Index 1, Introduction 3 2, The origin of the term 5 3, Funpon for learning 7 3,1 The learning curriculum in the Kobikicho Kano workshop 7 3,2 Shitsu-ga and Gaku-ga 8 , Funpon for painting production 13 4,1 The succession of motifs and styles 14 4,2 The succession of motifs and styles on the commission of large scale 16 4,2,1 The nature of funpon produced at the reconstruction of Edo castle 16 4,2,2 The visual customary at the shogunal edifice 18 4,2,3 The images as symbol 21 , The accumulation of funpon 23 5,1 Osanobu’s effort 24 5,2 Kobikicho’s collection policy 26 6, Conclusion 28 1, Introduction ?It is impossible to find more vigorous painting school in the history of Japanese art other than the Kano school which has dominated the art scene for four hundred years from the middle of the Muromachi period to the end of the Edo period.
Kano painters have extended their predominance, serving the most influential rulers of the times as official painter, Goyo eshi. Motonobu, Eitoku, Sanraku and Tanyu have been main figures who produced works that represent the Kano school. Although the school has kept their long lasting prestigious position, the Kano painters have changed their style in accordance with the preference of their patrons. The Kano school saw the culmination of the institutional flourisher in the Edo period. In the second half of seventeenth century, the several branch family lines were extended from the main house.
The vast network of Kano-trained painters encompassed not only shogunal painters but also those employed by regional clans, as well as low-ranking town painters, who worked as an independent painter. By the mid eighteenth century, new position oku-eshi was assigned for some of the head of the main houses. Oku is a notion that implies the possession of the right to have an audience with shogun. Even oku-eshi painters were permitted to carry sword. This fact would mean that the heads of Kano painters became samurai.
However, while the painters of the Kano school in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are often said to have reached its zenith of influence and productivity, their stance toward its art, especially of the works made by painters after Tanyu, has been evaluated in negative tone at one time, in spite of their organizational success at that time. In the Kano school in the Edo period, only a few painters has been taken up with significance, namely Tanyu, the founder of so-called Edo Kano, Naonobu, Tanyu’s younger brother, and Tsunenobu, the son of Naonobu, then suddenly jump to Kano Hogai.
The established view for the Kano school from the mid to late Edo period, propagated by scholars would be well exemplified in Kobayashi Tadashi’s insistence. “The Kano and Tosa schools established its absolute position as goyoeshi the official painters of Bakufu after the end of seventeenth century, since the status of school was warranted by the hereditary system. At the same time, the unenterprising conservatism of the ruling class infiltrated into the art of the official schools. Copying the paintings of masters in the past by using ‘funpon’ pictorial model was the most harmful malady of the conservatism in creating art. And he positioned Kano school as the group of painters which lost creative motivation and fell into vacant formalism. Similar view was claimed by Matsuki Hiroshi. He strongly accused of the Kano school’s training method which prioritized the repetitive copying of funpon as the culprit that ruined the creativity of the Kano painters. Even he described painters of the Kano school in 18th and early 19th centuries as “a ruined artist’s group who forgot art”. Here the both scholars denounced the use of funpon as main problem, which deprived creativity and originality from the painters and their works.
However, is it possible to be the reason why those “formalized works” were left untended? Moreover, it is doubtful whether present criterion to evaluate art can be applied for art of the pre-modern period, especially in the matter of creativity and originality. From Janet Wolff’s insistence, it seems quite new that the perspective of which art works have to be creative was given birth. She argued that “essentially, artistic work and other practical work are similar activities. All, in the long run, have been affected by the capitalist mode of production and the social and economic relation thereof.
For historical reasons, artistic work came to be seen as distinct, and as really ‘creative’, as work in general increasingly lost its character as free. ” The negative view for the Kano school might also have been related to the trend of thought in Japan. There was suggestive situation as to the evaluation of Kano school paintings in antique market after the Second World War. It is said that the group of paintings whose prices was declined most after the war was that of the Kano painters active after Tanyu.
Art historian Kano Hiroyuki pointed out that the thought of post-war academic circles influenced the slump of Kano paintings in the market. He insists that Japanese military regime which was denounced for promoting war that devastated the country was overlapped with the Tokugawa ruling system as agent oppressing commoners. Thereafter the price of Kano paintings in the Edo period have never rose again. To some scholar’s eyes, uncanniness colored with dark and heavy shadow is sensed from the pine tree depicted on the wall of Nijo castle.
It is certain that Kano school appreciated copying funpon as main method to create their works. However, Kano painters seem to have produced and used funpon based on their certain value. In this essay, by examining the role of funpon within the Kano school, I will question whether the Kano painters in the Edo period was a bunch of spoiled painters being content with the position of goyoeshi. Especially the Kobikicho Kano family that was the most powerful branch from the mid Edo period onward will be featured. In doing so, the artistic stance of the Kano school in the Edo period will become clear.
This essay can be divided into three main parts. In the chapter three and four, the functions of funpon in creating the Kano paintings will be examined from different angles. In the chapter five, the fact that possessing high quality and good amount of funpon was connectable to the prosperity of the school will be examined by overviewing the attitude of the Kobikicho painters toward collecting funpon. 2, The origin of the term There was a term called funponshugi (???? ), the meaning is literally funponism, coined by Japanese art historians.
The term has been used to try to define negatively the attitude of the Kano school, like the insistences as I stated in the introduction, on the production of painting from the modern perspective of “art”. The word ‘funpon’ itself refers to the technique of using a pure white, gessolike pigment called gofun (?? ), which is made of calcium carbonate extracted from burned shell, to trace the picture serving as model. A piece of paper is set over the model picture, and the critical portions are traced with the white gofun, using dotting and similar notation technique.
