Palms in Japanese arts and crafts

As the Japanese have beautifully and successfully incorporated plants as motifs in their arts and crafts, they have utilized the palm well. The clean, geometric lines of palm fronds lend themselves to the minimalist styling on ceramics and lacquer ware. People may be surprised to discover that palms can be cultivated outdoors in Japan, but the archipelago nation enjoys subtropical climates in southern Honshu, Kyushu, Okinawa, and Shikoku. Trachycarpus fortunei (shuro or hemp palm) and Rhapis excelsa (lady palm) are the two most common palms in Japanese gardens. The Sago palm is not a true palm, but a cycad (Cycas revoluta).

Painting:

Taking a page or two from the Chinese, the Japanese fell in love with Rhapis excelsa (lady palm) and began collecting variants to exhibit in pots. Some of these variants were variegated, and being slow growing, can fetch up to hundreds of dollars. Even the ornamental pots in which the palms were planted were considered prized antiques. There are a fair number of palm fanciers who specialize in collecting Rhapis excelsa.

The painting below shows a plant or an arrangement of fronds in a bronze jar highly decorated with a dragon swirling and clutching the rim with its claws. Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) was a woodblock print artist largely known for his portraitures of female courtesans and nobility.

Photo Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Metalwork:

Two Chinese windmill palm fronds (Trachycarpus fortunei, Japanese: 棕櫚) pirouette around the hand guard of the sword (tsuba) in an open frame (ji-sukashi). Greek key motif of gold and silver (nunome-zōgan) decorate the rim, although the silver is no longer visible, having faded from age and use.

Photo credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.

Lacquer ware:

Lacquer ware has become elevated as an art form in Japan - different regions of Japan produce recognizable styles of their own. The light weight of lacquer ware and the striking contrast of the food against the lacquer surface are appealing reasons for their everyday use. Producing ornate or elaborate designs is a time consuming process, and even the simple ‘confetti’ effect in wakasa nuri takes up to a year to complete. Here two well known craftsmen have decorated these makeup boxes (tebako) with palms.

Kyoto-based Hirai Koshu effectively employed the pale beige background to showcase the profile of a Trachycarpus fortunei - the portrayal of the fibrous stem is an unusual inclusion since less ambitious artists would have focused on leaves only. Koshu produced and showed his work chiefly between 1925 and 1933, and his style is reflective of the boldness that marked the early Showa era.

Photo Credit: Kagedo Gallery (www.kagedo.com)

This piece by an unknown artist in the Taisho Meiji era has the inverse color detailing - here the background is dark, of a shiny black polish, and the palm fronds are laid in gold lacquer. The way with which the palm fronds swivel around the sides of this tebako gives a sense of motion as if a breeze was blowing across the surface.

Photo Caption: Kagedo Gallery (www.kagedo.com)

Until recently, folk arts were often overlooked in the study of Japanese fine arts and crafts. It was not until the late 1920s and 1930s did these arts known as Mingei became recognized after Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961) spearheaded the movement. Mingei arts were inexpensive, made anonymously and by hand from local materials, and created for utilitarian purposes; the objects were not the decorative sorts that received the patronage of the upper classes and nobility. As Japan’s rural communities age and cheap and modern materials like plastics take over, folk arts are increasingly rare and have compelled the Japanese government to recognize and preserve them.

One of the materials in folk arts was palm fibers, which were harvested from Trachycarpus fortunei. The Chinese windmill palm is not native, having been introduced from China and now naturalized in southern Japan. Nonetheless the Japanese embraced it, harvesting its fibers from the trunks to create brushes and brooms (you can still buy them today - google shuro brush or broom). Farmers would carefully weave the fibers into garments for rain or sun protection. These fibers were preferable over rice straw since they were lightweight and waterproof. Below is a yuki boushi, a snow cap one would wear during winter. The cap resembles a samurai helmet, although the comfort of wearing it is certainly more advantageous.

Photo Credit: Haruko Watanabe - https://www.trocadero.com/stores/haruko/