Page 81 - JAPAN THE SHAPING OFDAIMYO CULTURE 1185-1868

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Judging by the degree of realism, this por- On becoming a Buddhist monk, he took an able administrator as well as fighter,
trait is likely to have been painted during the name Sóun'an Sotan. His career and the house laws known as 'Twenty-one
Toshikage's lifetime or soon after his closely paralleled that of his contemporary, Articles of Sôunjidono" reflect his deter-
death. Asakura Toshikage (cat. 13): beginning as a mination to preserve his descendants from
The portrait has been at Shingetsuji, daimyo's retainer, he proceeded to seize the kind of overthrow that had made him
a temple founded by Toshikage in Ichijó- land and usurp power wherever the occa- a daimyo. (Sôunjidono is a posthumous
dani, which later became the mortuary sion permitted, controlling Izu and Sagami title taken from Hójó Sóun's mortuary
temple of the Asakura family. provinces (Shizuoka and Kanagawa prefec- temple.)
tures) from Odawara before he died. His In this powerful portrayal, Hójó Sóun
14 Hójó Sóun son and grandson continued the work, and sits barefooted on a raised tatami mat,
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk the Later Hójó (to distinguish them from wearing a hoi (priest's robe) and kern (Zen
93.5x50.7(367/8x20) the Hójó regents of the Kamakura period) priest's stole) over a warrier's robe, holding
Muromachi period, early loth century ruled the Kantó region until their over- a chùkei (a type of folding fan) in his right
throw by Hideyoshi in 1590. hand and clenching his left. The facial ex-
Sôunji, Kanagawa Prefecture Like Asakura Toshikage, Hójó Sóun pression reveals the resolute nature of the
Important Cultural Property was a ruthless and treacherous man, but sitter. This portrait was probably painted
The warrior Hójó Sóun (1432-1519) first in Sôun's lifetime, after he became a
went by the name Ise Shinkuró Nagauji. priest, or else soon after his death. AY

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