The use of gofun rather than ink is to prevent the model underneath from potential staining should the pigment bleed through. After making copy with gofun, painter lifts the tracing paper off the model and sets it to the side. Then copy is completed by painting directly over the white guide marks as looking at the original for reference. For gofun was used when correcting miss brushing and unsettled image on rough drawing which is painted with ink, the primary draft also called funpon.
However, there seem to be multiple connotations in the term, ‘funpon’ other than its original meaning apart from the use of gofun. The word seems to have used differently depending on different contexts. There were several terms such as e-tehon, shita-e, shukuzu and mohon were often treated under the same appellation, ‘funpon’. The common element for those terms is that they are relating to ‘copying’ images to certain formats in some way. Those seem to have been significant meaning for the Kano school to create new production of art.
Here through the painting compendiums written by the Kano school artists and others, I will try to shape the notion of funpon in connection with the stance of the Kano school, especially of the Kobikicho family, on the production of their paintings. 3, Funpon for learning 3,1 The learning curriculum in the Kobikicho Kano workshop One of the founders of the new Japnese art in Meiji Japan, Hashimoto Gaho once belonged to the Kobikicho Kano family. His article “Kobikicho edokoro” published in the journal Kokka reveals the training curriculum adopted in the Kobikicho Kano workshop in great detail.
According to the article, repetitive copying of painting models was the vital part of learning. Kano disciples were required to master the painting method through copying a series of model images. Several kinds of funpon produced by the Kobikicho masters were used as the model images. In the case of child of painter, training is begun by painting objects with simple shapes, such as melons or eggplant. The next stage was three handscroll of model books, so-called sankanmono (??? ) consisting of a total of thirty-six pieces of paintings bird and flower, landscape, and human figures.
The sankanmono was prepared by the seventh head of the Kobikicho family, Yosenin Korenobu (????? ). Students who entered the workshop from outside, like Gaho, already possessed technical abilities beyond level required for the sankanmono. The beginning of the practice for Gaho was copying the Okashi gahon (????? ), five handscrolls compiling sixty pieces of paintings of landscapes and human figures, made by the second head of the Kobikicho family, Tunenobu (?? ). Three of these scrolls were lent to the students for the purpose of copying.
Copying the Okashi gahon took about one and a half years. Subsequently students mastered Tunenobu’s twelve drawings of bird and flower, it took half year. Then the progressed to the icimai mono, a series of single sheet compositions copied from famous old painters of both Chinese and Japanese such as Li Gonglin (??? ), Xia Gui (?? ), Ma Yuan (?? ), Sessu, Motonobu and Eitoku. These models focused on human figures. The final stage in the Kobikicho training program was copies of Tanyu’s Kenojo no Soji (???? , the sliding doors in the Throne Hall (??? ). Chinese sages from the three dynasties (? ? ? ) to the Tang dynasty were depicted on the sliding doors. Hashimoto Gaho inclusively called those painting models as funpon in the article. The students preserved all these images copied from the painting models and compiled them to funpon format. Those newly created funpons were used again when students went back to their hometown after the graduation. Therefore those images used for the training of Kano painters spread to all over Japan.
Gaho insisted that the training method of the Kano school was ‘copying’ from the beginning to the end and, he introduced the story of a painter who gave up being painter when his funpon collection was burnt out by a fire. Gaho stated this article on the purpose to point out the downside in fostering painter’s originality in producing painting. This story was enough to make some present scholars evaluate the Kano school painters in the latter part of the Edo period as “the painters facing the danger of oblivion from the art history”. 3,2 Shitsu-ga and Gaku-ga
The training method for students seen in Kobikicho edokoro seems to have been historically established way to learn painting in the Kano school in the Edo period. There are several written evidences that legitimate copying funpon as the main method to practice painting. It would be certain that Gado yoketsu (???? ) written by Kano Yasunobu, the head of the main Kano family in the seventeenth century, can be exemplified as the Kano school’s main canon. After Tanyu set out the new style of art which solidified the family’s high standing in the painting world, Yasunobu would have felt necessity to make sure the school’s success.
Therefore he made a secret book descended exclusively to the disciples, that is, his treatise, Gado yoketsu written in 1680, that determined the nature of the school’s art throughout the rest of the Edo period, and at the same time as a document which exemplifies the less “creative” nature of the Kano school art at that time. In the preface of the school’s manifestation, there is the statement by which the use of funpon was destined to be the central training method of the school. “In painting there is both substance and learning.
What is called substance (? ) is the innate talent with which one is born. Learning (? ) is when one studies and applies oneself to the way of painting, attaining mastery over the art. (text partly omitted) In general, paintings produced by talent are no match for those produced through training. In my family tradition, it is said that the subtlety of paintings created through innate talent (? ) is truly remarkable. But while valued, it is difficult as a method (? ) for future generations.
Although the pinnacle of learning can be transmitted only through intense suffering, it is an immutable way, fully transmittable to future generations who will receive it, and nothing will be lost. The way of training remains for posterity, through both oral and written means. Thus, painting begins with method (? ) and regards sublime talent (? ) as secondary. Because it is difficult to appreciate the ways of the ancients appropriately without fully mastering their methods, we should refine our discussion of painting and make contemplation of the high level of artisanship of the past our goal. ”
From this statement, it is clear that Yasunobu’s major concern was to preserve the certain artistic form of the school through long and arduous study in the family’s secret techniques so that they might credibly continue the workshop’s production. However, it is said that his insistence is not unique. Moreover it does not seem to be of his own making. Articles from nearly ten Chinese painting compendiums such as Rekidai meigaki (????? ) and Shanshui Chunquanji (????? ) were adopted for Gado yoketsu. Several those early Chinese texts took a similar stance on the issues of training and innate talent by using virtually the same words.
