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of sliding door paintings at Shosenken, a 104 The Battle of Sekigahara gahara. Fragmentary views of the village,
subtemple of Shókokuji, used them as attributed to Tosa Mitsuyoshi desolate rice fields and a few farm houses,
models for his work. YS (1539-1613) now occupied by troops, can be seen in
pair of eight-fold screens; ink, color, panels two, three, and four from the right.
103 Scholars viewing paintings and gold-leaf on paper In the upper area of the screen leyasu's
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk each 194.0 x 594.0 (763/8 x 2334/5) troops march along Nakasendo Highway
118.5x58.4(465/8x23) Edo period, no later than 1611 or 1612 (panels two through six) to join his camp at
late Song-early Yuan Private Collection Akasaka, where the coalition of the east-
late i3th-early i4th century ern army welcomes his arrival (panels five
Egawa Art Museum, When Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598, through eight). Among the troops in the
Hyógo Prefecture the nation's political leadership was left to upper portion of panel four is the gray-
a Council of Five Elders (Gotaird) and a bearded leyasu, well-protected by his men.
Playing the koto (a stringed instrument), Five-Man Council of Commissioners (Go- He rides a white horse, and wears black ar-
playing chess and practicing and enjoying bugyd). From these two councils emerged mor and a white_headband. Panels one
calligraphy and painting were essential two rival leaders, Ishida Mitsunari (1560- and two depict Ogaki Castle, the garrison
pursuits for the cultivated person in the 1600), a commissioner who had been a headquarters of the western army, two
Song Dynasty, and these four activities, confidant and a favored vassal of Hide- miles west of Akamatsu. Skirmishes are
called qin qi shu hua in Chinese, were of- yoshi, and who championed the cause of taking place in front of the entrance to the
ten a theme of Southern Song painting. the hegemony of the Toyotomi; and Toku- castle, where some of the over-zealous
Many Japanese artists also employed this gawa leyasu (1543-1616), warlord and some- troops of the eastern army had been lured
theme from the Muromachi period on. time ally of Hideyoshi, who had been away from Akamatsu and were thoroughly
Originally one of a set of four qin qi consolidating his military power and his beaten by the western army on the eve of
shu hua hanging scrolls, this work, on the landholdings in the east, and maneuvering the battle.
theme of painting, is the only one remain- through grants of fiefs and marriage alli- The left screen depicts Sekigahara
ing. It was handed down in the Asano fam- ances to create a daimyo coalition loyal to from the south. With leyasu's men close at
ily of daimyo of Aki Province (part of himself. their heels (panels one through three), the
present-day Hiroshima Prefecture). This The commissioner Mitsunari, who defeated troops of Mitsunari's army flee
painting, in the style of Ma Yuan (fl. c. also had formed an alliance with daimyo from their burning camps (panels two
HQO-C. 1225), the famous Southern Song loyal to the Toyotomi, attempted to through three) toward Ibukiyama (Mount
academic painter, dates to the late South- strengthen his own position by making Ibuki; panels five through eight), which
ern Song or early Yuan Dynasty. In the Toyotomi Hideyori, the young son of Hi- lies to the northeast of Ogaki Castle. Some
Muromachi period there was a particular deyoshi, his cause celebre. The struggle be- are engaged in sword-to-sword combat,
interest in the Southern Song style, and tween Mitsunari and leyasu culminated in others in spear and sword combat. In the
this work was already well known in Japan. the most famous battle in Japanese his- lower sections of panels four through six,
In the screen painting by the Muromachi tory, the Battle of Sekigahara in Gifu, on riflemen aim at the fleeing soldiers. These
painter Sesshü Tóyó (1420-1506) of the fifteenth day of the ninth month of riflemen belong to the twenty-thousand-
Flowers and Birds (cat. 96; see also cats. 1600. Mitsunari's troops, totalling approxi- man force led by the turncoat Kobaya-
88, 89), there are plum branches very simi- mately 82,000 men, comprised the western kawa, who began the battle supporting
lar to those in this painting. Furthermore, army; the eastern army, or leyasu's alli- Mitsunari and ended it, probably by prear-
the man at the left in the work exhibited ance, consisted of about 75,000 men. le- rangement, on the side of leyasu. In other
here recalls a figure in Three Teachings yasu emerged victorious from the battle to scenes in this screen, ranking warriors of
(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) by the decide the rule of the realm. Mitsunari the western army are about to commit sep-
lesser-known Sessô Tôyô (fl. c. 1460-^ fled, but later was captured and executed puku, or self-inflicted disembowelment.
1488), who was possibly a disciple of in Kyoto. This pair of screens is the largest and
Sesshü or perhaps even the same per- The right-hand screen depicts events most detailed pictorial treatment of the
son. WA of the day before the final battle from a Battle of Sekigahara, containing more
vantage point north of the village of Seki-

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