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- Convenor:
-
Ganta Kosukegawa
(Ehime University)
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Visual Arts
- :
- Auditorium 4 Jaap Kruithof
- Sessions:
- Saturday 19 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel on the pictorialization of Genpei battles in the early modern period focuses on screens once owned by powerful daimyō. Differences in how battle scenes were selected and depicted reveals much about buke identity and the reception of Heike monogatari by feudal lords.
Long Abstract:
Our panel focuses on the pictorialization of Genpei battles in works of the early modern period. Genpei battle screens are visualizations of famous battle scenes from Heike monogatari. A well known example is Genpei gassen byōbu, a pair of six-fold screens in the collection of the British Museum, but many similar works are extant in Japan, often combining the Battle of Ichi-no-tani with the Battle of Yashima, as in the British Museum screens. Many surviving screens were produced from the late sixteenth to seventeenth century. Most are very likely to have been owned by powerful daimyō, as is the case of the Genpei battle screen handed down in the Uwajima clan and painted by Kano Kōho, who was in the service of the Kishū clan. Many other Heike illustrations originate from the collections of feudal lords. Nara picture books, the illustrated scroll Heike monogatari emaki, and fan paintings are all found in the collections of daimyō households. This suggests that it was regarded as proper for warrior houses to possess “Heike paintings” (Heike-e). Most surviving Genpei battle screens contain fairly faithful renditions of episodes based on the orally recited version of Heike monogatari. Many screens have the same or similar compositions, but some depict different scenes, including those where the representations cannot be fully explained with reference only to texts of Heike monogatari. Such extratextual elements and differences in scene selection need to be understood in the context of the forms of reception of Heike monogatari in this period. In this panel, we will clarify aspects of the reception of the war tale among daimyō houses of the seventeenth century, discussing issues of buke identity in these works.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 19 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Among the many Genpei battle screens produced in the late sixteenth or seventeenth century, some are highly likely to have been owned by powerful daimyō. By comparing screens in the Uwajima and Kono collections, this paper casts light on early-modern buke reception of Heike monogatari.
Paper long abstract:
Genpei kassenzu byōbu are folding screens that depict famous battle scenes from Heike monogatari. The six-fold screen in the collection of the British Museum is a well known example, but many very similar works are extant in Japan, very often combining the Battle of Ichi-no-tani with the Battle of Yashima, as in the British Museum screen. Produced mainly from the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century, such screens are fairly faithful visualizations of episodes from Heike monogatari and generally based on the orally recited text of the narrative. The Genpei battle screens currently classified as belonging to the same family as the British Museum version are a six-fold screen owned by Chishakuin Temple in Kyoto, and pairs of six-fold screens owned respectively by Tenshinji Temple in Tokyo, the Kono Museum in Imabari, and the Uwajima Date Culture Preservation Society. Although all these Genpei gassen byōbu have the same composition, there are some differences in which episodes are depicted. Some of the narrative scenes included cannot be fully explained with reference only to texts of Heike monogatari. The Uwajima version was painted by Kano Kōho, a painter in the service of the Kishū domain, making it is highly likely that its owner was a powerful feudal lord. Through a comparison of the Uwajima and Kono battle screens, this paper will cast light on various aspects of the reception of Heike monogatari by buke society during the early modern period.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will analyze a special feature of battle screens: their depiction of a moment in time. The example discussed is a screen in the collection of the Kono Museum of Art, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture. We will also discuss how the painting was influenced by the text of Genpei jōsuki.
Paper long abstract:
Picture scrolls and book illustrations depict Heike narratives along a time axis, while screen paintings make use of a single surface to illustrate multiple scenes of fighting occurring at different times. Some screens focus on the overall configuration of the armed men, others focus on individual warriors in battle, illustrating many episodes in a single space, often making use of a technique in which each episode is represented as a moment in time. In the Genpei Battle Screen in the collection of the Kono Museum of Art, Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, each of the individual skirmishes between Heike and Genji warriors is depicted in a single scene. Episodes in printed books will often contain two illustrations, the first showing a Heike warrior in valiant combat and the second the scene of his defeat. By contrast, only one moment is depicted in the Genpei Battle Screen, one where a brave Heike warrior is fighting. The Heike are never depicted as inferior in this screen, which chooses not to show the death of any Heike warrior. Whereas the narrative text tells the story of the downfall of the Heike along a time axis, this screen portrays the momentary actions of individual Heike warriors just before their destruction. This presentation will discuss how this folding screen captures such moments in time. This screen also highlights the role of Taira no Noritsune in the battle, which suggests that the variant text Genpei jōsuki was a possible source.
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses three distinctive features of early 17th-century Heike paintings: (1) sharing of designs between the various schools of painting; (2) mutual influence between screens, printed book illustrations and other media; and (3) growing demand for these paintings among feudal lords.
Paper long abstract:
By analyzing surviving examples of Heike paintings and screens of Genpei war battles created mainly from the early 17th century, this paper will clarify the circumstances in which they were produced. Heike paintings date back to the medieval period, but few early examples survive. Chinese poetry by Zen monks indicates that scenes like "The Death of Atsumori" were selected for illustration. From the early 17th century, Heike paintings and sliding screens of Genpei battles began to be produced more actively. The paintings draw on on the iconography established during previous periods but developed it further through the addition of new scenes. The important components for the production of a painting are: (1) the artist (painter), (2) the medium (pictorial format), and (3) the person commissioning the artwork and its viewers. Regarding artists, textual evidence reveals that the Kano and Tosa schools collaborated in the production of Heike screens. Surviving examples also include works made by individual schools, the Tosa, Kano, and Kaihō. Yet even among works of different painting schools, we find many examples of similar compositions and modes of depiction, suggesting that painters shared common styles. Concerning medium, we can observe a mutual influence among the different formats of fan paintings, illustrations for printed books, and picture scrolls. As for commissions and reception, the fact that a large number of extant Heike paintings were handed down in daimyō households suggests that they had symbolic significance for early modern warrior houses: Heike paintings were regarded as something that buke were expected to possess. Growing demand among buke families is behind the rise in production of Heike paintings. This paper reconsiders the characteristics of narrative paintings of the period by analyzing specific examples of seventeenth-century Heike paintings and Genpei battle screens.