The writer of Shanshui Chunquanji, Northern Song court painter, Han Zhuo put emphasis on learning methods of ancient and insisted that How does one transmit the least remains of the ancients or arrive at the secrets of former sages? “No one has ever become skilled by not studying. “How true are these words! Generally, a scholar should first adhere to one school’s fixed methods. Then after he has successfully mastered them, he may change them to create his own style……Accordingly, it is study that leads to the creation of the “marvelous” and to the perfection of purity in art.
Other example which Yasunobu adopted for his Godo yoketsu is the six principles for the production and appreciation of painting, which can be seen in Xie He’s (?? ) painting compendium, Guhuapinlu (???? ) written in the Nau Qi dynasty period (?? ) (479~502). Yasunobu defined one of the six principles, Denmo isha (???? ), as “the transmission of image, or while watching the image of preeminent predecessor, copying the image to own work by following his brushing method. ” It seems certain that funpon was medium to put the thought proclaimed in Gado yoketsu into practice. Gasen (?? is a treatise written by the Kano school Goyoeshi for Chikuzen naokata clan, Hayashi Moriatsu. This document follows the essential thought of Gado yoketsu, the issue of shitsu (? ) and gaku (? ). In Gasen, Denmo isha was mentioned in connection with the use of funpon. “Denmo isha ; borrowing picture book, e-hon, from teacher, student must copy and preserve it as vital treasure. This is so-called funpon. On learning painting, copying funpon is the primary matter. When one does not have funpon, it is impossible to learn and connoisseur painting. One can be eminent painter by possessing funpon, and acquire kaku (? , the certain level of exquisiteness, by copying funpon. ” This insistence was repeated in Tosa Mitsuoki’s Honcho gahotaidenn (?????? ). Strong brush stroke is one of the important features of the Kano school painting. According to the other section of Gasen, this brushing method was also learned through training using funpon. “The primary aim of gako (?? ) is the production of ink paintings, which goes over every other matters such as coloring. First of all, memorize the images of ink paintings by copying the funpon repetitively with burnt brush on paper worked with Dosa (?? (for preventing blotting)…… Then, take care of brushing momentum not to lose power of brush. Although it is difficult to acquire when one is beginner, several year’s training will make it expertise naturally. ” Even, Hashimoto Gaho who criticized the nature of the Kano school as too much relying on funpon prized this training method for acquiring brushing proficiency. Through the repetitive creation of copies, a student learned the brush styles of earlier painters, how to handle the object being depicted, and how to arrange the central elements of a composition with the incidental details that fill out a scene.
When copying particularly famous work, a student would learn about the balance of its firm composition and the delicate harmonies created in its shades of ink. A student would also learn a wide variety of compositional forms through this process. This training was indispensable for goyoeshi painters who had to assure a certain level of accomplishment in their commissions as official painters. In later chapters, importance of the training method will be revealed in connection with tne nature of official commission.
From these statements, funpon seems to have played important role on learning painting and the term seems to have been used with the meaning not only of draft drawing delineated by white shell powder but also of ‘painting model’ on which image was transmitted from original paintings. It is worth noticing that not only the Kano school, but the Tosa school also attached much importance to funpon. This concept of funpon as learning material seems to be adopted in Kyo kano as well. In the fourth volume of Honchogashi (???? ), after Kano Eino (???? stated the painting method bequeathed to the Kano school for mountain and river, human figure, and flower and bird, he mentioned funpon that “I will confirm that the funpons descended in our family over generations are copied and compiled in the three volumes of hand scroll to give them to the firstborn son Eikei. ” Here it is suggested that there are two definitions of funpon, one is painted by earlier painters and the other is copied by the painter himself Learning how to paint from funpon painting models has come to seem almost synonymous with the Kano school.
However, as the statement of Chinese painting compendiums and Tosa Mitsuoki’s Honcho gahotaiden suggest, this method of training disciples was by no means rare for many pre-modern painters other than the Kano school. Moreover, careful training in family traditions was already recognized in Japan as a tried and true method of transmission among hereditary artisan groups. Craftman, performers, sculptors and calligraphers transmitted their works from one generation to the next by carefully guarding and preserving their secret training methods for centuries.
Yoshida Kenko (???? ) (1283~1350) insisted in his Tsurezuregusa (??? ) that the essence of art, ‘Gei’ (? ) is not to express artist’s subjectivity, but arts of high quality were created from suppressed self put into certain artistic forms. Therefore learning on certain forms of art, which would be the suppression of subjectivity, is essential process for artistic expression. Kenko also mentioned that the learning for proficiency in certain forms of art was also regarded as necessity for establishment of artist’s personality. That is to say, the ttempts to create good works and to train one’s mind were combined together. Therefore, for Kenko, to follow certain artistic form would have had the meaning more than the formalization of art works. This Kenko’s insistence seems to share the essence with Yasunobu’s Gado yoketsu. It is worth noticing that Yasunobu also explained the importance of training one’s mind on painting. Therefore the educational principle on which the Kano school in the Edo period was stood had existed in Japan at least since the late Kamakura period.
The reason why the relationship between Kano school and funpon has often been controversial would be in the fact that the Kano school’s central policy exemplified in Gado yoketsu and the educational curriculum was connected to the systematic study of funpon, and funpon were also used by teacher to hand on his essentially “copyrighted” images to his chosen disciples or lineage. 4 Funpon for painting production In the former chapter, it became clear that the term funpon can be defined as transmitted pictures of original painting used as main training material for disciples.
