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Reinventing the Past: Antiquarianism in East Asian Art and Visual Culture—Part 2 |
< Back The Collection and Production of Picture Scrolls (Emaki) by the Ashikaga Shogunal Family Akira Takagishi Tokyo Institute of Technology In the latter half of the twelfth century, the retired emperor Go-Shirakawa assembled a variety of art objects in the Rengeôin Repository, which then became the wellspring of his authority as he ruled from retirement. Among these objects, the collection of picture scrolls (emaki) is particularly famous. The members of the Ashikaga shogunal family were likewise engaged in the collection of old picture scrolls and the production of new ones, beginning from the period in which they established the first ever warrior government in Kyoto during the mid-fourteenth century. Official diaries of the period reveal that the shogunal household was engaged in collecting painted handscrolls during the tenures of the first three shoguns (1338-1408), Takauji, Yoshiakira, and Yoshimitsu. Of the fifteen different handscrolls whose subjects were recorded, five are battle scrolls. The depicted battles were connected to the establishment or political preservation of the Kamakura shogunate, which later became the model for Ashikaga rule. In other words, the handscroll themes asserted the orthodoxy of the newly founded Ashikaga shogunate. The collection also includes scrolls of the founding and miracles (engi) of shrines and temples in each region of Japan, and the purposes behind these tend to be prayer for the deceased ancestors of the Ashikaga clan, for the safe delivery of children, and so forth. As Ashikaga rule reached its peak under the third shogun Yoshimitsu, the handscroll collection underwent new developments. The first of these was the creation of picture scrolls that document actual events and ceremonies. Yoshimitsu, likening himself to a retired emperor, took the Buddhist precepts at Tôdaiji, and a handscroll depicting this event was added to the collection. The second new development at this time was the staging of painting matches (e-awase) that were based on the painting match described in the Tale of Genji. In addition to demonstrating Yoshimitsu's longing for the glory of the Heian court, the picture scrolls submitted in the contests were possibly added to the collection. Research up until now has focused exclusively on the Ashikaga shogunal family's collection of Chinese art objects. This collection of Chinese art symbolized the shogunate's monopolistic access to foreign culture and played an important role in maintaining its position as a cohesive cultural center. But if we turn our attention to what was occurring within Japan, we find that the members of the Ashikaga family also faced the need to position themselves as the successors to Heian aristocratic authority and to the orthodox warrior rule of the Kamakura era. The collection of handscrolls had the extremely important function of linking the history and stories of the past to the political authority of the present. |
