Flower Vase in the Form of a Cherry-Tree Trunk, ca 1910

Shindō Kazuhisa
Flower Vase in the Form of a Cherry-Tree Trunk, ca 1910
Size 13 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (33.5 x 20.5 cm)
T-3285

Wrought iron, with a ten-character Chinese poem天莫空勾踐時非無范蠡 (see below) in flat gold inlay; copper liner
13 ¼ × 8 in. (33.5 × 20.5 cm)
The base inlaid in gold Shindō in 進藤印 (seal of Shindō)
Fitted wooden outer tomobako box inscribed outside Rentetsusei Ōju hanaike錬鐡製　櫻樹花生 (Wrought iron cherry-tree flower vase); fitted inner tomobako box inscribed outside Rentetsusei Ōju hanaike錬鐡製　櫻樹花生 (Wrought iron cherry-tree flower vase); Chūtō dōsei moji junkin honzōgan 中筒銅製　文字純金　本象眼 (Inner tube made from copper, characters flat-inlaid in pure gold); Jūhōsai Kazuhisa saku十宝齋一久作 (Made by Jūhōsai Kazuhisa) with seal Shindō in 進藤印 (Seal of Shindō); interior of lid signed Jūhōsai Kazuhisa saku十宝齋一久作 (Made by Jūhōsai Kazuhisa) with seal Jūhōsai 十宝齋

The design of this unusual flower vase and its poetic incription refer to an incident recorded in Taiheiki (A Chronicle of the Great Peace) concerning Kojima Takanori (d. 1358), a loyal supporter of Emperor GoDaigo (1288–1339) in his struggles with the Kamakura shogunate. As the Emperor was being led into exile on the remote island of Oki, Kojima, prevented from attending his master, registered his protest by writing this ancient Chinese poem on the trunk of a cherry tree: 天莫空勾踐時非無范蠡. With the Japanese reading Ten Kōsen o munashū suru nakare toki ni Hanrei naki ni shi mo arazu, it may be translated Oh Heaven do not abandon Kōsen while Hanrei is still alive!

The poem referred to an analogous moment in early Chinese history when Kōsen (in Chinese, Gou Jian, d. 465 B.C.), king of the state of Etsu (Yue) at the end of China’s Warring States period, was waging a protracted war against the rival state of Go (Wu). Hanrei (Fan Li, b. 517 B.C.), Kōsen’s chief minister, offered the poem as an encouragement to Kōsen at a low point in the campaign, which was eventually successful. In GoDaigo’s case, although he managed to return from Oki and make a triumphal return to Kyoto, he was eventually forced to abandon the city a second time and set up a rival court at Yoshino.

The subject is featured in Hokusai’s (1760-1849) Manga (a long series of woodblock-printed sketchbooks) and became especially popular during the Meiji era as an admirable exemplar of loyalty to the emperor; examples include one from 1895 by Ogata Gekkō (1859-1920, see Walters Art Gallery http://art.thewalters.org/detail/3748/nihon-hana-zue-2/) and another from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s (1839–1892) famous late woodblock-print series Tsuki hyakushi (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon).

The Shindō family of craftsmen are thought to have been active in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, a traditional center of metalworking in general and flat inlay in particular.