Inner Chambers

Her Brush: Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection Online Exhibition Guide

The Inner Chambers (ōoku 大奥) are the secluded areas where women primarily resided within the courts and castles of the upper class. The term became synonymous with women and reveals the gender segregation of early modern Japan’s elite.

Daughters born into elite and wealthy households studied the fundamentals of The Three Perfections (painting, poetry, and calligraphy). They were not expected to become artists. Their artistic education was intended to prepare them to be proper companions for the men in their lives.

Yet sometimes exceptionally talented and driven women continued to cultivate these skills, paving their own paths as independent artists. Some, like Ono no Ozū, even served as teachers in the Inner Chambers, transmitting their knowledge in the arts to future generations.

A house with a large porch stands on stilts amid a hilly landscape. A green pine tree grows on the hillside to the right. Below the porch, a lavishly dressed man and his servant look up at the porch where three women and a young girl, all in kimonos, stand and sit.

Artist unknown
Signed Kiyohara Yukinobu 清原雪信
1643–1682
Genji Peeping at the Young Murasaki
1600s
Ink and color on silk
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.255

The painting depicts a scene from the Tale of Genji, the world’s earliest novel, written in the early 1000s by court lady Murasaki Shikibu. Here, Prince Genji peeks into the Inner Chambers and spies the young Murasaki, who will eventually be his greatest love. This anonymous early painting bears a forged signature of the professional painter Kiyohara Yukinobu, whose work is also included in the exhibition—a testament to her popularity.

A man with black hair in a high bun and a long, wispy beard wearing a kimono takes up the majority of the composition. Japanese calligraphy is above both of his shoulders, and also in the lower left-hand corner.

Ono no Ozū (or Ono no Otsū) 小野お通 (1559/68–before 1650), The Deified Sugawara Michizane Crossing to China (Totō Tenjin), early 1600s. Ink on paper. Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.152.

ONO NO OZŪ 小野お通 (1559/68–before 1650)

Not much is known for certain about Ono no Ozū, not even her name (possibly pronounced Otsū). Apparently born to an aristocratic family and orphaned as a child, she was raised in Kyoto where she exhibited extraordinary talent in poetry, painting, calligraphy, and music. Ozū served as a lady-in-waiting, tutoring women in the Inner Chambers both for shoguns and for the imperial house. She likely served all three of the warlords known as Japan’s Great Unifiers (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu). Generations of noblewomen emulated Ozū’s graceful style of calligraphy. She is known today as one of the greatest women calligraphers of premodern Japan.

The green and brown trunk of a cherry tree stands on a pillowy brown hill. The trunk leans to the left, and smaller limbs with leaves and flowers branch out from the trunk. Only part of the tree is seen as it seems to extend beyond the paper.

Attributed to Oda Shitsushitsu 織田瑟瑟
1779–1832
Blossoming Cherry Tree
Early 1800s
Ink and color on paper
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.213

Oda Shitsushitsu was a descendent of the famous feudal lord Oda Nobunaga, first of Japan’s Three Great Unifiers. This pedigree gave her access to a fine education. She studied under Mikuma Rokō (died about 1801), herself an important artist of the Mikuma school, which exclusively painted cherry blossoms (sakura).

The dabs of malachite—a costly mineral green pigment—painted in a technique of blending colors (tarashikomi) recall the decorative Rinpa school, which catered to the wealthy merchant class and aristocracy.

Her Brush: Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection is organized by the Denver Art Museum and made possible through the generous gift of the John Fong and Colin Johnstone collection. Support is provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Blakemore Foundation, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.