To be able to admire paintings by the nation's top 120 nihonga artists in the confines of a single room sounds quite remarkable. Yet when the new assembly building of Zojoji Temple in Tokyo opens its doors in the spring of 2001, the coffered ceiling of its hall will be adorned with that number of Japanese-style paintings of the flowers and plants of the four seasons.
The colorful array of works, painted in 50-cm circles, is on display at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi department store through Aug. 29. The exhibition space is alive with flowers galore: iris, morning glory and lotus, not to mention the cherry and the plum, captured by generations of artists, from the renowned 104-year-old master Yuki Ogura to those in their 30s. While the peony seemed to be the favorite subject, some artists have focused on birds, maple leaves, Mount Fuji, even frolicking frogs.
Red and white camellias were the choice for Ogura while Shoko Uemura, who is seven years her junior, chose the hibiscus. Matazo Kayama selected the autumn flora whereas the youngest Hiroyuki Naka painted the white peony. The selection of artists was made by Susumu Suzuki, honorary chief curator of Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, and representatives of the temple. According to Toshifumi Sakamoto of the Project Department of Kyodo News Service, one of the organizers of the exhibition, the artists, regardless of their different affiliated art groups, agreed to collaborate for a nominal fee "for the benefit of the temple." Ogura was the first to hand in her work in July 1998.