-blog-the-tale-of-japanese-ukiyo-e-woodblock-paintings\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"
Thanks to Sina Weibo, China’s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat art blog, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you’ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditio<\/em>nal style of Japanese art. The Chinese for “Ukiyo-e” is \u6d6e\u4e16\u7ed8, or “Floating world paintings”.
Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog PostsFor me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the co<\/em>ntext of the sentence: \u4e0d\u7528\u4e8e\u5f80\u65e5\u89c6\u89c9\u7ecf\u9a8c\u7684. By itself, this says “no use (\u4e0d\u7528) in looking to days past (\u4e8e\u5f80\u65e5) for this visual experience (\u89c6\u89c9\u7ecf\u9a8c\u7684)”. Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: \u663e\u7136\u8fd9\u79cd\u5168\u7136\u4e0d\u7528\u4e8e\u5f80\u65e5\u89c6\u89c9\u7ecf\u9a8c\u7684\u4f5c\u54c1\u6df1\u6df1\u7684\u5438\u5f15\u4e86\u4ed6. We’ve got the beginning of the sentence (\u663e\u7136\u8fd9\u79cd\u5168\u7136) – this means “Obviously this type of completely…”. And we’ve got the end of the sentence (\u4f5c\u54c1\u6df1\u6df1\u7684\u5438\u5f15\u4e86\u4ed6), which means “works of art deeply attracted him.” But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no lo<\/em>nger seems clear: “Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.
What?
I’m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There’s “no use co<\/em>nsulting the past” to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). (Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this in the comments).
If I were to write that sentence in English, I’d replac that phrase with “revolutionary” – “Obviously this type of completely revolutio<\/em>nary artwork deeply attracted him” – but the word “revolutionary” in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren’t relevant in this context.
I’ve o<\/em>nly translated the first paragraph here. Here’s the original post, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.<\/p>\n

19\u4e16\u7eaa\u521d\uff0c\u4e00\u4f4d\u8377\u5170\u5546\u4eba\u5728\u4ed6\u7684\u529e\u516c\u5ba4\u91cc\u53d1\u73b0\u4e86\u4ed6\u7684\u65e5\u672c\u74f7\u5668\u5305\u88c5\u7eb8\u4e0a\u5c45\u7136\u6709\u4e00\u526f\u7f8e\u4eba\u8096\u50cf\uff0c\u59ff\u6001\u4f20\u795e\u751f\u52a8\uff0c\u4f46\u662f\u5374\u4e0d\u540c\u4e8e\u4ed6\u89c1\u8fc7\u7684\u6240\u6709\u897f\u65b9\u8096\u50cf\u3002\u663e\u7136\u8fd9\u79cd\u5168\u7136\u4e0d\u7528\u4e8e\u5f80\u65e5\u89c6\u89c9\u7ecf\u9a8c\u7684\u4f5c\u54c1\u6df1\u6df1\u7684\u5438\u5f15\u4e86\u4ed6\uff0c\u4ed6\u7ffb\u51fa\u4e86\u6240\u6709\u7684\u74f7\u5668\u5305\u88c5\u7eb8\uff0c\u53d1\u73b0\u5b83\u4eec\u4e0a\u9762\u90fd\u6709\u7740\u8272\u5f69\u4eae\u4e3d\uff0c\u5185\u5bb9\u5404\u5f02\u7684\u753b\u9762\u3002\u4ece\u6b64\u4ee5\u540e\uff0c\u5546\u4eba\u5f00\u59cb\u5bfb\u6c42\u8fd9\u79cd\u65e5\u672c\u7248\u753b\u4e4b\u8def\u3002\u5f53\u65f6\u8fd9\u7c7b\u7248\u753b\u53ef\u8c13\u662f\u4ef7\u683c\u4f4e\u5ec9\uff0c\u4fbf\u4e8e\u6536\u85cf\u3002\u5f53\u4ed6\u628a\u8fd9\u4e9b\u85cf\u54c1\u62ff\u51fa\u6765\u5c55\u89c8\u4e4b\u65f6\uff0c\u51e0\u4e4e\u9707\u64bc\u4e86\u6240\u6709\u7684\u6765\u5bbe\u3002\u8fd9\u6279\u65e5\u672c\u7248\u753b\u5c31\u662f“\u6d6e\u4e16\u7ed8”\u3002\u8fd9\u4e9b\u7248\u753b\u5bf9\u6b27\u6d32\u7684\u753b\u575b\u4ea7\u751f\u4e86\u6df1\u8fdc\u7684\u5370\u8c61\uff0c\u4ee5\u81f3\u4e8e\u73b0\u5728\u5927\u5bb6\u63d0\u8d77\u6d6e\u4e16\u7ed8\uff0c\u7b2c\u4e00\u60f3\u5230\u7684\u662f\u8272\u60c5\uff0c\u7b2c\u4e8c\u60f3\u5230\u7684\u5c31\u662f\u68b5\u9ad8\u548c\u5370\u8c61\u6d3e\u3002
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In the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely revolutio<\/em>nary work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector’s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are “Ukiyo-e”. These woodcuts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.<\/div>\n