Other major use of funpon is directly relating to the production of painting, that is, funpon was used as reference works when making preparatory drawing for commissions, as, in Kosodhu (??? ), Kano Ikkei quoted the insistence of Xia Wenyan(??? ), painter in the Yuan dynasty as that funpon is reference works of ancient masters. Painters examined their collections of sketches of original paintings or drawings made from copybooks to construct new compositions. Elements extracted from various funpon were combined and made adjustments to produce new preparatory drawings.
It is worth noticing that this method for creating new painting was common at that time, let alone for the Kano school in the Edo period whose main painting principle was to succeed its immutable tradition. 4,1 The succession of motifs and styles The folding screen, Kiri-houozu (?????? ) (1) attributed to Tanyu is an example of which its style was succeeded by painters of later generations by using same funpon through the Edo period. This folding screen was reproduced by the second head of the Takegawacho (Kohikicho) Kano family, Tsunenobu (?? ) (2) and the eighth head of the family Isenin Naganobu (????? ) (3).
On the right screen of Tanyu’s, a brace of phoenixes which have five colour feather and its young bird are placed. On its left side, a brace of white feather phoenixes looking each other are placed. Tsunenobu generally succeeded the motifs and composition except some minor changes such as the direction of phoenix in the air and the shape of paulownia branches. Naganobu produced two screens both seem to take the motifs and composition from Tanyu’s Kiri-houozu. One is the screen exemplified in the illustration titled Kirimatsu-houozu (????? ). Other is preserved in Honenin (??? ) and has almost same image of Tanyu’s one.
Here, although the postures of phoenixes are succeeded from Tanyu’s one, the tree on the right side was replaced with pine tree and the paulownia on the left side was stuck out to the rightward. In accordance with the brunch of the paulownia, the phoenix in the air was also moved to the rightward. The most remarkable change would be that the stream in the center was removed, and, as the result, each motif was stood out. This Tanyu’s folding screen seems to have been produced on the wedding for the fourth shogun Ietsuna in 1657. Phoenix, Houou (?? ), is one of the four divine animals together with Byakko (?? , Genbu (?? ) and Seiryo (?? ). It is said that this auspicious bird will appear, when the reign of the ruler is exerted effectively to make the country peace. According to Sakakibara Satoru, painting featuring pair of houou is relatively rare, comparing with just one or more than two of them. Furthermore Tanyu seems to have made distinctions of the phoenix’s appearances that would suggest difference between female and male with the young bird between them on the right side of the screen. From these facts, the image of the folding screens has utmost suitability for the wedding ritual of Tokugawa shogun family.
As far as these screens were produced to decorate the ceremonial occasion of the rulings family of the time, it would be necessary to follow the certain established from, that is to say, the formality endorsed by the historically established connotations, such as the motifs originated from Chinese mythology, seems to have been the main factor. From this aspect, the deviation from the original form would not make sense. The succession of certain form was the major concern for the official painters as Yasunobu appreciated the immutable style of art over generations as the crucial function of the school in his Gadoyoketsu.
Therefore here, funpon was very medium to make shogun family’s self representation possible through several generations. The sliding door painted by Kano Eitoku Tachinobu (?????? ), the head of the Nakabashi Kano family in the end of the Edo period, is bequeathed to Kuonji (??? ) in Mt Minobu (??? ) (4). The most parts of the motifs and composition in this flower and bird painting were taken from Kachozu (??? ) in Daisenin (??? ) produced by Ko-hogen Kano Motonobu. Tachinobu firmly tried to implement the Kano family’s aesthetic ground, succession of the certain form, even in the changing atmosphere surrounding painters of pre-modern period.
According to his son Tadanobu, “these days, Fenollosa is intending to promote the birth of new artistic creation in Japanese art by employing Hogai largely. However, my father is disagreeable to the movement and admonished me all through the night not to commit the Hogai style. ” 4,2 The succession of motifs and styles on the commission of large scale As the famous phrase of the Edo period suggest, conflagrations have often swept the Edo cityscape away. Needless to say, after disaster, as the demand of builders such as daubers and carpenters increased, many numbers of painters would also have been mobilized.
Governmental facilities such as castles, palaces and mausoleums were not the exception in terms of being the victim of catastrophe. Through the Edo period, Edo castle has been damaged by fire several times. In the Tenpo era, the Edo castle was faced big fire two times. The Nishi no maru was lost in the first fire in the first year of the Tenpo era (1830), and the Honmaru was burnt in the last year of the era (1844). It is not difficult to imagine that vast number of paintings was necessary whenever such huge buildings were rebuilt and only the Kano school has the scale of organization to be able to deal with the commission.
Let alone Kano oku-eshi painters, omote-eshi painters and other painters were called up. It is said that the number of painters who engaged in the reconstruction was 135 only from oku-eshi painters and their disciples. 4,2,1 The nature of funpon produced at the reconstruction of Edo castle Although any works painted in Edo castle is not extant today, the huge number of the draft paintings (funpon) is still remaining, which were prepared for rebuilding the interior decoration of the political and residential edifice which was lost in the Tenpo era. acing the disastrous loss, Seisenin Osanobu (????? ), the eighth head of the Kohikicho Kano family, was the main figure who prepared those drafts, supported by his son Shosenin Tadanobu (????? ). The draft paintings which Osanobu made can be divided into three categories that are moto-shitae (??? ), primary rough drawing with ink, and ko-shitae (??? ), detailed colored image which is the epitome of finished work, and O-shitae (??? ), magnified draft which is same size with the finished work. Ko-shitae also has a function as reference for the patron, called ukagai-shitae (??? , in order to reflect requests from shogun and its feudatories in the finished work. The moto-shitae and ko-shitae were compiled in 264 hand scrolls. It is said that, through the Edo period, whenever the wall paintings (??? ) in Edo castle were lost by disasters, the images of the repainted ones normally follow the preceding examples painted in the interior before burnt down. That is to say, the succession of image has also done in this huge scale of the commission. By examining those draft paintings and the articles from Osanobu’s official diary, Koyonikki (???? ), it is possible to trace the fact.
