Page 159 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

faint reddish brown of the rocks in the Morimi was also instrumental in obtaining Another poem, by the monk Keimei (dates
foreground, create subtle coloristic effects a set of the Korean edition of the Buddhist unknown), just above the pine trees, reads:
in this predominantly monochromatic tripitaka, the complete collection of Bud- Even the plants and trees of China know
painting. dhist scriptures, through his trade with
Like the Plum Blossom Study (cat. 84), Korea. In 1410, Morimi published a your name;
this work is a shosaizu (painting celebrat- woodblock-printed edition of the Chinese The sword you raised over Kyushu, deadly
ing a scholar's study), an ink painting Buddhist text Cang-cheng fa-shu (J: Zô/'ô and chilling as the winter's frost, is now
resting.
genre that flourished in Japan from the hossu), now known as the Ouchi edition.
late fourteenth century throughout the From 1418 until his death Morimi helped You swept the Lute Hall, so that you just sit
and chant.
Muromachi period. These paintings, de- the shogunate in the building campaign of The seas are all green; the hills around the
picting an unassuming hut in an imagi- the Shinto shrine Usa Hachimangu in Bu-
nary landscape as a study or scholarly zen (now Oita Prefecture in Kyushu). Af- realm clear.
retreat, represent an ideal to which the ter 1425, when he returned to Kyushu to Two of the other poems liken the villa in
person for whom they were made would quell an uprising there, Morimi had to the painting to the famous Wang-chuan
have aspired. The significance of the land- concentrate his energy on controlling his Villa of the archetypal Chinese poet-
scape imagery is usually explained by a domain. He died in 1431, at the age of fifty- painter and scholar-official Wang Wei
group of poetic inscriptions added directly five, in battle in Kyushu. He was buried at (699-759), revered as an inventor of land-
on the painting, here by nine contempo- the Zen temple Kokuseiji in his home scape painting in China and Japan. One of
rary Zen monks. This painting and its po- province of Suô. them is by the monk Shüken (dates un-
ems celebrate the cultivated personality of Stylistically, this painting is linked to a known):
the warrior Ouchi Morimi (1377-1431), con- number of similar works from the early Merriment of music and song in the green
stable (shugo) daimyo of Suó Province part of the fifteenth century. The pine field does not eliminate the thoughts of
(now Yamaguchi Prefecture, located on trees, rocks, and pavilion in the fore- fame and fortune;
the western tip of Honshu), who in real ground are carefully described. Like other Too remote to reach are the mists and rain
life actually had built for himself a moun- early ink paintings in which an attempt is at the Wang chuan Villa.
tain villa to which he could retreat and made to depict an all-inclusive landscape, This otherwordly abode is the right place for
pursue his studies. the spatial relationship between the fore- elegant souls;
During the Muromachi period, the ground and the far distance remains am- Unusual plants carpet the green mountains.
political control of the Suô region as well bivalent. The composition is probably
as the island of Kyushu, far away from the based on a lost Chinese prototype, as is a This painting, then, commemorates
seat of the shogunal government in Kyoto, very similar painting in the Konchi-in in the powerful constable daimyo Ouchi
was left to various contending local Kyoto, which is dedicated to a young Zen Morimi for his successful pursuit of the
powers, including the Ouchi family. After Buddhist monk and depicts an idealized arts of both war (bu) and peace (bun), in
s_everal years of factional battles, the study. the best tradition of the Japanese medieval
Ouchi family, chiefly through astute mili- More than half of those who inscribed warrior. YS
tary and political maneuverings by the Masaki painting, which was completed
Morimi, had come to control large blocks no later than 1415 (the earliest known 86 Listening to the Pines Study
of territory, including northern Kyushu, death date of any of the inscribers), are hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
and in 1404 Morimi was officially recog- also authors of similar eulogies added to 103.0 X 31.8 (40*72 X 12 Vz)
nized by the shogunate as the constable contemporary paintings of similar format Muromachi period, no later than 1433
daimyo of the whole region. With the cen- and style. Some of their poems laud Seikadô Bunko, Tokyo
tral base of power firmly established Morimi's essential virtues as a cultivated Important Cultural Property
within his domain and the large neighbor- warrior. In one poem at the upper right, by
ing areas coming under his control, the monk Genchü (d. 1421), the speaker is A tall, gnarled pine tree, its roots precari-
Morimi frequently traveled to Kyoto the warrior himself: ously clinging to a rocky bank, rises at the
where he was warmly received by mem- right. A pavilion is framed by the trunk
bers of the upper-class warrior society, in- To serve in the world or to retire as a and branches of the tree. Behind the pavil-
yet to seek a resolution',
hermit—Í am
cluding the shogun, the deputy shogun So first I built a thatched hut in the ion soars a second, equally gnarled pine
(kanrei), and other ranking warriors. In mountains', tree, painted in ink so pale that it appears
Kyoto, Morimi befriended erudite monks I raise my head high to gaze at the to be almost a shadow of the first. A
of the metropolitan Zen monasteries. mountain and ask what I should do; mountain path leads from the left side of
Morimi's personal contacts with scholar The mountain replies: 'A pleasure it will be the landscape, across a timber bridge over
monks included the monk Ishô Tokugan a cascading stream on the left, to the pavil-
(1360-1437), who was a frequent guest at to serve in the government, but you will ion. A jagged mountain towers in the cen-
home
you return
as when
be as happy
not
Morimi's villa in Suô, and who wrote a to retire! ter, its lower portion obscured by the
long eulogy lauding Morimi and his villa. wafting mist.
Ishô also wrote a dedicatory inscription for Another poem, the first from the right in Five inscriptions, written at different
a portrait painting of Morimi. The impor- the second row, by the monk Shôshin times over a twenty-five-year period, are
tance of Ishô's relationship with Morimi (dates unknown) is addressed to Morimi: brushed at the top of the painting in a dis-
and the Ouchi family in Suô may also be You, Sir, wise Governor, built a villa to seek orderly fashion. In fact, visible seams be-
seen in another painting in this exhibition, tween the inscriptions indicate that they
the Choshdken (Listening to the Pines You repose; have been reorganized. The earliest of
made this realm your territory, where
Study; cat. 86). these, the one at the upper right, is by the
the mountains are blue and clouds white.
Among Morimi's personal accom- This idyllic place far surpasses the Peach Zen monk Ishô Tokugan (1360-1437; see
plishments were the practice of Zen, tak- Blossom Spring of Yuan Chao and Liu cat. 85). It contains a short preface, Listen-
ing the tonsure in 1405, and the pursuit of Chen [of China]; ing to the Pines Study (Choshdken), poem
sinological studies through the reading of How peaceful is the clear day here when not composed for Attendant (Jisha) Ryukd[]wa
Confucian texts and Chinese poetry. even a bird cries! ..., and a postscript, On the third day of

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