Page 185 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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screen current in the seventeenth century, 107 Dog-chasing event archery form, the way they handled their
focused solely on the horses. The front of attributed to Kano Sanraku (1559-1635) horses, and their success in hitting a dog.
the stable is marked by a row of curtainlike pair of six-fold screens; ink, color, and Other men were responsible for releasing
pieces of cloth, dyed dark blue in the lower gold on paper the dog within the ring, handling the dogs
half. These are noren that hang above the each 152.0 x 348.5 (597/8 x 137*/$) to be used later in the event, and record-
entrance to each stable. The horses, all Momoyama period, ing the scores from their post within the
well groomed, are tied by two reins, the late i6th-early iyth century nikkijo, a roofed enclosure at one end of
ends of which are fastened to metal rings the playing field. Important spectators also
imbedded in posts. A thick, braided rope Tokiwayama Bunko, sat in the nikkijo, while others would
with a fluted pattern hangs from above Kanagawa Prefecture watch from outside the fenced precinct.
and goes around each horse's belly (save Important Cultural Property The earliest textual reference to
the horse in panel seven). This is a hará- inuoumono known is found in the Azuma
hake, used to prevent the horse from lying The rise and maturation of the Japanese kagami, a historical compliation of the late
on its belly and from violent movements. warrior class were accompanied by the de- thirteenth century comprising both pri-
The rope's ends (here invisible) are tied to velopment of activities reflecting the con- vate and shogunal records. It describes an
two horn-shaped projections on the lateral cern with military skill and social conduct event that took place in the south garden
beam. Gold clouds cover the right half of befitting a warrior. Among the sports con- of the shogun's residence, with the young
mounted
tests that incorporated
archery
the roof, the left half of the veranda, and a lord in attendance. A number of documen-
part of the totomi-matted space. Behind were yabusame, kasakage, and inuoumono, tary references to inuoumono are known
the stable grow disproportionately large illustrated here. In yabusame and kasakage from the ensuing Muromachi period and,
bamboo trees, a decorative device. archers on galloping horses shot at immo- despite an imperial edict in 1350 that tem-
bile and inanimate targets. In inuoumono,
The right screen shows stylistic ele- porarily banned it, texts were written on
ments that are close to the work of Kano the targets were live dogs. this popular sport. Different schools es-
Inuoumono consisted of two distinct
Mitsunobu (1565-1608) around 1600, espe- phases of activity, nawa no inu, the "dog poused different methods for conducting
cially in the tree motifs and their spatial inuoumono. One event in 1489 included
handling. These screens, therefore, may inside the rope," and soio no inu, the "dog the participation of thirty-six archers in
date from the first decade of the seven- outside the rope." In nawa no inu, a group three teams of twelve, which seems to
of mounted archers waited just outside a
teenth century. Mitsunobu was already an have been standard, and more than one
important artist of the Kano school as large circle marked by a thick rope. At the hundred and fifty dogs. A decrease in doc-
early as 1581 when he and his father, center of the circle was a smaller circle of umentary evidence of inuoumono from
Eitoku, were employed by Oda Nobunaga sand. A dog was released inside the sand the end of the Muromachi period through
to decorate the interiors of his Azuchi Cas- ring, and as it crossed over the rope the early Edo period probably reflects a
boundary, the archers would try to hit it
tle. It was in this same year that Nobunaga decline in its popularity, though in the
held a grand dressage of his several hun- with blunt large-headed arrows. When the middle Edo period a revival in interest
dog passed into the area outside the
circle,
dred horses, which was viewed by the em- seems to have occurred. For example, a
peror Ogimachi. These screens, especially the contest would shift to the soio no inu grand event was organized by the Shi-
archers
phase, in which the mounted
the one on the right, no doubt reflect mazu family on the seventh day of the
memories of that great event on a modest chased the dog and attempted to strike it fourth month of 1646.
scale. YS with the blunt arrows. These proceedings The earliest depictions of inuoumono,
were closely observed by the kenmi, a
judge who rated the contestants on their
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