Among the bunch of those ko-shitaes, there are works made before the conflagrations happen. According to, Koyonikki, when the Nishi no maru burnt down in 1830, Osanobu visited the Grand Audience Hall of the Honmaru to see the painting style of the huge pine tree (??? ) (5) and copied it as ko-shitae. Although Osanobu had intended to use the copy of the huge pine tree as reference for producing the wall painting in the Nishi no maru, due to the burning of the Honmaru itself in 1844, the copy could fully contribute to repaint the huge pine tree on the wall of the main hall in the Honmaru at the reconstruction.
Furthermore in Koyonikki, there are evidences that the images in the past were directly used for the reconstruction. The works of the Kano masters in the early Edo period seems to have been used as reference. Thirty four sliding door paintings attributed to Tanyu and Yasunobu, which had been produced at the reconstruction of the Manji era (1658~1661), was still preserved at that time. Osanobu borrowed them for nine month as reference for his new production. This fact seems to be supported by the script tating “preserved Tanyu painting” which can be seen on the attachment on the ukagai-shitaes for the images in the big hall of the Nishi no maru. As another example of the reuse of works in the past, there are the series of the ko-shitae depicting the images of falcony. They were produced for the wall paintings in the Ooku shinzashiki (????? ) of the Nishi no maru. The scripts attached on those ko-shitaes indicate that the images of falcony had originally been produced at the reconstruction in the Manji era, then in the middle of the Edo period, they were repaired by Eisenin Michinobu (????? ).
Osanobu adopted the Michinobu version of the images of falcony and copied them as reference for the Tenpo reconstruction. 4,2,2 The visual customary at the shogunal edifice At the Tenpo reconstruction of Edo castle, the certain subjects were distributed to each chamber in accordance with the functions of the chamber. Osanobu’s ko-shitae drafts help us to shape the image of the interior of the castle. Generally the chambers in the Omotemuki block (?? ) which is the public sector of the complex were decorated with auspicious images in kara-yo, Chinese styles, for example, the image of the huge pine tree (5) and suihan sanyu (???? with crane were distributed to ohiroma (??? ), the Grand Audience Hall for official ceremony at the entrance. The subject of the wall paintings in the shiro-shoin (??? ), which was used as administration office by such high rank vassals as roju and wakadoshiyori, was mainly the scenes taken from Dijian tushuo (???? ) Mirror for instructing the emperor, that is, the motifs of the Chinese virtuous rulers. The kuro-shoin (??? ), the inmost chamber of the Omotemuki block, was adorned with the images of Chinese mountain and water, kara-sansuizu.
Here again, the motifs from Chinese literati culture were widely adopted as medium to express shogun’s authority. It is said that the distribution of each motif in the chambers of the Omotemuki block corresponds to the article of Honchogashi. In the section of “Standards and methods inherited in the Kano family for painting walls and sliding doors”, the same genres of painting in the same places with those seen in Osanobu’s drafts are indicated. In addition, the same tendency in the distribution of image can be seen in the interior of the Honmaru of the Nagoya castle built in 1612.
On the other hand, the chambers for private use were adorned with Yamato-e styles or subtly colored ink paintings in order to produce cozy atmosphere and the element of four seasons become more important. Although the fundamental subjects of the wall paintings in the castle of the Tokugawa family were indicated by the conventional practice, its details seem to have often been changed by the patrons, namely shogun and his surroundings. They examine ukagai-shitae submitted by the official painter and order for correction in accordance with their preference.
Yet again, Osanobu’s Koyonikki and his draft paintings contribute to shape the idea of the relation between the patrons and their painters. According to the section of sixth of July in 1838 in Koyonikki, the eleventh shogun Ienari returned the group of ukagai-shitae compiled in twelve hand scrolls to Osanobu in order to have some minor changes. They were drafts for the drawing room in the Ooku (?? ) block of the Nishi no maru. (6) Ienari required the cancel of the wild duck, the moderation of peony’s showiness, and the removal of the white pheasant to the second chamber.
Osanobu carried out the order and the result can be seen in the modified drafts paintings for the second chamber of the drawing room in the Ooku (?? ) block of the Nishi no maru (7). He attached the small draft depicting the white pheasant over the part of wild ducks on the original ukagai-shitae. It is said that besides the supervision of the patrons for the details of painting motifs, it was necessary to follow authority’s decision such as on the amount of gold foil used for the background.
The succession of the certain motifs and the styles of painting seem to have been realized through the repetitive reconstructions of the important buildings of the Tokugawa family. As the matter of course, funpon as copy of original paintings created by the Kano masters in the past contributed to the restoration of their pictures on the castle rebuilt. To paint interior of castle was collaborative work mobilizing significant number of painters. It was only the Kano school to be able to execute such huge scale commission within the short period with the huge scale of its organization.
On the other hand, the unity of painting style such as in brushing and coloring methods through the whole paintings painted in Edo castle would have been required. It seems clear from the fact that most of the ko-shitae was produced by Osanobu. That is to say, he was the general conductor who gave the master plan that has consistent unity in the visual representation throughout the castle. Form this aspect it would have been necessary that every member mobilized for the commission have uniformed style of painting and same degree of the proficiency.
