Page 223 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

130 Bush clover and deer
attributed to Sakuma Sakyô
(1581-1657)
pair of four-fold screens; ink, color,
and gold leaf on paper
1
l
159 X 346.8 (02 /2 X 136 /2)
Edo period, 1628
Sendai City Museum,
Miyagi Prefecture
Important Art Object
This pair of four-fold screens is from a set
of twelve sliding door panels probably in-
stalled in a chamber of Wakabayashi Cas-
tle, completed in 1628, in southeastern
Sendai. The castle was built as a private
residence for Date Masamune (1567-1636),
daimyo of Sendai, so that he could spend
his later years in privacy, away from Sen-
dai Castle where he administered affairs of
government. The panels, now remounted
as three folding screens, depict autumn
themes of chrysanthemums, bush clover,
and deer. (The chrysanthemum screen is
not included in the exhibition.)
Opaque green, blue, and brown mo-
tifs are painted against a brilliant surface
of gold-leafed clouds, a longstanding stylis-
tic feature of yamato-e. According to the
Date clan record, this work is attributed to
Sakuma Sakyó (1581-1657), formerly of
Kyoto, a leading artist of the clan's paint-
ing bureau (edokoro). While still in his
teens, Sakyô reportedly assisted the Kyoto
painter Kano Mitsunobu (1565-1608),
known for the wall and sliding door paint-
ings that he executed in the richly colored
yamato-e style, and who worked at
Fushimi Castle from 1594 on. At that time
Date Masamune, then a vassal of Toyo-
tomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and in 1596, a
supervisor of the castle construction, rec-
ognized Sakyô's talent.
Very little is known about Sakyô and
other artists who worked under the pa-
tronage of seventeenth-century provincial
daimyo. The date when Sakyô entered
Masamune's employ is a matter of conjec-
ture, but it could have been 1601 or 1602,
when Masamune was visiting Fushimi.
The Date clan document records that Sa-
kyô was a member of a team of lacquer art-
ists and builders employed for large-scale
refurbishing and reconstruction cam-
paigns for the domain's public buildings.
Sakyô worked at Osaki Hachiman Jinja,
the Date clan shrine, in 1607; the Rinzai
Zen temple of Zuiganji at Matsushima
(cat. 117) in 1609; the Audience Hall at Sen-
dai Castle in 1610; and Wakabayashi Castle
in 1628.
Sakyô, also called Kano Sakyô, appar-
ently headed a workshop, though it had
far fewer members than the major schools
in Edo and Kyoto. The names of Sakyô's
son Gentoku, a disciple by the name of
Kurôta, and a certain Kano Sadakichi, are
recorded. Stylistically, while this painting
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