Bamboo and Rock

Gyokuran was the third generation in a family dominated by women and was likely raised in a liberal and artistic atmosphere. Her grandmother and mother were proprietresses of Matsuya, a teahouse in the Gion, Kyoto’s famous pleasure quarter. Both were talented poets of waka, a thirty-one-syllable poetic form. Gyokuran married Ike Taiga (1723–1776), who was famous for his unconventional life and extraordinary painting talent. He eventually became a renowned literati painter, and Gyokuran became one of his best pupils.