Therefore it seems fair to say that the training curriculum of the Kano school, copying funpon repetitively to preserve established patterns over generations, as revealed in Gaho’s Kobikicho edokoro, is legitimate for disciples to be able to fulfill a variety of commissions and satisfy the exacting demands of patrons. 4,2,3 The images as symbol There seems to have been a consistent reason that the certain motifs succeeded by using funpon models were introduced to decorate the important buildings relating to the shogunate.
Especially it is said that motifs such as the pine tree and the Chinese virtuous rulers from Dijian tushuo were closely related with shogun’s self-identification and the policy of Tokugawa shogunate in which the thought of Confucian was set as the ruling ideology. Pine tree had adorned the interior of the important chambers in the Tokugawa related buildings before the repaint of Edo castle in the Tenpo era. The pine trees painted by Tanyu in the Grand Audience Hall in the Ninomaru Palace of Nijo castle and Formal Audience Hall (??? of Nagoya castle are the representatives. (8) The fact that huge pine trees were depicted in the reception hall throughout those tree castles suggests that the motif was assigned the role to proclaim the shogunal messages in visual means. Especially, the Ninomaru Palace of Nijo castle was built in 1626 to welcome Emperor Gomozunoo by the third shogun Iemitsu. This was a memorable event in the century long power struggle between the military and the court.
Therefore while Iemitsu set out this event in peaceful aim to enhance relationship with the court, the event itself was also a symbol to inform the hegemony of the Tokugawa regime to all over Japan through the audience with the emperor. It is clear from the fact that Iemitsu entered Kyoto leading the huge number of the troops. Therefore it was necessary that the Grand Audience Hall which will be the culmination of the event must have been decorated with motif that can establish the public image of the Tokugawa regime as virtuous and legitimate rulers.
Although the multiple meanings had been established for pine tree as a symbol by the Edo period, a meaning prevailed most was that of longevity. The association of the pine tree with long life is simply related to the fact that the tree remains green year round, signifying continuing life. It is said that in ancient Chinese alchemy whose one of the main concerns was how to promote human longevity and immortality. The elixir made from pine needles, roots and resin was popular for that purpose. This connotation attached on pine tree can be interpreted as wish for long life of the Tokugawa ruling regime.
Pine tree was also evaluated in Confucian thought as the symbol of scholar. Confucius himself mentioned pine tree. In his Analects (?? ), “until cold season comes, people cannot be aware of that pine and oak wither later than other plants”. Here, pine and oak tree are equated to person who has strong will, comparing with changeable others. In the painting treatise written by Han Zhuo, Shanshui Chunchunji (????? ), he liken pine trees to the attitude of gentlman. “They are the elders among trees, Erect in bearing, tall and superior, aloft they coil upward into the sky and their force extends to the Milky Way.
Their branches spread out and hang downward, and below they welcome the common trees. Their reception of inferiors with reverence is like the virtue of the gentleman whose conduct should be ‘catholic not partisan. ’” As we saw in the former chapter, Yasunobu expounded the Kano school’s painting theories based on earlier Chinese texts in his Gado yoketsu. This Shanshui Chunchunji also gave him important idea about the issues of ‘training and innate talent’. Therefore it would be highly probable that the Kano artists in the Edo period understood and valued such Confucian ideals associated with the pine tree.
Taking into consider with the statement of Shanshui Chunchunji, the huge pine tree stretching its branches out would have been the most suitable motif for depicted on the wall of the Grand Audience Hall where an emperor or regional clans were received. In Confucian thought, the unity between politics and moral was primary matter to rule a country. The rise and fall of political regimes, the transition of social conditions and even natural disasters were attributed to the quality of the politics implemented by the ruler and the moral quality of . he ruler himself who assigned by the spiritual entity, ten. The symbolism of pine tree imagery can be interpreted as the declaration of the new status of the Tokugawa shogunate, which was no longer based on military might. Although the pine tree dominating the Grand Audience Hall in the Ninomaru Palace of Nijo castle express the dynamism that would have been inherited since the Kano school of the former period, the extravagance of the Momoyama cultural atmosphere seems to have been receded.
Iemitsu did not wish to equate his regime with earlier military rulers. It was essential that Tanyu create a new artistic image for the Tokugawa family, one that was superior to previous shogunal images, that implied a higher spirituality and morality, and that indicated the eternality of the Tokugawa shogunate. As far as the pine tree and the other images such as Dijian tushuo were depicted as the symbol of the new regime based on Confucian moral virtue, there would have been no need to modify the style of those images.
It would be possible to say that those images depicted in the important buildings of the Tokugawa family had functional elements for its practical purpose, the self representation of the regime, rather than ‘art’ as the crystallization of painter’s oneness. 5, The accumulation of funpon With the policy of Kano school, to succeed the certain painting style over generations, the significant amount of the funpon collection possessed by the Kano school also would have contributed to smoothly execute such huge commission as the reconstruction of castles.
It is said that Edo castle was reconstructed at least six times in the first half of the seventeenth century alone and repainted each time, though none of those paintings remain. Therefore it would be certain that goyoeshi would be required for a long time to store funpon for an emergency. The wide variety of funpon makes the choice and arrangement of painting motifs easier. Furthermore there would be the case that painters directly copy appropriate funpon made by painters in the past for the finished work to deal with the huge amount of work load or to recover lost paintings on the same places.
