拍品專文
Published in Daishi kai, Daishi kai Kinenjo (Tokyo, 1926) and in
Sorimachi Shigeo, Kobunso taika Koshomoku (1948), no. 16, p. 26, no. 219
These scrolls were either written or commissioned by Kobo Daishi (774-835), also known as Kukai, the 9th-century founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan. The text is a rare treatise on Buddhist doctrine. Kobo Daishi was considered one of the finest calligraphers of his day and, as the inventor of the kana syllabary, he is revered as the father of Japanese culture.
The scrolls were once owned by Baron Masuda Takashi (1848-1938), director of the Mitsui Trading Company from its founding in 1876, and of its parent, the Mitsui Company, from 1901 to 1912. Masuda's collection was a legend during his lifetime, but was sold by his son after Masuda's death in 1938. Most of the collection is said to have been purchased at that time by Tokyo art dealer Setsu Inosuke. The two scrolls shown here were once owned by the late Sorimachi Shigeo (1901-1991), the well-known Tokyo art dealer who specialized in books and manuscripts. They were offered for sale in Sorimachi's 1948 catalogue.[1] Sorimachi is known to have owned a number of works from the Masuda Collection.
Masuda celebrated the memory of Kobo Daishi in an annual tea gathering, the Daishi kai, which he inaugurated in 1896 on his estate in Tokyo. The event was always attended by hundreds of guests including the elite of the Tokyo business, government and cultural worlds. In her biography of Masuda, Christine Guth has written that "Masuda's cultural leadership of the business world found its most eloquent expression in the Daishi kai."[2] He invited friends, art dealers and business associates to display objects from their collections in the tea rooms of the many tea houses on his property -- he had 13 tea huts or buildings on his own estate by 1913. From 1922 the Daishi kai rotated among Masuda and fellow art collectors Nezu Kaichiro (1860-1940), founder of the Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo, and Hara Tomitaro (1868-1939). Hara was an industrialist whose spectacular Yokohama estate was known as the Sankei'en (Three Valleys).
Eleven lines of text were cut out of the first scroll, presumably by Masuda. In 1905 they were mounted in the Kanbokujo, an album of 311 calligraphic fragments inscribed by noted calligraphers from the Nara to the Muromachi periods. The Kanbokujo, which was owned by the Masuda, is now classified by the Japanese government as a National Treasure, and is in the collection of the MOA Art Museum in Atami. It seems that Masuda removed an existing calligraphy fragment from the Kanbokujo in order to insert the Kobo Daishi fragment. His intention was to improve the overall quality of the album.
The objects, including the two scrolls shown here, that were used in the 1926 Daishi kai are illustrated in a lavish, large-scale publication privately printed by Masuda and entitled Daisha kai kinenjo (Album commemorating the Daishi kai). Other lenders included the Toji temple, Kyoto, which contributed calligraphy by Kobo Daishi, the Bishamondo of Kanshuji temple, Kyoto, Fujita Heitaro, founder of the Fujita Art Museum, Hara Tomitaro, Nezu Kaichiro, Matsudaira Naooki, Dan Takuma (1858-1932), director of Mitsui from 1912, and Magoshi Kyohei (1844-1933), president of Nippon Brewery.
The present scrolls are illustrated on two full pages. On the first page they are all illustrated together with a third scroll, and all three are shown wrapped together in a 12th-century bamboo sutra wrapper from Jingoji temple. The third scroll is a Buddhist text, the Konkomyokyo (Sutra of Golden Light), transcribed by emperor Saga (r.809-823) and annotated by Kobo Daishi. All three scrolls were still preserved together by Mr. Sorimachi at the time the present owner purchased the two scrolls shown here. It was emperor Saga who presented Kobo Daishi with Toji temple, which became the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism.
Calligraphy from the 9th century A.D. is exceedingly rare even in Japan. It was during the 9th century that calligraphy rose to the status of a major art form in Japan at the hands of three men--emperor Saga, the courtier Tachibana Hayanari (?-842) and Kobo Daishi. These three were later known as the Sampitsu (The Three [Masterful] Brushes of Their Age). Most examples of calligraphy by Kobo Daishi are registered as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properites. No examples of his writing are known in collections outside Japan. The scrolls shown here are in a Chinese writing style known as dokusotai, a style that bridges the gap between Nara-period Chinese-style calligraphy associated with the T'ang dynasty and the early Heian-period kana or phonetic syllabary. Two other works in the dokusotai style--the Tojigire and the Kokyorongire--have traditional attributions to Kobo Daishi. Few Japanese could write in this T'ang style. It is likely that the calligrapher was one of Kobo Daishi's students.
[1.]Sorimachi Shigeo, Kobunso taika koshomoku (1948) No.16, p.26, no. 219.
