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Kutani Genji-Mon Incense Bowl

Kutani Genji-Mon Incense Bowl

Kutani Genji-Mon Incense Bowl
19th – 20th Century
Porcelain
3.5 x 8 in
Meiji Kutani Ware
1986.058

Imagine the aroma of fragrant wood floods your senses as the doors swing open to a room with ten tatami (straw) mats. The other guests enter and sit based on priority, arranged in a clockwise circle from the master of ceremonies’ place. With the guests settled, the record keeper enters carrying a kōbako, a wooden storage box, with the necessary utensils for the ceremony.1 The host follows suit, carefully carrying this dish into the room and setting it beside their place in the circle. With the group ready, you prepare for your immersion into the ritual practice of Kōdō.

Figure 1- Traditional Room Layout and Seating Arrangement for Incense Ceremonies. Morita, The Book of Incense, 129.

The dish with heavy overglaze enamel decorated in dark colors is characteristic of Kutani ware, a Japanese porcelain style. The detailing with gold on coral red aligns with motifs from the style’s revival during the 19th Century; whereas Old Kutani pieces, from the 1650s to 1700, accentuated more blues, greens, and yellows – colors which are limited in their use.2

The lidded dish is likely a kōgō, which is used to store incense in various forms, with one of the uses being kōdō (incense ceremonies). Kōdō originated from the 6th century through the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, further developing from government officials using it to perfume spaces and play games.3 Compared to other kōgō, this work is relatively large, with a unique clamshell shape and intricate detailing on the outside of the piece. The design on its surface reflects the marine motif, as the lid portion depicts a group of nobles on the beach collecting shells. The base displays various shelled sea life, such as a hermit crab. Additionally, the artist intentionally places a golden shell on the lid as a handle and golden shells as legs.

Figure 3 – Bottom Surface of Work
Figure 4 – Top Surface of Work
Figure 5 – The Symbol and Chapter of the Genji-Mon on the Piece; Morita, The Book of Incense, 92

The emblem inside references The Tale of Genji, an 11th-century Japanese novel about the fictional aristocrat Genji. The symbol, or Genji-mon, consists of five parallel vertical lines, with the third and fifth connected by a horizontal line at the top. Chapters each have a unique symbol similar to the one painted and this one references the eighth chapter. This chapter, “The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms,” relates to the fleeting intimacy between Genji and an unknown noblewoman after the Emperor’s Cherry Blossom Festival. He yearns for her until goes to a nobleman’s wisteria celebration, where he sees her again and finds out that the nobleman is her father.4 Relating to the story, red and pink cherry blossoms surround the Genji-mon. The arrangement of red peonies and white magnolia may allude to Chinese imperial gardens, as many emperors were known to plant magnolia trees and thousands of peony roses.5 The link to the Chinese can be traced to Japanese advancement of porcelain, directly drawing influences from Chinese methods and art in the process.6 Thus, despite being the king of flowers in China, they are still revered in Japan as a symbol of wealth and high rank. Wisteria is known for its longevity across two season, commonly used on felicitous occasions, which could indicate the dish’s use as a gift for the original recipient, especially in the context of the story.7 The Genji mon also refences incense ritual through noble game culture.

Figure 6 – Inside of the Bottom of the Work

The symbol also relates to an incense game called Genji-Kō, where five kinds of incense are used and split into five pieces, totaling twenty-five individually wrapped pieces. The host shuffles the twenty-five packets and chooses five, and then shuffles the 5 packets. The game starts with smelling, or “listening to”, each scent as the host passes the first piece clockwise to the guests, where they smell and record their answers as vertical lines.8 Each line represents one scent, going from left to right in order, and if two scents are the same, they are connected by a horizontal line at the top.9 After the first round, whoever gets the answer correct is awarded the title of jewel or gem, based on Genji’s reputation as a beautiful gem. This game then repeats until no more packets are available. Thus, the dish reflects the rich Japanese history of ritual through social game culture between the intentional practice of Genji-Kō and porcelain development in 19th-century Japan.

Pratham Dalvi
Biochemistry
Class of 2027

Annotated Bibliography

Conder, J. (2006). Theory of Japanese Flower Arrangements (1st ed.). Routledge, 2006 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315788708.

This book explores the philosophy, symbolism, and development of Japanese floral arrangement, specifically the practice of ikebana. Conder addresses the principles of floral composition and its shifts with history and religion as influences, particularly Buddhism and Shintoism. This source relates to the essay as Conder addresses the specific symbolism behind flowers on the inside of the work. Thus, more can be ascertained about the object’s use historically.

