Page 225 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

hohodemi no Mikoto, who, having lost a ince (part of today's Osaka Prefecture), were subsequently removed and mounted
fishhook he had borrowed from his served Oda Nobunaga, against whom he as individual hanging scrolls, now dis-
brother, goes to the palace of the sea in or- later rebelled. The consequence of the re- persed in various collections. One of Mata-
der to look for it. There he marries Toyo- bellion was annihilation of the family by bei's seals in square intaglio, Hekishdguzu,
tama no Mikoto, who is the princess of execution. Matabei, still an infant, was is stamped at the lower left. The box t^hat
the sea god. When his return home is im- smuggled out by a wet nurse to escape the holds this painting is accompanied by a
minent, the princess asks Mikoto to build tragedy and was raised until he was about transcript of an oral history of the Kanaya
a hut on the beach, where she will be de- fifteen years old in Kyoto, reportedly un- bydbu, which says that the screens were
livered on the day when the wind is rough der the protection of the Buddhist sanctu- given to the wealthy Kanaya family of Fu-
and waves churn high. Mikoto had hardly ary of Honganji. He is said to have studied kui as a gift after about 1624 by Matsudaira
completed thatching of the roof of the hut painting with Kano Naizen (1580-1616), an Naomasa, a younger brother of Tadanao
with cormorant feathers when the prin- artist of considerable repute in genre and the castellan of Ono Castle in Echi-
cess went into labor. The princess, turning painting, which was emerging as a major zen Province, as a token of gratitude for
into a serpent, is seen by Mikoto and then art form in Kyoto. Little is known about his childhood custody by the family. The
vanishes with the newborn wrapped in Matabei's life until he was forty years old, painting accordingly can be dated to no
rushes. In the painting the infant is on the when, around 1617, he went to Echizen later than 1624.
beach, and the stunned Mikoto, his back Province (Fukui Prefecture), where he was Executed in a disciplined mode of
to the viewer, stands in front of the hut, to remain for twenty years. He established painting known as hakubyd, or plain draw-
whose roof is incompletely thatched. a reputation as a versatile painter that ing, which became fashionable as an ar-
A more elaborate narrative painting reached as far as Kyoto. In 1637, he was chaistic mode within the conservative
of this theme dating from the late twelfth summoned to Edo to produce trousseau Tosa school from the late sixteenth cen-
century was in the collection of Tan'yü's articles for a daughter of the third Toku- tury to the early decades of the seven-
patron, the third shogun, Tokugawa gawa shogun, lemitsu. He died in Edo teenth, the painting depicts a scene of
lemitsu (1604-1651). A set of two thirteen years later. elegant court ladies viewing chrysanthe-
handscrolls, originally owned by a Shinto This painting was done during Mata- mums from the rear of their carriage. The
shrine in Wakasa province (in present-day bei's mature years in Fukui, between exact narrative origin of the subject is yet
Fukui Prefecture), was presented to about 1624 and 1633. The inscription by unidentified. This work employs the tradi-
lemitsu as a gift from Sakai Tadakatsu the Zen monk Zenshitsu Sóshü (1572- tion ofyamato-e in its preoccupation with
(1587-1662), the daimyo of Wakasa, but not 1640), at one time an abbot of Daitokuji, precision and refinement in rendition,
before being copied by Kano Daigaku (fl. reads: markedly contrasting with Matabei's ink
1659), who, like Tan'yü, worked for the sho- Carrying a bag and a cane you appear painting of Hotei (cat. 132). The oblong-
gunate. Tan'yü must surely have seen the even more enlightened', shaped faces of the court ladies, with full
twelfth-century version or its copy by cheeks, are a signature feature of Mata-
Daigaku, from which this synoptic version Why do you beg with a grin on your mouth? bei's style, readily noticed in many of his
came into being. On the lower right is the Instead of wandering, lost in the works. YS
realm of
the humans.
artist's signature, Tan'yù hdgen hitsu The better it mil be the sooner
(Brushed by Tan'yü, the Eye of the Law), 134 Poet Saigyô viewing the moon
followed by two of his seals: a large circu- you go back to the Tushita Heaven. YS Iwasa Katsumochi (1578-1650)
lar relief seal, Hdgen Tan'yù; and a small hanging scroll; ink on paper
square relief seal, Tan'yù. The painting 101.3 33-° (39 / 3)
x
7 8 x 1
postdates 1638, when Tan'yü received the 133 Court ladies viewing Edo period, c. 1637
. title "Eye of the Law." YS chrysanthemums Gunma Prefectural Museum of
Iwasa Katsumochi (1578-1650) Modern Art, Gunma Prefecture
hanging scroll; ink and slight color on
132 Hotei paper Saigyó (1118-1190) was a member of the
Iwasa Katsumochi (1578-1650) 132.0 X 55.0(52 X 215/8) aristocratic Fujiwara family with a promis-
hanging scroll; ink on paper Edo period, c. 1623-1624 ing career at court. In 1140, for reasons
101.3 x 33.6 (397/s) x 13 V 4) Yamatane Art Museum, Tokyo that are not clear, he gave up his success-
Edo period, c. 1624-1633 Important Art Object ful life and took the tonsure, retiring to a
hut
in the outskirts of Kyoto and
humble
Tokyo National Museum A warrior's son, the artist Iwasa Katsu- taking up the life of a recluse, wanderer,
mochi, popularly known as Matabei (cats. and poet. He traveled extensively around
A plump, grinning dwarf of a man carrying 132,134), spent twenty years between the country, going as far north as the prov-
a cane and a bag is Hotei, an eccentric fig- about 1617 and 1637 in Echizen (Fukui Pre-
ure familiar in Zen Buddhism as a reincar- fecture), at the invitation of its ruler, Mat- ince of Mutsu (part of today's Iwate Pre-
nation of the Buddha Maitreya (cat. 80). In sudaira Tadanao, a grandson of Tokugawa fecture); Mount Yoshino and Mount
China and Japan, Hotei represents spiri- leyasu. Matabei, when he went to Fukui, Kumano are two of the many places that
tual freedom from the conventions and must have already established a reputation he celebrated in poems composed on site.
Some ninety-four poems by Saigyô are in-
rules of the world. Executed in pale ink as a major artist in Kyoto, where he had
and rendered in spontaneous brushwork, spent his earlier years. During his sojourn cluded in the Shin kokinshù, the imperial
anthology of waka compiled
by Saigyô's
the figure stands against a neutral ground. in Fukui, Matabei produced an enormous
On the lower right are stamped two seals: number of paintings, both of Japanese and younger contemporary, Fujiwara Teika.
one a small square relief seal, Ddun; the Chinese subjects and in versatile styles. In this painting by Iwasa Katsumochi,
other, a large circular relief seal, Katsu- This painting was originally pasted on or Matabei (cats. 132,133), the itinerant
mochi. The artist, Iwasa Katsumochi, is a pair of six-fold screens, known as the Ka- Saigyô, clad in monk's garb and holding a
better known as Matabei. naya along with eleven others of cane and a straw hat, is viewing the moon,
bydbu f
Matabei was born into a warrior's various themes and styles, and kept in the half hidden by a cloud. The style of this
family. His father, Araki Murashige, the Kanaya family of Fukui. All the paintings painting differs from the Hotei (cat. 132) in
castellan of Itami Castle in Settsu Prov- its descriptive features. The contours and
folds of the cassock worn by Saigyô are de-

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