[2.]Christine M.E. Guth, Art, Tea, and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), p.151.
Sorimachi Shigeo, Kobunso taika Koshomoku (1948), no. 16, p. 26, no. 219
These scrolls were either written or commissioned by Kobo Daishi (774-835), also known as Kukai, the 9th-century founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan. The text is a rare treatise on Buddhist doctrine. Kobo Daishi was considered one of the finest calligraphers of his day and, as the inventor of the kana syllabary, he is revered as the father of Japanese culture.
The scrolls were once owned by Baron Masuda Takashi (1848-1938), director of the Mitsui Trading Company from its founding in 1876, and of its parent, the Mitsui Company, from 1901 to 1912. Masuda's collection was a legend during his lifetime, but was sold by his son after Masuda's death in 1938. Most of the collection is said to have been purchased at that time by Tokyo art dealer Setsu Inosuke. The two scrolls shown here were once owned by the late Sorimachi Shigeo (1901-1991), the well-known Tokyo art dealer who specialized in books and manuscripts. They were offered for sale in Sorimachi's 1948 catalogue.[1] Sorimachi is known to have owned a number of works from the Masuda Collection.
Masuda celebrated the memory of Kobo Daishi in an annual tea gathering, the Daishi kai, which he inaugurated in 1896 on his estate in Tokyo. The event was always attended by hundreds of guests including the elite of the Tokyo business, government and cultural worlds. In her biography of Masuda, Christine Guth has written that "Masuda's cultural leadership of the business world found its most eloquent expression in the Daishi kai."[2] He invited friends, art dealers and business associates to display objects from their collections in the tea rooms of the many tea houses on his property -- he had 13 tea huts or buildings on his own estate by 1913. From 1922 the Daishi kai rotated among Masuda and fellow art collectors Nezu Kaichiro (1860-1940), founder of the Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo, and Hara Tomitaro (1868-1939). Hara was an industrialist whose spectacular Yokohama estate was known as the Sankei'en (Three Valleys).
Eleven lines of text were cut out of the first scroll, presumably by Masuda. In 1905 they were mounted in the Kanbokujo, an album of 311 calligraphic fragments inscribed by noted calligraphers from the Nara to the Muromachi periods. The Kanbokujo, which was owned by the Masuda, is now classified by the Japanese government as a National Treasure, and is in the collection of the MOA Art Museum in Atami. It seems that Masuda removed an existing calligraphy fragment from the Kanbokujo in order to insert the Kobo Daishi fragment. His intention was to improve the overall quality of the album.
The objects, including the two scrolls shown here, that were used in the 1926 Daishi kai are illustrated in a lavish, large-scale publication privately printed by Masuda and entitled Daisha kai kinenjo (Album commemorating the Daishi kai). Other lenders included the Toji temple, Kyoto, which contributed calligraphy by Kobo Daishi, the Bishamondo of Kanshuji temple, Kyoto, Fujita Heitaro, founder of the Fujita Art Museum, Hara Tomitaro, Nezu Kaichiro, Matsudaira Naooki, Dan Takuma (1858-1932), director of Mitsui from 1912, and Magoshi Kyohei (1844-1933), president of Nippon Brewery.
The present scrolls are illustrated on two full pages. On the first page they are all illustrated together with a third scroll, and all three are shown wrapped together in a 12th-century bamboo sutra wrapper from Jingoji temple. The third scroll is a Buddhist text, the Konkomyokyo (Sutra of Golden Light), transcribed by emperor Saga (r.809-823) and annotated by Kobo Daishi. All three scrolls were still preserved together by Mr. Sorimachi at the time the present owner purchased the two scrolls shown here. It was emperor Saga who presented Kobo Daishi with Toji temple, which became the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism.
Calligraphy from the 9th century A.D. is exceedingly rare even in Japan. It was during the 9th century that calligraphy rose to the status of a major art form in Japan at the hands of three men--emperor Saga, the courtier Tachibana Hayanari (?-842) and Kobo Daishi. These three were later known as the Sampitsu (The Three [Masterful] Brushes of Their Age). Most examples of calligraphy by Kobo Daishi are registered as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properites. No examples of his writing are known in collections outside Japan. The scrolls shown here are in a Chinese writing style known as dokusotai, a style that bridges the gap between Nara-period Chinese-style calligraphy associated with the T'ang dynasty and the early Heian-period kana or phonetic syllabary. Two other works in the dokusotai style--the Tojigire and the Kokyorongire--have traditional attributions to Kobo Daishi. Few Japanese could write in this T'ang style. It is likely that the calligrapher was one of Kobo Daishi's students.
[1.]Sorimachi Shigeo, Kobunso taika koshomoku (1948) No.16, p.26, no. 219.
[2.]Christine M.E. Guth, Art, Tea, and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), p.151.