In this chapter, Osanobu’s effort to expand the workshop’s funpon collection and the management of funpon collection in the Kobikicho workshop will be surveyed. 5,1 Osanobu’s effort There are several evidences which seem to suggest that collecting various funpon was one of the most important missions for the painters. In fact, it is said that the predominance of the Kobikicho Kano family in the second half of the Edo period can be attributed to their possession of the huge amount of funpon, copies of old painter’s works. Especially the devotion of Osanobu to copy well known older works is significant.
Thousand of copy books made by him are extant in Tokyo National Museum. They sought copies of Chinese paintings of Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasty, as well as a range of Japanese paintings, from yamato-e to literati paintings so-called nanga. It is said that even Osanobu sent his disciples to everywhere in Japan to seek and copy famous old works. The various sizes of copies were produced not only sukuzu, miniature painting, but also many mohon, full scale copies. The painting scroll, Heiji Civil War; Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace (?????? ?????? ) (9) was copied by the seventh head of Kobikicho family, Naganobu, Oanobu and a disciple, Nakayama Osayoshi. The original of this scroll was possessed by Nishibata clan, Honda Mitsutada (???? ). Since those Kano painters copied the work with extreme accuracy in the original condition as it is, the damages such as the peeling of pigment were reproduced. The copied scroll was preserved in paulownia box and cover of the scroll overlaid with thin silk cloth. From this fact, it is clear this copied scroll was treated with close attention.
The extraordinary effort made by Osanobu can be seen in the reproduction of the scroll painting, Imperial Visit to Horserace (?????? ) (10). This scroll painting visualized one scene of Eiga monogatari (???? ) about the horse race organized by Kanpaku Fujiwara no Yorimichi (???? ) in the autumn of the first year of Manju (1024) to welcome the emperor Ichijo, his mother and son. This scroll was not extant in complete condition at Osanobu’s time. Therefore he collected the copies of the scroll preserved in bakufu’s treasure house and the fragments of the original and copies possessed by other okueshi painters and himself, and he recomposed it.
Furthermore to compensate the lost script parts (?? ) of the scroll, he quoted diaries of Heian courtiers and encyclopedias about Heian court practice. , and put the title as Revised Script of Imperial Visit to Horserace. Osanobu seems to have had another purpose other than copying old paintings as reference for new production or as material for training of his disciples. Rather he might have intended to preserve them in terms of collecting art historical information. In addition, the roju Matsudaira Sadanobu who compiled Shuko jisshu (???? ) gave title words (?? to this reproduced scroll to prize Osanobu’s achievement. 5,2 Kobikicho’s collection policy Actually the Kobikicho Kano family have engaged to the production of funpon since the time of the second head Tunenobu (?? ). 10 thousand of copied paintings stored in the storehouse in front of the Kobikicho workshop is known as the Sekizo mohon (???? ). It is said that among those huge number of funpon, Tunenobu’s works compiled as painting model books such as Karae tekagami (???? ), Karagakan (??? ), Shosho hakkeizukan (?????? ), Wagakan (??? ), Sessu gakan (???? ) were evaluated most due to its fidelity.
For example Karae tekagami is anthology of the pieces of Song and Yuan painters such as Su Shi (?? ), Huizong (?? ) (11) and Li Di (?? ) (12) copied by the seven Kano painters, Tanyu, Yasunobu, Tunenobu, Chikanobu (?? ), Hisanobu (?? ), Korenobu (?? ) and Naganobu (?? ) . The importance of these copied paintings in the Kobikicho workshop is clear from the fact that Tunenobu’s works were adopted as “Okashi gahon” (????? ) in the training curriculum as stated in Kobikicho edokoro. According to Kobikicho edokoro, there was the managerial post called ehongata, funpon keeper (??? , together with deshigashira, the head of disciple, and egugata, paints keeper in the workshop of Shosenin (??? ). The rank of ehongata was next to the head of disciple, and six or seven senior disciples were appointed. Their roles are the preservation and maintenance of funpon, and lend out funpon preserved in the storehouse at the request of the master or other disciples. Furthermore they were privileged to study and copy funpon at their disposal, except important funpon which require the permission of the master to use.
The importance of the funpon collection is suggested in the fact that the ehon aratame (??? ), inspection of the collection, was executed twice a month to ensure that it will neither be lost nor leaked out. The Ogata family was the head of goyoeshi for the Chikuzen Kuroda clan, Ogata Nakayoshi (???? ), who learnt painting from Tanyu, as the root of the official painter. Their funpon collection is well known for its wide range of the painting genre. In the contents of the certificate from the Ogata family, Tanyuryu gajyutsu shikko seishi no jojo (??????????? , they prohibited to show their funpon to others and asked to return the funpon when one ceases being a painter. Joining a school would have meant that a painter is permitted to share the funpon inherited to the school. Therefore it is reasonable that controlling of funpon was a crucial matter for a workshop. Kimura Tangen (???? ) (1679~1767) served for the Satsuma clan learnt the Tanyu style by himself since he was young. Although after Tanyu’s death, the Takegawacho (Kobikicho) and Nakabashi family acquired the predominance in the whole Kano school, he entered the Kajibashi family.
Takeda Tsuneo insisted that Tangen’s choice is attributable to his intention to learn painting from the funpon collection produced by Tanyu. Therefore it can be said that funpon collection possessed by a workshop was important in terms of characterizing the stylistic tendencies of Kano workshops. It is highly probable that how much amount and how high quality of funpon a Kano painter possessed would have been an indicator for the achievement of the painter. From this aspect it is quite understandable that a Kano painter changed his job for his funpon collection was destroyed by fire as the statement in the Kobikicho edokoro suggests.
