(b Kyoto, 1727 or 1728; d Kyoto, 1784). Wife of (1) Ike Taiga. She was descended from a line of independent, talented women poets and calligraphers. Her grandmother Kaji ( fl early 18th century), her mother Yuri (1694–1764) and she supported themselves by running the Matsuya tea house in Kyoto’s Gion district while composing waka (31-syllable classical poetry) as an artistic outlet. At an early age she was encouraged by her mother to study painting. Her first teacher, the literati (Bunjinga) painter YANAGISAWA KIEN of Kyoto, gave her the art name (go) Gyokuran (‘jade orchid’). She later met and married the famous literati painter Ike Taiga. The two lived an unorthodox life together, showing little concern for money or material possessions. Gyokuran frequently combined her artistic talents by creating simple, small-format paintings on which she inscribed verses, for example Landscape Fan with Waka (priv. col.; see 1988 exh. cat., no. 29). She was particularly fond of the intimate fan format, whose limited surface encouraged her impressionistic tendencies in painting and whose curving form complemented the curvilinear script of her poems. She also produced more complex landscape compositions in the Chinese literati style, such as Spring Landscape (San Francisco, CA, Asian A. Mus.). Although Taiga’s influence is readily visible in her manipulation of space and distinctive outlines, Gyokuran composed her landscapes with an even greater zest for spatial ambiguity. The effect is sometimes startling. Gyokuran outlived Taiga by eight years. Since they had no children and she had no outstanding students, the artistic legacy begun by her grandmother ended with Gyokuran’s death.

Part of the Ike family

• Ike Gyokuran
  • Ike
  • Japan, §VII, 2(v)(b): Calligraphy: Kyoto revival of late courtly styles
  • Women and art history, §IV, 4: East Asia: `Amateur’ artists
  • Yuri
  • teachers
    • Japan, §VI, 4(vi)(d): Late foreign-influenced painting: Nanga
    • Yanagisawa Kien