Taro Leaves and Bell Cricket Under Full Moon

Suzuki Shuitsu’s (1823-1889) scroll painting on silk captures the luxuriant growth of a taro plant (J. satoimo), a type of potato harvested in autumn and winter. The narrow, vertical format of the scroll painting draws the viewer’s attention to the taro’s thick stem and generous leaves, which tower above the ground. The vibrant, lush green of the plant is refreshing and invigorating, and conveys the fertility of nature.

This impression of strength is contrasted with the delicacy of the pale full moon, suggested in the upper section of the painting by an incomplete ring of ink wash. The inclusion of the harvest moon introduces a sombre feeling that works in counterpoint to the vitality of the plant. Through this contrast, the artist alludes to the passive and active forces in nature. [1] Moonlight picks out the light green veins of the taro’s leaves, adding structural detail to the plant’s stylized form, and casts grey shadows on the ground.

Shuitsu has created a gentle and harmonious composition that invites the viewer to reflect on the difference in scale between the taro plant and the small bell cricket (J. suzumushi) seen emerging from blades of grass at the bottom of the painting. The suzumushi owes its name to the clear, high-pitched ring the insect produces when it rubs its forewings together. In combining the naturalistic motifs of full moon, taro plant and bell cricket, Shuitsu has created a seasonal mood that is evocative of an evening in early autumn.

The painting is signed Seisei Shuitsu 菁々（静々）守一 and has one red seal (shukurinsai 祝琳斎) in the shape of a double gourd. Suzuki Shuitsu trained in Edo Rinpa-style painting under his father Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858). Kiitsu’s transmitted the revived Rinpa tradition that he had received from his teacher, Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828). [2]

Vanessa Tothill, June 2020

[1] The interacting forces of positive/active and negative/passive are the principles of Chinese yin-yang philosophy and divination. In Japan, this cosmic duality is known as inyō, or the Way of Yin and Yang (J. onyōdō).

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