A Thousand Grasses: between the representation of nature and human evocation

The dichotomy between human and nature has been represented in every phase of Japanese artistic production and with various expressions, even in the panorama of the production of illustrated books realized in the Meiji era. At the turn of the twentieth century, in fact, volumes were produced with the purpose of presenting decorative motifs for the decoration of fabrics, made by important artists of Kyoto, in which on the one hand there was the desire to spread the fashions and types of decorativism, on the other hand, there was the desire to communicate a precise message, which must be condensed into a clear image, essential, immediately understood by the target audience. The message could be that of a reference to culture, to literature, to a particular plant or flower, in symbolic association, or in combination with seasons. In spite of the many different references, it is noticeable that most of the drawings show nature as the main subject, in its always precise and recognizable forms. Chigusa (A Thousand Grasses) made by Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942) in 1900 - as many other books of that time - is an example of these volumes made with an advertising purpose but that opens to the reading of nature as the main subject, in the various moments of the day, in the references to the environments, where human presence is only mentioned by the objects or evoked by the situations and the settings, in a world where certainly is never the center of attention despite the pervasive feeling of his essence that remains in balance and harmony with what surrounds him.