Furthermore when Kano Yasunobu also faced same situation that he lost all his funpon collection by the big fire in the Meireki period, Yasunobu tried to resign goyoeshi. They would probably have compared the time it had taken him to obtain the funpons through his career, and the rest of his life. 6, Conclusion : The fact to be goyoeshi The use of funpon was the primary factor to produce paintings especially for goyoeshi painters. Before criticizing copying other artist’s works with funpon, the role of goyoeshi must be heeded in one’s mind.
Saying in a word, official painters can exist when they can satisfy ruling power’s demand in visuality. A text which mentioned the work of the first Kano official painter Masanobu seems to exemplify this simple fact. The text is Inryoken Jitsuroku (????? ) which is a diary recorded by zen priests, Kikeishinzui (???? ) and Kisenshusho (???? ). This diary recorded the process of commission made by Ashikaga Yoshimasa for Masanobu, and suggests the nature of Kano painter’s stance on art production.
According to the document, Yoshimasa and Kisen decided to paint the image of the Buddhist story, Jisso (?? ), on the sliding door in newly built Amitabha hall, Togudo. They summoned Masanobu and ordered to submit the draft of the painting in the style of the Song dynasty painters such as Xia Gui (?? ) and Ma Yuan(?? ). A month later, Masanobu submitted two drafts to Yoshimasa and commented on the painting style “Ma Yuan style might be appropriate, However, since the image painted in Seishian was Ma Yuan style, I suppose Li Gonglin (??? would be better for Togudo. ” and he requested examination of Li Gonglin’s works in Shogun’s possession (???? ). Yoshimasa accepted his offer, and gave him opportunity to reference Li Gonglin’s paintings. Masanobu also copied the portrait of Fujiwara no Michiie, borrowed from Tofukuji, when he was ordered to paint the same subject by Ashikaga Yoshinao. Similar story was seen in the analects of Hasegawa Tohaku, Tohakugasetsu (???? ). When a disciple of Sessu, Toshun was presented to Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiharu, he was demanded to paint fan painting.
Since Toshun did not have painting models at the time, he borrowed 50 models possessed by Soami (??? ), and copied three pictures painted by Xia Gui. Unless the painter has technique to faithfully reproduce the work of established artists, there was not the raison d’etre of goyo eshi. In the case of Masanobu, it is obvious that Yoshimasa demanded Masanobu to produce Chinese painter’s painting, though how he used those Chinese artist’s works is unclear. Same things can be said for the commissions assigned for the goyoeshi in the Edo period.
Well known works made by Chinese and Japanese painters seem to have often been demanded by their patrons. For example, the fourth head of the Kobikicho family, Hisanobu (?? ) copied Sansuichokan (???? ) (13) originally painted by Sessu at the request of the eighth shogun, Yoshimune who is famous for his dilettante. As a matter of course, there were no such useful machines as photocopier or camera at that time. If authority wanted to see the paintings that are well-known but hard to see, especially those painted by Chinese, they had to relay on the copies made by his painters.
More importantly, the Edo Kano painters had the role to direct the self representation of the Tokugawa regime in visual means as expressed with the pine tree depicted in the public space of the castles and the phoenix on the folding screen, Kiri houozu. In the Edo period, the commission for painting on the interior of buildings would have increased, especially in the city of Edo where many governmental buildings such as castle, the residences of the regional clans and the temples related to the Tokugawa family were located densely.
If conflagrations swept away those facilities, huge number of the Kano painters would have been mobilized. It is clear from the reconstruction of Edo castle in the Tenpo era, which 135 painters were mobilized only from oku-eshi families. The Kano institution and its painters would have had abilities to cope with such situation effectively. The uniformed brushing method acquired through the training of copying funpon model and the ample funpon collection contributed to reproduce those shogunal images.
It would be certain that the expansion of demands for ‘official’ paintings in the Edo period urged the systematic use of funpon with the Kano school’s policy to hand down the particular style for depicting the shogunal iconography connoting the Confucian moral values for ruling the country. Comparing the Kano painting in the Edo period with that of the Momoyama period, some scholars argue that the oppressive taste of the Tokugawa feudal regime can be seen in the one in the Edo period and the one in the Momoyama is the embodiment of unrestrained human creativity.
They attribute their analysis to the mentality of the time. However, from the social point of view, the Edo period was the time the clear social class divisions were established namely shi (? ) no (? ) ko (? ) sho (? ) to bring order in the society. It can be said that people who could be called ‘civilians’ was born at that time. Certainly people were oppressed by the ruling class. However, it seems to me that this view is the one watched from the modern democratic perspective. Before the Tokugawa regime begins, certainly there was less oppressive force coming from the class division.
However, the division was ambiguous and every people could involve into violence act with weapons, taking into consider the fact that originally warriors ‘bushi’ (?? ) were people engaged in farming, having force to protect the land cultivated by themselves. Although farmers and warriors were divided by Hideyoshi, the unsettled atmosphere continued with the wars and the infest of kabuki-mono (???? ). Therefore the taste that those scholars saw in the paintings of the Momoyama period might have been the embodiment of ‘insanity’.
When examining “art”, examining other category of history would be necessary not to put the limitation on one’s imagination. Otherwise the works like that of the Edo Kano might be overlooked with the label of ‘funpon shugi’. Bibliography Edo Tokyo Museum (1998) Kanoha no Sanbyakunen Tokyo: Edo Tokyo Museum Gerhart,K (1999) The Eyes of Power Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press Horie,T (1970) Genshoku Nihon no Bijyutsu 22 : Sho Tokyo: Shogakkan Ito, T (1982) Edo Bakuhan Taisei no Kenkyu Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan Izawa, M (2000) Gyakusetsu no Nihonshi 8 Tokyo; Shogakkan
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