7c7EN51ad13fed3ae7
type: Source
id: 73794
text: Responding to the desires of the middle class (chonin), some late Edo period Japanese painters moved away from the seriousness associated with the Chinese theme of reclusion, focusing instead on the motif’s humorous aspects. The theme Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup is based on a poem by the renowned 8th-century Chinese poet Du Fu about his eight colleagues. These scholars eagerly sought release from their official governmental duties and then supposedly fled the capital for the countryside. There, they engaged in wildly eccentric behavior and adventurous creative work, all fueled by copious amounts of wine. Shohaku’s version of events exaggerates the scholars’ pleasure, as seen in their comical facial expressions.
locale: en
hash: 7c7EN51ad13fed3ae7
snippet: Responding to the desires of the middle
length: 733
unique identifiers:
  source id: 73794
rp:
  source id: 73794
classname prefix: source