Lot Essay
These scrolls illustrate two events from Japan's greatest medieval battle epic, The Tale of the Heike, which chronicles the decline and final catastrophic military defeat of the Taira (or Heike) military clan by the Minamoto (or Genji) forces during the long Gempei War of 1180 - 1185. The famous tale is known in many versions, which date from the thirteenth century to the Edo period, and it was illustrated in manuscripts and on folding screens from at least the fifteenth century. Kiso Gansho (Kiso's petition), the story of Minamoto warrior Kiso no Yoshinaka's petition at Hachiman Shrine from Chapter 7 and Yashima, the death of the Genji soldier Tsuginobu from the battle of Yashima in Chapter 11, may have been selected for illustration in these two scrolls because both events had been popularized in story books and No plays.
Kiso (Minamoto) no Yoshinaka (1154 - 84) was raised in the Kiso area of Shinano Province (now Nagano prefecture). Together with his cousin Minamoto no Yoritomo (who founded the Kamakura shogunate in 1185) and other Minamoto warriors, he rose in rebellion against the rule of the Taira family in 1180. By mid-1183 Yoshinaka and his troops were threatening the capital. On the eleventh of the fifth month they were camped in a rugged mountainous area at Hanyu near Mt. Tonami preparing a strategy to decimate the huge Taira army by driving them down into the Kurikara valley. The first scene of the Kiso Gansho scroll shows Yoshinaka ordering his men to plant their white banners as a warning to the Taira. The second scene shows the Taira camp, with red banners. Having seen the white banners, their general orders his troops to dismount and stay on the rugged mountain, just as Yoshinaka planned. In the third scene Yoshinaka is seen pointing at a sacred red fence and torii gate in front of a shrine near his Hanyu camp. He called for a man who knew the area and asked "What shrine is that? What deity is worshipped there?" The reply was: "Hachiman. This is Hachiman's land." This was good news, for Hachiman is the God of War.
Yoshinaka summoned his scribe Kakumei, asking him to write a petition as a legacy for posterity and as a prayer for victory to be offered to the Hachiman shrine before the battle. In the fourth scene Kakumei is shown kneeling in front of the shrine reading the petition. Kakumei was the learned son of a Confucian scholar-family. He had become a monk (hence his shaven head), but after a run-in with Taira no Kiyomori, he had fled to the north to become Yoshinaka's scribe. The petition is in the form of a prayer to the Bodhisattva Hachiman asking for assistance in crushing Kiyomori and his armies. "Although our two opposing armies are now face to face," says Yoshinaka, "my men have yet to display martial spirit, and I have been fearful of defections." On behalf of the nation and the emperor, he prays for victory in driving the enemy back. Yoshinaka is successful in the ensuing battles. Thanks to the petition he has the help of the gods; in popular folklore the petition came to be admired for its protective powers. Later that year Yoshinaka seized the capital, but when he turned against Yoritomo, he was killed by Yoritomo's eastern forces under the command of Yoshitsune.
The Taira were driven west and fled across the Inland Sea to Yashima in Shikoku. Early in 1185 Yoritomo ordered his young half-brother Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89) to attack the Taira. Yoshitsune crossed to Shikoku in a storm, took the Taira by surprise and drove them from their Yashima stronghold in Sanuki province. The Yashima scroll deals with the death of Tsuginobu, one of the memorable clashes in this naval battle.
The Taira have been driven to the sea by Yoshitsune's troops, who are drawn up on the beach. The long second scene shows the Taira warrior Noritsune standing in a small boat, wearing a magnificent oversize sword, and aiming his huge bow toward the shore. He had been the foremost archer in the capital. The Minamoto troops, however, have clustered around Yoshitsune to protect their commander-in-chief from the arrows. Among Yoshitsune's entourage, one recognizes his sidekick, the warrior-monk Benkei. Noritsune released a barrage of arrows and one of them felled Sato Saburobyoe Tsuginobu, who had advanced to the forefront. He is shown plummeting headlong from his horse, mortally wounded. Standing in the boat behind Noritsune is his valiant page, Kikuo, wearing green-laced armor, as specified in the text.
Kikuo went running up to decapitate Tsuginobu but was felled by a Genji arrow. The third scene in this scroll shows Noritsune, who has leapt from the boat to pick up Kikuo with his right hand and toss him back into the boat. Kikuo's head was thus saved from the enemy, but he died of his wounds.
The next scene shows the wounded Tsuginobu being carried away from the battlefield on wooden planks. The giant warrior-monk Benkei heads up the procession. The succeeding scene depicts Yoshitsune seated solicitously beside his dying retainer. Tsuginobu says he is proud to die having given his life in exchange for that of his master. The next scene shows Yoshitsune with a stout black horse which he will offer to a local holy monk in exchange for a day of scripture reading on behalf of the wounded man. The sight brought tears to the eyes of the warriors who witnessed it. The scroll ends with a scene of Benkei telling the grieving nun Niko the sad news of the death of her eldest son, Tsuginobu. This imagery derives from a late Muromachi period kowakamai text, a drama based on the Tale of the Heike and enacted with dance, music and chanted narrative.
