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.