BackNo.48
DECEMBER 1935
THE BEGINNING OF WALL AND SCREEN PAINTING OF THE MOMOYAMA PERIOD.
BY KISAKU TANAKA
The Momoyama period was the shortest in Japanese history. It was a period of some forty yeras, beginning with the collapse of the Ashikaga Shogunate and ending with the downfall of the House of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Short as it was, it played an important role in the history of Japanese art.
Great masters such as Eitoku and Sanraku flourished in this period. They adorned the rooms of castles and palaces with gorgeous wall and screen paintings. In their impasing effects these paintings are unique in the history of Japanese art. Some historians suggest that they reflect the ardent spirit of the warrios who ruled the land. They were just what people wanted as that time, since it was a time of national prosperity and expansion. It was in the Momoyama period that Toyotomi Hideyoshi made an imperialistic expedition to Korea, and further an opening of the trade with Europe helped to increase the wealth of the country, while the producion of gold reached its higest point.
Here come a question-where should we look for the stylistic foundation of this new art? It is true that wall and screen paintings were already in vogue in the Fujiwara period, but they were painted so gracefully that we cannot look upon them as the stylistic precursor of the vigorous art of the Momoyama period. However, we know that in some picture-scrolls later than the Kamakura period, there are depicted sliding screens where the tender and the graceful gave way to the grand and the vigorous. For example, sliding screens with a tiger in a bamboo grove, which appeared in the "Pictorial Biography of Shinran Shonin," vividly remind us of something in the screens of the Momoyama period.
On the other hand, gilded screens came into use in the early Ashikaga period, while the manufacturing process of gold leaf made remarkable progress at that time: and it is quite natural that some of these gold screens were decorated with paintings.
The above considerations make it possible to assume that the germ of the Momoyama art had already sprouted in Ashikaga period.
A BIOGTAPHICAL STUDY OF KOJO, A JAPANESE BUDDHIST-SCULPTOR OF THE FUJIWARA PERIOD.
BY SHIN'ICHI TANI
According to our tradition, Kojo is said to be an ancestor of lay sculptors in this country. His life has not been fully investigated up to this day; none of his authentic works has survived.
Howere, Mr. Shin'ichi Tani, after making an exhaustive investigation of old documents, found some accounts of his life which have hitherto been passed unnoticed.
One of the most interesting facts newly revealed by the weiter is that Kojo was still active in 1020, participating in the construction of the Hosshoji monastery, and that he made nine statues of Amitabha, assisted by his disciple jocho, for the Muryojuin of the Hosshoji monastery.
The construction of the Hosshoji monastery was one of the most important events in the development of wooden sculpture in this country. It has been thought that the famous image of Amitabha, a cannot of the Jocho style, in the Hoodo of the Byodoin monastery, was developed from the images enshrined in the Hosshoji monastery. But the achievement of these images in the Hosshoji monastery has hitherto been attributed to Jocho, and not to Koji.
ON THE TECHNIQUE OF THE EMBROIDERY REPRESENTING SAKYAMUNI PREACHING, BELONGING TO THE KANSHUJI MONASTERY.
BY YOSHI SHIRAHATA
Out of the few surviving examples of ancient embroideries, the embroidered Mandala of the Kanshuji monastery is most exquisite in its technique.
It measures 2.077 m. in height, 1.584 m. in width. There are represented Sakyamuni seated on a throne in the centre, surrounded by Boddhisattvas, preaching to the faithful.
The figures are embroidered with twisted silk, employing two kinds of stitches, chain-like and knot-like. The weiter tells us that this chain made with crochet is a particular feature of the Mandala, for the rest of the ancient embroideries in Japan are all made in flat-stitch. (cf. P1. X. There is shown a fragment of an embroidered banner in the possession of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, which is said to have come from the Horyuji monastery.)
It bears a startling resemblance in design and technique to some embroideries discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Central Asia, though the latter are of more primitive and inferior workmanship. So we may conjecture that the present Mandala was made in the late T'ang dynasty and later introduced to this country.
PLATES.
P1. III & IV. Image of Sakyamuni.
Painted in Colours on Silk. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 159.4 cm., W. 85.4 cm.
In the Zenrinji Manastery, Kyoto.
This is one of the best example of Buddhist painting of the Fujiwara period. The happy elegance and grace of the sacred figure are almost unrivaled. The dress, pedestal and aureola are all gorgeously adorned with beautiful designs executed in cut gold work (kirikane). The karakusa design (floral design) on the border of the aureola is characteristics; it remind us of such open works as the canopies of the Hoodo temple.
P1. V & VI. Field Work. ATTRIBUTED TO SESSHU.
Painted in Ink with Slight Colour on Paper. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 60 cm., W. 124.8 cm.
In the Collection of Mr. Shintaro Ohashi, Tokyo.
This picture is attributed to Sesshu, though it bears neither signature nor seals of the painter.
As to the style, we can say the "wrinikles" of roks are closely related to those of the famous landscape scroll possessed by Prince Mori, and that the way the trees are depicted is chatacteristic of his art. But the figures of the farmers are not in his usual manner. They are wanting in the dignity which is one of the chatacteristics of his art.
P1. VIII. Flowers and Birds. BY NAKABAYASHI CHIKUTO.
Painted in Ink on Silk. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 115 cm., W. 63.5 cm.
In the Zogein Temple, Kyoto.
Chikuto (1775-1853), a painter of the Nanga school, devoted himself to landscape rather than to flower and bird paintings. Nevertheless, he shoued no less skill in the latter subjects.
It has been claimed that his ink paintig of flowers and bitds was modelled after Lin Liang's patterns, while reflecting in itself the lofty spirit of Hsu Hsi's paintings.
P1. IX. Portrait of Lady Oinu, the Wife of Hosokawa Akimoto.
Painted in Colours on Silk. Mounted as a Kakemono.
Size: H. 75.7 cm., W. 32.7 cm.
In the Ryuamiji Monastery, Kyoto.
Oinu was a younger sister of Oda Nobunaga. She first married Saji Tameoki, Lord of the One Castle in Mino. But after her husband's death in action, she married Hosokawa Akimoto, Lord of the Akutagawa Castle in Settsu, and bore him three children.
When she died young in September, 1582, one of her nurses built a chapel in the Ryuanji monastery to the memory of her lady, hung her portrait and worshipped it.
And the present picture may be looked upon as the same picture as the one worshipped in the chapel, for the san on the picture was written in October, 1582 by Gekko Soin who was then an abbot of the chapel.
P1. XI & XII. Portrait of Uesugi Shigefusa.
Sculpture in Wood, painted.
Height, 68.5 cm.
In the Meigetsuin Temple, Kamakura.
Shigefusa was the ancestor of the Uesugi familly. He came to Kamakura accompanying Prince Munetaka when the Prince accepted the invitation from Hojo Tokimune.
Wonderfully visualized is the virile chatacter of the warrior in this portrait. The realistic style of the figure shows that it was made in the middle Kamakura period, shortly after the death of Uesugi Shigefusa.
The figure is made of hinoki wood and has embedded crystal eyes. Its original paints have aomost alldisappeared, except the black laquer on the eboshi (head-gear).