Taking the Tonsure

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

Taking the tonsure is the ceremonial shaving of one’s hair to join a Buddhist monastic order. It was a symbolic act of leaving one’s past behind. In fact, becoming a nun literally translates to “leaving one’s home” (shukke 出家).

Tonsure did not mean, however, relinquishing one’s autonomy. On the contrary, it offered a form of liberation from societal expectations, such as The Three Obediences (of a woman to her father, husband, and son). It also enabled nuns to travel freely in times of state-imposed restrictions, which especially impacted women. Above all, it allowed them the freedom to pursue their art.

Women from all walks of life took the tonsure, from princesses (like Daitsu Bunchi) to entertainers (like Ōishi Junkyō). Still, this was an extremely difficult path to take and often entailed unimaginable determination.

Leaving their old names behind, taking new names as ordained nuns, these artists crafted new identities for themselves.

Detailed ink painting showing a birds-eye view of a simple but elegantly furnished hut, partially obscured by trees. Inside, a seated nun serenely inscribes her pottery.

Suganuma Ōhō 菅沼大鳳
1891–1966
Rengetsu Working in Her Hut
1935
Ink and color on paper
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.165

The nun-artist Ōtagaki Rengetsu is seen here brushing a poem onto her ceramics. Her elegant surroundings, more like a scholar’s study than a nun’s hut, alludes to her literati background and affiliation.

This is an imagined portrait done 60 years after Rengetsu’s death. Depicting her with feminine and manicured features, Ōhō constructed quite a different portrait from the wizened likeness by her student, collaborator, and close friend Tessai (shown below).

Ink painting of old woman kneeling on a pale blue mat wearing long, dark robes. She holds a sheet of paper in one hand and a paint brush in the other.
Tomioka Tessai, Posthumous Portrait of Ōtagaki Rengetsu 太田垣蓮月. Source: Tokuda Kōen, Otakagaki Rengetsu 大田垣蓮月 (Tōkyō: Kodansha, 1982).

I took leave of this floating world. The day I thought I wished to see every famous nook and corner under the heavens and pay homage to every shrine and temple, I just took to the road, all by myself.

Tagami Kikusha

浮世に暇あく身と成ぬれば、
天が下の名にあふくまぐま神社仏閣を拝詣せばやと思ひ立日を其儘に、
ひとり旅路におもむきぬ

田上菊舎
Accordion-bound album with elegant cursive lines of poetry and occasional illustrations like butterflies or a sprig of pink flowers.

Ōtagaki Rengetsu 太田垣蓮月
1791–1875
Travel Journal to Arashiyama (Arashiyama hana no ki)
1800s
Ink and color on paper
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2021.206

This travel journal recounts Ōtagaki Rengetsu’s visit to Arashiyama, a district to the west of Kyoto. Freely brushed poetry is occasionally punctuated by offhand and charming illustrations. Simple forms outline a cluster of flowers. A few lines gather into a torii, a traditional Japanese gate, overtaken by vegetation. This account offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the artist’s personal musings. It must not have been a long trip since Rengetsu left a good part of the album blank.

Hanging scroll with a single line of semi-cursive calligraphy. The strong and energetic characters are rendered in thick black ink on yellowing paper.

Daitsū Bunchi 大通文智
1619–1697
Bodhisattva of Myriad Acts of Compassion (Jihi Mangyō Bosatsu)
1600s
Ink on paper
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.153

Princess Umenomiya, daughter of Emperor Gomizuno-o (1596–1680), took the tonsure at age 22, changing her name to Bunchi. She later founded a temple, which functioned as a training center for women.

The calligraphy reads “Bodhisattva of Myriad Acts of Compassion,” the Buddhist name for the principal deity of a Shinto shrine in Nara. By writing this myōgō (names of Buddhist deities as invocations), Bunchi performed a devotional act, accumulating karmic merit.

Black and white side-profile photograph of the artist wearing a black cap. She holds a paint brush in her mouth and bends towards a piece of paper on the table in front of her.

Photograph of Ōishi Junkyō. From The Mainichi Graphic, 4 January 1956, published by The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. Source: Wikimedia Commons

ŌISHI JUNKYŌ 大石順教 (1888–1968)

In her youth, Ōishi Yone was establishing her career as a geigi dancer. Her stage name was Tsumakichi. When she was 17, her adoptive father went on a murderous rampage, killing six members of the teahouse where she worked and severing both her arms.

After a long journey to recovery, she observed a bird feeding chicks with its beak. Inspired, she learned to paint and write calligraphy using her mouth. She deftly maneuvered the brush with her lips in astonishing control.

At the age of 45, she took the tonsure as a Buddhist nun, adopting the name Junkyō. Junkyō later founded a Buddhist temple where she devoted herself to art, Buddhism, and counseling people with disabilities, advocating for independence and resolve.

Colorful woodblock print showing a nun pressing a hot iron to her cheek. A brazier with smoldering embers in the background. Tightly arranged blocks of Japanese text overhead.

Image by Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (1786–1864); Inscription by Ryūtei Tanehiko 柳亭種 (1783–1842), “The Nun Ryōnen (Ryōnen-ni)” from Kokon meifuden [Famous women of past and present], 1864 edition. Color woodblock print, 14⅞ × 9¾ in. (37.8 × 24.8 cm). Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.160.

Five vertical lines of cursive Japanese calligraphy are painted on yellowing paper at varying heights and thicknesses. Two large red square seals at bottom left.

Ryōnen Gensō 了然元総 (1646–1711), Poem, late 1600s–early 1700s. Ink on paper, 11¼ × 11 in. (28.6 × 27.9 cm). Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.159.

RYŌNEN GENSŌ 了然元総

Born into an aristocratic family as the daughter of a lady-in-waiting, Ryōnen Gensō, spent her early years in the Inner Chambers. At the age of 17, she married a courtier. Ten years later, she took the tonsure and became a Buddhist nun.

Wishing to join as a disciple of a famous Ōbaku Zen monk, she traveled to Edo (Tokyo). However, the monk turned her away on the pretext that her beauty would distract male disciples.

In a stark show of determination, she used a searing iron to disfigure her face. Only when proving this degree of devoutness to her faith was she finally accepted into the order.

This poem was written shortly after this turning point. It reads:

In this living world,
my flesh is burned and thrown away.
I would be wretched
if I did not think of it as kindling that burns away my sins

Not coiffuring my hair
would leave my hands free
to spend my time at the desk.

Kaga no Chiyo

髪を結ふ
手の隙明て　
炬燵哉

加賀千代

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.