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Three Friends of Winter

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The Three Friends of Winter is an art motif that comprises the pine, bamboo, and plum.[1] The Chinese celebrated the pine, bamboo and plum together, for they observed that unlike many other plants these plants do not wither as the cold days deepen into the winter season.[2] Known by the Chinese as the Three Friends of Winter, they later entered the conventions of Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese culture.[3][4][5][6] Together they symbolize steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience.[7] They are highly regarded in Confucianism as representing its scholar-gentleman ideal.[1][8]

Three Friends of Winter
The Three Friends of Winter by the painter Zhao Mengjian, Song dynasty
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese歲寒三友
Simplified Chinese岁寒三友
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinsuìhán sānyǒu
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetTuế hàn tam hữu
Chữ Hán歲寒三友
Korean name
Hangul세한삼우
Hanja歲寒三友
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationsehansamu
McCune–Reischauersehansamu
Japanese name
Kanji歳寒三友
Hiraganaさいかんさんゆう
Transcriptions
RomanizationSaikan san'yū

History

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Three Friends and a Hundred Birds by Bian Wenjin, Ming dynasty

The Three Friends of Winter are common in works of art from Chinese culture[9] and those cultures influenced by it. The three are first recorded as appearing together in a ninth-century poem by the poet Zhu Qingyu (朱慶餘) of the Tang dynasty.[8] Artists such as Zhao Mengjian (趙孟堅, c. 1199–1264) of the Southern Song dynasty and other contemporaries later made this grouping popular in painting.[8]

The earliest literary reference to the term "[Three] Friends of Winter" can be traced back to the Record of the Five-cloud Plum Cottage (五雲梅舍記) from The Clear Mountain Collection (霽山集) by the writer Lin Jingxi (林景熙, 1242–1310) of the Song dynasty:[2][10]

For his residence, earth was piled to form a hill and a hundred plum trees, which along with lofty pines and tall bamboo comprise the friends of winter, were planted.[2]

即其居累土為山，種梅百本，與喬松，脩篁為歲寒友。[10]

Outside China

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Kadomatsu (門松) decorative pillars for Japanese New Year, featuring branches of pine, bamboo and plum

The Three Friends are known as shōchikubai (松竹梅, lit. 'pine-bamboo-plum') in Japan.[11] They are particularly associated with the start of the New Year, appearing on greeting cards and as a design stamped into seasonal sweets.[12] They are sometimes also used as a three-tier ranking system; in this context, the pine (松, matsu) is usually the highest rank, followed by the bamboo (竹, take) as the middle rank, and the plum (梅, ume) as the lowest.[13][14]

In a Korean poem by Kim Yuki (1580–1658), the three friends are brought together in order to underline the paradoxical contrast:

Peach and plum of springtime, don't flaunt your pretty blossoms;
Consider rather the old pine and green bamboo at year's end.
What can change these noble stems and their flourishing evergreen?[15]

In Vietnam, the three along with chrysanthemum create a combination of four trees and flowers usually seen in pictures and decorative items. The four also appear in works but mostly separately with the same symbolic significance. They are known as Tuế hàn tam hữu in Vietnamese.[16]

See also

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References

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Look up shōchikubai in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ a b "Chinese symbols" (PDF). British Museum. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. ^ a b c "The Three Friends of Winter: Paintings of Pine, Plum, and Bamboo from the Museum Collection". National Palace Museum. January 2003. Archived from the original on 12 February 2003. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Three Friends of Winter". Colby College. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Cultivating Virtue: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Art". Harvard Art Museums. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  5. ^ Matthews, Jill (2018). Korean Gardens: Tradition, symbolism and resilience. Seoul: Hollym. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-56591-500-8.
  6. ^ "Nhành mai xuân trong thơ Lý – Trần". Phật giáo thuộc Giáo hội Phật giáo Việt Nam. 19 January 2022.
  7. ^ Dusenbury, Mary (2004). Flowers, dragons and pine trees: Asian textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art. New York: Hudson Hills Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-55595-238-9.
  8. ^ a b c Welch, Patricia Bjaaland (2008). Chinese art: A guide to motifs and visual imagery. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8048-3864-1.
  9. ^ Welch, Patricia Bjaaland (2008). Chinese art: a guide to motifs and visual imagery. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-8048-3864-1.
  10. ^ a b "歲寒三友" (in Chinese). National Palace Museum. Archived from the original on 26 January 2003. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  11. ^ "Three Friends of Winter". Ezen Foundation. 27 February 2024.
  12. ^ Bamboo in Japan Nancy Moore Bess and Bibi Wein, Kodansha International 2001, p.170
  13. ^ "Three Friends of Winter Japanese Prints exhibition catalogue". Sotherans.
  14. ^ "松竹梅". jisho.org.
  15. ^ The Bamboo Grove, ed. and trans. Richard Rutt, University of California Press 1971, poem 18
  16. ^ Văn hóa dân gian. Viện văn hóa dân gian, ̉Uy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam. 2005. p. 30.
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