Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the process of how the two major figures of the Southern Court in the 14th century, Prince Moriyoshi and Kusunoki Masashige were reevaluated in the Meiji era and represented through different media with special focus on the birth of "history painting" in the 1890s.

Paper long abstract:

The so-called "history painting" (rekishi-ga) is a category of art that emerged in the dawn of the Meiji era. The birth of such a category attests to a development of a new conceptions of the historical past and the role of art in expressing, or even constructing, such views. In this paper, I will explore the process of how the two major figures of the Southern Court, Prince Moriyoshi (Emperor Godaigo's son) and Kusunoki Masashige (the fourteenth-century warrior) were represented through different media (paintings, sculpture, textbooks) in the 1890s.

Firstly, I would like to shed light on the socio-political context of the year 1889, which is known as pivotal year for history painting in Japan. As Toshio Yamanashi argues, there were two art competitions in this year: The first was a prize show sponsored by The Nippon, a major newspaper company, in which the painters were provided in advance with certain themes of 'history painting.' The second was a sculpture competition, in which the subjects included Prince Moriyoshi and Kusunoki Masashige. These public competitions contributed much to the shaping of the pictorial imagination of these historical events and figures. Secondly, I will investigate the history textbooks focusing specifically on the narrative and illustration of these two figures. Interestingly, most of the historical figures in a collection of history paintings that were purchased in the 1890s by the First Higher School in Tokyo, the top educational institution at that time, are almost identical to the illustrations in contemporary history textbooks. It is assumed that these history paintings were used for ethics class at the school. I will explore the function of textbooks and paintings in the teaching of history in classrooms. Finally, while considering the reevaluation of the two figures throughout various media in the 1890s, I will argue how the representation of the two figures, Prince Moriyoshi and Kusunoki Masashige were differentiated from the time when they actually had lived and embellished with new description based on the emperor-centered historiography.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines Edo-period representations of the warrior hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his place in the Tokugawa genealogy of warrior leaders. It focuses on the Kano school Shuten dōji scrolls and their impact on Nara emaki, ehon, and festival floats of the later period.

Paper long abstract:

Shuten Dōji is among the most famous of the medieval heroic monster-quelling tales, which recounts a conquest of a giant demon by Minamoto no Yorimitsu (a.k.a. Raikō, 948-1021) and his retainers. This paper focuses on the representation of Yorimitsu in the Edo-period retelling of the narrative. The portrayal of Yorimitsu in Edo period Shuten Dōji scrolls attributed to the Kano artists is evocative of warrior leaders such as Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, Minamoto no Yoshiie, and Tokugawa Ieyasu in other scrolls. Scholars have noted that the borrowing of images from earlier scrolls in the Tōshō Daigongen emaki by Kano Tan'yū, commissioned by the third shogun Iemitsu, was not simply a matter of artistic trope, but an effort to strengthen the connections between the Tokugawa and their self-proclaimed ancestor, the Minamoto. Considering the fact that the Tokugawa were the principal patrons of the Kano school, it is highly possible that the artists of these scrolls were doing the same to cater to the interests of their patron, most likely the Tokugawa or some other major daimyo, as they re-created the earlier Shuten dōji scrolls. Yorimitsu, in other words, had been added to a genealogy of warriors who were associated with the Tokugawa.

This representation of Yorimitsu had impacted other art genres that became widely popular in the Edo period. Striking copies of the compositions and motifs can be found in Nara emaki and ehon, while the paintings themselves are executed in a very different style. The spectator and the immensely grotesque and visible display of the giant head of a demon among the floats of the Kanda Festival, also known as the "Tenka Matsuri" (Shogun's Festival), depicted in nineteenth-century prints and printed books such as the Edo meisho-zu-e are reminiscent of the final scene of the Shuten dōji scrolls. This paper explores the political and social context in which the Shuten dōji scrolls were produced and circulated, and the distribution of knowledge, intended audience, and the formation of a shared memory through a visual representation of the warrior hero Yorimitsu.

Paper short abstract:

This paper scrutinizes the changing material manifestation of the seventh-century statesman Fujiwara no Kamatari. The focus is on the socio-political implications of Edo-period depictions of his persona related to narratives, and his iconic ideal portrait on banknote designs from 1891 through 1945.

Paper long abstract:

The loyal supporter of the emperor and founder of the Fujiwara House, Kamatari (614-669), was blessed with a long cultural afterlife. He was configured in all thinkable material guises and socio-religious contexts through the centuries: from calligraphed script on paper in the eighth century to wooden and painted icon in the Heian period, from the lead in a performance genre of the late Muromachi period to the hero in handscrolls, fans, screens, printed books, and finally, banknotes and stamps well into the twentieth century. The breadth of materiality echoes not only the variety of patrons and audiences addressed, but also the range of personas he was imagined in: an ancestral deity, protector of the imperial household, prudent hero outwitting foreign powers, model for the modern Japanese people.

While many of these aspects are addressed in the book by Kuroda Satoshi, Fujiwara Kamatari: jikū wo kakeru (2011), unanswered questions remain. Why did he substitute his son Fuhito as hero in the kōwakamai performance piece, Taishokan, in the sixteenth century—which served as the source of myriad pictorial interpretations in the following centuries? How was his persona visually interpreted and morphing into different guises according to the pictorial medium of his representation? Were there time periods in which his popularity peaked and others when he was less ubiquitous?

This paper addresses these questions by focussing on two case studies of Kamatari's changing materialization: select Edo-period depictions of his persona in paintings and prints, and his depiction on banknotes from the Meiji through the early Shōwa era.