Honami Kōetsu

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Hon'ami Kōetsu (本阿弥光悦)(1558-1637) was a Japanese craftsman, potter, lacquerer, and calligrapher, whose work is generally considered to have inspired the founding of the Rinpa school of painting.

Hon'ami was born into a family of swordsmiths who had served the Imperial court as well as the likes of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga, major warlords of the Sengoku period (1467-1603). In 1615, Hon'ami began an artist community northwest of Kyoto, in a place called Takagamine granted him by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Scholars disagree on whether this community was more focused on art or on religion, specifically Nichiren Buddhism, and whether this land grant was generous, or a form of exile. Nevertheless, it was here that Hon'ami would develop his unique style of painting and design which would later develop into the Rinpa school.

Although trained as a swordsmith, Hon'ami became accomplished in pottery, lacquer, and ceramics as a result of his interest in Japanese tea ceremony, which had been revived and refined only a few decades earlier by Sen no Rikyu. In this art, he is regarded as one of the top pupils of Furuta Oribe and of the style known as Raku ware.

He was also an accomplished calligrapher, inspired as many of Japan's greatest calligraphers were, by the court writings of the Heian period. He produced a wide variety of works, all in a flowing cursive style that recalled those classical traditions. Along with Konoe Nobutada and Shōkadō Shōjō, he came to be known as one of the Three Brushes of the Kan'ei Era (寛永の三筆, kan'ei no sanpitsu). In addition, Hon'ami entertained a close relationship with the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu, who is supposed to have decorated many of Hon'ami calligraphic works in gold leaf and paint. Sōtatsu was a major member of the Rinpa school, and his paintings most likely reflect some degree of Hon'ami's influence and style.

Reference

Fister, Pat (1985). "Hon'ami Kōetsu." Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.

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