Reduced writing - Genpitsu

Originally, it meant writing characters without strokes, and it has the same meaning as reduced strokes or abbreviated characters, but it also refers to a painting technique in which the number of strokes is extremely reduced, like the cursive style of calligraphy, which is one of the three styles of calligraphy: regular, running, and cursive. In China, there is a tradition of considering calligraphy and painting as art on the same level, and especially since the Six Dynasties, the idea of ​​the unity of calligraphy and painting was mainstream in the world of calligraphy and painting. However, in the Tang Dynasty, the trend in painting leaned heavily toward realism and naturalism, and similarity was respected. As a reaction to this, the technique of reduced strokes arose, and works using this technique actually appeared among the ink painters of the late Tang and Five Dynasties. The ink paintings of Shi Ke, a painter of the Five Dynasties, are a concrete example of this, but Liang Kai of the Southern Song Dynasty further developed this technique, establishing a unique style of reduced strokes that turned ink painting into a white sketch. His ``Li Bai on a Poetry Walk'' is a representative example of this.

[Shinichi Nagai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

本来は字画を省いて文字を書くことで、省筆、略字と同じ意味であるが、書の楷・行・草の三体のなかの草体のように、筆数を極度に省略した絵画の技法をいう。中国では書と画とを芸術として同列にみなす伝統があり、とくに六朝(りくちょう)以来、書画一致の思想が書画界で主流を占めていた。しかし、唐代になって絵画の風潮が写実主義、自然主義に大きく傾き、形似を尊重するようになると、その反動として減筆の画法がおこり、唐末五代の水墨画家の間から実際にこの技法を用いた作品が現れた。五代の画家石恪(せきかく)の水墨画などはその具体例であるが、南宋(なんそう)の梁楷(りょうかい)はこの技法をさらに推し進め、水墨画を白描化した本格的な減筆体の独特な画風を打ち立てた。彼の『李白(りはく)吟行図』はその代表的遺品。

［永井信一］

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