Both painting and calligraphy are anonymous. The calligraphy is written in cursive script in a mixture of Chinese characters and Japanese phonetic syllabary. This work represents a popular type of illustrated scroll or book commonly grouped under the term Nara-e, or Nara pictures. Such works were produced in Kyoto from roughly the fifteenth through the mid-eighteenth century. They were commissioned for special occasions, and often given as dowry and New Year's gifts. Pigments, as in this example, are high quality expensive mineral pigments, and the paper is further embellished with cloud bands of sprinkled gold foil.
Literature: The Tale of the Heike, translated by Helen Craig McCullough. Stanford, 1988.
Kiso (Minamoto) no Yoshinaka (1154 - 84) was raised in the Kiso area of Shinano Province (now Nagano prefecture). Together with his cousin Minamoto no Yoritomo (who founded the Kamakura shogunate in 1185) and other Minamoto warriors, he rose in rebellion against the rule of the Taira family in 1180. By mid-1183 Yoshinaka and his troops were threatening the capital. On the eleventh of the fifth month they were camped in a rugged mountainous area at Hanyu near Mt. Tonami preparing a strategy to decimate the huge Taira army by driving them down into the Kurikara valley. The first scene of the Kiso Gansho scroll shows Yoshinaka ordering his men to plant their white banners as a warning to the Taira. The second scene shows the Taira camp, with red banners. Having seen the white banners, their general orders his troops to dismount and stay on the rugged mountain, just as Yoshinaka planned. In the third scene Yoshinaka is seen pointing at a sacred red fence and torii gate in front of a shrine near his Hanyu camp. He called for a man who knew the area and asked "What shrine is that? What deity is worshipped there?" The reply was: "Hachiman. This is Hachiman's land." This was good news, for Hachiman is the God of War.
Yoshinaka summoned his scribe Kakumei, asking him to write a petition as a legacy for posterity and as a prayer for victory to be offered to the Hachiman shrine before the battle. In the fourth scene Kakumei is shown kneeling in front of the shrine reading the petition. Kakumei was the learned son of a Confucian scholar-family. He had become a monk (hence his shaven head), but after a run-in with Taira no Kiyomori, he had fled to the north to become Yoshinaka's scribe. The petition is in the form of a prayer to the Bodhisattva Hachiman asking for assistance in crushing Kiyomori and his armies. "Although our two opposing armies are now face to face," says Yoshinaka, "my men have yet to display martial spirit, and I have been fearful of defections." On behalf of the nation and the emperor, he prays for victory in driving the enemy back. Yoshinaka is successful in the ensuing battles. Thanks to the petition he has the help of the gods; in popular folklore the petition came to be admired for its protective powers. Later that year Yoshinaka seized the capital, but when he turned against Yoritomo, he was killed by Yoritomo's eastern forces under the command of Yoshitsune.
The Taira were driven west and fled across the Inland Sea to Yashima in Shikoku. Early in 1185 Yoritomo ordered his young half-brother Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89) to attack the Taira. Yoshitsune crossed to Shikoku in a storm, took the Taira by surprise and drove them from their Yashima stronghold in Sanuki province. The Yashima scroll deals with the death of Tsuginobu, one of the memorable clashes in this naval battle.
The Taira have been driven to the sea by Yoshitsune's troops, who are drawn up on the beach. The long second scene shows the Taira warrior Noritsune standing in a small boat, wearing a magnificent oversize sword, and aiming his huge bow toward the shore. He had been the foremost archer in the capital. The Minamoto troops, however, have clustered around Yoshitsune to protect their commander-in-chief from the arrows. Among Yoshitsune's entourage, one recognizes his sidekick, the warrior-monk Benkei. Noritsune released a barrage of arrows and one of them felled Sato Saburobyoe Tsuginobu, who had advanced to the forefront. He is shown plummeting headlong from his horse, mortally wounded. Standing in the boat behind Noritsune is his valiant page, Kikuo, wearing green-laced armor, as specified in the text.
Kikuo went running up to decapitate Tsuginobu but was felled by a Genji arrow. The third scene in this scroll shows Noritsune, who has leapt from the boat to pick up Kikuo with his right hand and toss him back into the boat. Kikuo's head was thus saved from the enemy, but he died of his wounds.
The next scene shows the wounded Tsuginobu being carried away from the battlefield on wooden planks. The giant warrior-monk Benkei heads up the procession. The succeeding scene depicts Yoshitsune seated solicitously beside his dying retainer. Tsuginobu says he is proud to die having given his life in exchange for that of his master. The next scene shows Yoshitsune with a stout black horse which he will offer to a local holy monk in exchange for a day of scripture reading on behalf of the wounded man. The sight brought tears to the eyes of the warriors who witnessed it. The scroll ends with a scene of Benkei telling the grieving nun Niko the sad news of the death of her eldest son, Tsuginobu. This imagery derives from a late Muromachi period kowakamai text, a drama based on the Tale of the Heike and enacted with dance, music and chanted narrative.
Both painting and calligraphy are anonymous. The calligraphy is written in cursive script in a mixture of Chinese characters and Japanese phonetic syllabary. This work represents a popular type of illustrated scroll or book commonly grouped under the term Nara-e, or Nara pictures. Such works were produced in Kyoto from roughly the fifteenth through the mid-eighteenth century. They were commissioned for special occasions, and often given as dowry and New Year's gifts. Pigments, as in this example, are high quality expensive mineral pigments, and the paper is further embellished with cloud bands of sprinkled gold foil.
Literature: The Tale of the Heike, translated by Helen Craig McCullough. Stanford, 1988.