Page 141 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

76
Helmet in a landscape form

Iron, lacquer, and silver leaf
!
Height of helmet bowl 34.3 (i3 /2)
National Museum of Japanese History,
Chiba

• This extravagant helmet with two
curved lateral pieces is in the form
called mnotcmi (two valleys), alluding
to an earlier helmet known as ichino-
tani (one valley). In 1184 the Genji clan
140
won a victory over the Heike clan at
Ichinotani, where the Heike were
attacked from three sides. The most
decisive action was an unexpected
descent down a precipitous moun-
tainside into the valley by Minamoto
no Yoshitsune (1159-1189) and a force
of local Genji warriors. An earlier ver-
sion of the helmet, having a single
large silvered section curved vertically
with the hollow side forward, was
owned by Kuroda Nagamasa (1568-
1623), the lord of Chikuzen province,
who wore it at the battle of Sekiga-
hara in 1600. The helmet seen here is
covered with silver leaf, which natu-
rally tarnishes black. VH

77
Tsubaki Chinzan (1801 -1854)
Portrait of Sato Issai
1841
76
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
7
124.2 x 54.5 (48 /s x 2172)
Tokyo National Museum
75 This piece is inscribed "Namu Amida • The subject of this painting, Sato
Helmet with symbolic tower butsu," the invocation of the Pure Issai (1772 -1859), was a samurai
Land Buddhist sect, and it is pierced
Eighteenth century with a Sanskrit character. A crest with of the Iwamura domain in Mino
Iron, wood, and lacquer the Japanese character tsuchi (ground) province. As a prominent scholar, he
Height of helmet bowl 16.9 (6Vs) appears on both sides. Although the was appointed by the government
Kyoto National Museum to be a lecturer in the Shoheiko
tower appears unwieldy, it is a light school of Confucian studies in 1841.
Illustrated page 28 construction of wood covered with a The artist, Tsubaki Chinzan, a pupil
"corroded-effect" lacquer (sabinuri) ofWatanabe Kazan (1793-1841),
• This helmet is surmounted by a with gold dust, and it would not be who specialized in both portraits and
symbolic Buddhist tower, which is uncomfortable to wear. The helmet flower-and-bird paintings, was com-
usually made of five parts to repre- was made for a devout Buddhist, Mat- missioned in 1851 to paint this por-
sent the five cosmic elements: earth, sudaira Sadamoto (1686-1759). VH trait of Issai and another of his wife
water, fire, wind, and nothingness as a pair of hanging scrolls. The real-
or ultimate reality (mu). In Esoteric ism of the study makes this dignified
Buddhism three or five such forms portrait a worthy celebration of the
may be related to the human body subject's seventieth year. VH
and are also used for tombstones.