Page 213 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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izo Flowers and Birds of the Four placed in the outer lower corners of the 122 Autumn flowers and grasses
Seasons screens. The combined style of yamato-e attributed to Kano Eitoku (1543-1590)
Studio of Kano Motonobu (1476-1559) and kanga is a specialty of Kano Mo- pair of two-fold screens; ink, color, and
pair of six-fold screens; ink, color, and tonobu and his studio. A recent study has gold leaf on paper
gold leaf on paper firmly attributed this work to Motonobu's each 175.0 x 198.4 (70 x 793/8)
each 158.2 x 355.6 (62 v^ x 140) studio and dated it to the first half of the Momoyama period, i6th century
Muromachi period, first half of i6th sixteenth century. It is a precursor of the Imperial Household Collection
century Imperial Household screens from the late
YS
sixteenth century (cat. 122).
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Tokyo This set of screens originally formed part
of a series of sliding-door panels on the
This extraordinary pair of screens in gold 121 Pine and cherry trees theme of autumn flowers and grasses or
and colors represents flowers, birds, and sliding door panels, ink, color and flowers of the four seasons. The screens,
insects of the four seasons. Set in a lan- gold leaf on paper probably owned by the Hachijo no Miya
guorously spreading space, their world each 184.0 x 138.0 (72^2 x 543/8) family, are not contiguous, indicating that
takes the form of an idealized garden—a Momoyama period, c. 1615 they were not adjoining in the original se-
paradise—sprawling from right to left. Al- quence of panels.
though the two screens are not continu- Myôrenji, Kyoto In the center of the right screen rise
ous, seasonal progression is indicated. Important Cultural Property tall blades of pampas grass, chrysanthe-
Spring and summer flowers dominate the Cherry trees blossoming deep in the mums, fujibakama (purple trousers), and
right screen, while autumn and winter mountains, unknown to anyone, and pine bellflowers. The weathered rocks typical
flowers are depicted on the left screen. trees are heavily painted on a gold back- of Kano painting are at the bottom, and at
The cascade feeding into the pond is asso- ground. The style employed to describe the top, a glimpse of distant mountains
ciated with spring and summer, while the the rocks and trees indicates that this is through the clouds. On the left screen are
snow-capped mounds announce winter. the work of an artist of the school founded more rocks, a range of distant hills, and
An encylopedic array of some twenty-four by Hasegawa Tohaku (1539-1610). chrysanthemums and ivy turning red in
different flowers and grasses and thirty- The bold composition, with branches the autumn chill. Beyond the hills are dis-
one birds native to Japan populates this extending beyond the frames of the four tant snow-covered peaks.
garden, which is more like a man-made sliding door panels, would suggest that this Although this painting has tradition-
palace garden or the interior of an aviary work dates from the mid-Momoyama pe- ally been attributed to Kano Eitoku, writ-
than a natural landscape. riod. The history of Myôrenji indicates ten evidence documenting the making of
The screens are known as kinbydbu, that the painting may be properly placed new sliding door paintings for the recon-
or "gold screens," a term that was in cur- toward the end of the period, though. The struction of the Hachijo no Miya resi-
rency from around 1440. Decorative in temple was moved to its present location dence in 1599 suggests that the artist
function, these screens were in great de- in 1587, and rebuilt during the Keichó era might have been Eitoku's younger
mand in Japan, and they were exported to (1596-1615), with construction completed brother, Sóshü (1551-1601). The gold clouds
Ming China in the sixteenth century. in the fifth month of 1615. These paintings and gold ground and the elegance of the
They were also used by the shogunal fam- probably date from the time of the Keichó composition are typical of Sóshü's man-
ily at funeral services because of the para- reconstruction, probably around 1615, ner. In terms of technique and style, how-
disal associations evoked by them. when the generation of younger artists ever, an argument can be made for
This work is executed in yamato-e, the who succeeded Tôhaku were active. MS attributing the paintings to Eitoku's son
indigenous mode of painting character- Mitsunobu (c. 1565-1608). AY
ized by details rendered in opaque colors
and conceptualized forms. But there are
features of the Chinese kanga mode of
painting, as in the descriptive forms of
flowers and tactile shapes of the rocks

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