Katsumata, S. (2011). “Incense Ceremonies.” In Gleams from Japan (1st ed.). Routledge, 2011 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806289.

This source outlines the various tools used in incense ceremony, including the porcelain kōgō, which is a storage case for the incense wood. It also discusses the origins of the ceremonies and their uses historically. The use as a kōgō is indicated by the lidded aspect of the dish, however it is contraindicated as a censer by the dish’s design on the inside of the bowl. This chapter also outlines the basic structure of kōkiki that would have been played by the aristocracy using this bowl, specifically Genji-ko which involves the symbol on the inside of the dish.  The source also delves deeper into the history of incense ceremonies and their origins, specifically the secularization of incense parties which contributed to the practice as a more ritualistic ceremony.

“Kutani ware,” Britannica Academic, s.v.  https://www.britannica.com/art/Kutani-ware.

This is an encyclopedia page about Kutani ware which discusses the history of the practice as well as the evolution across the period which it was practice. As a part of the history, the information about the abandoned Kutani kiln in the Genroku period (1688–1704) leading to the ceramics production in Kaga in the 19th century and another kiln at Kutani in the 1820s is an important detail. This revival of Old Kutani ware came with the motif of gold on coral-red, which relates to the dish. The perfection of the technique through Western-style pigments also contributes to the intricacy of the dish.

Morita, Kiyoko. The Book of Incense: Enjoying the Traditional Art of Japanese Scents. Kodansha America, Incorporated, 2006.

Morita’s book connects to the general audience about Japanese incense culture by discussing more aspects about the events as well as the different games involved. The book also provides a lot of detail about the origins of the incense culture and game culture within Japan. The source goes into detail about the game of Genji-ko, which is inspired by the novel The Tale of Genji and derives the symbols for the game from the chapters of the novel. This source also provides a guide to the symbols and which chapter they correspond to, which is how the symbol in the dish was related to the eighth chapter of the novel “The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms”. Mullany, Francis. “Chapter 3 Flowers and Trees”. In Symbolism in Korean Ink Brush Painting.

Murasaki Shikibu. The Tale of Genji / Murasaki Shikibu ; Translated by Dennis Washburn. Translated by Dennis C. (Dennis Charles) Washburn. First edition. New York ; W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.

In this chapter, the aristocrat Genji takes part in the Emperor’s Cherry Blossom banquet and participates through a dance to impress the other nobles, especially Fujitsubo, one of the emperor’s consort and his step-mother.  To cope with this, Genji, while inebriated, sneaks into another noble woman’s quarters and “interacts” with her, however he contemplates his relationship with the other women in his life like his student Murasaki and Fujitsubo. This escapade is followed by Genji attending a Wisteria festival by the Minister of the Right, who happens to be the father of the noblewoman he had an affair with, and he happens to meet her again after thinking about her extensively. The specific chapter in the novel relating to the symbol of the work is Chapter 8, “the Festival of the Cherry Blossoms.” Thus, the symbol alludes to the chapter’s major theme was the ephemeral experience with this woman through the metaphor of flower ceremonies.

  1. Kiyoko Morita, The Book of Incense: Enjoying the Traditional Art of Japanese Scents, (Kodansha International, 1992), PAGE NUMBER. ↩︎
  2. Britannica Academic, s.v. “Kutani ware,” accessed October 12, 2024, https://academic-eb-com.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/levels/collegiate/article/Kutani-ware/46521 ↩︎
  3. S. Katsumata, “Incense Ceremonies,” in Gleams From Japan (Routledge 2011), 55-58. ↩︎
  4. Murasaki Shikibu, “A Banquet Celebrating Cherry Blossoms,” in The Tale of Genji / Murasaki Shikibu, trans. Dennis Washburn. (New York ; W. W. Norton & Company, 2015), 172-180. ↩︎
  5. Francis Mullany, “Chapter 3 Flowers and Trees,” in Symbolism in Korean Ink Brush Painting. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006, https://doi-org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/10.1163/9789004213616_007, 40, 44. ↩︎
  6. Brittanica, “Kutani Ware.” ↩︎
  7. J Conder, Theory of Japanese Flower Arrangements, (Routledge 2006), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315788708, 48. ↩︎
  8. Morita, The Book of Incense, 89-95. ↩︎
  9. Katsumata, Gleams From Japan, 62. ↩︎