![A Pair of Scrolls Depicting the Story Shinkyoku [New Songs]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2004/CKS/2004_CKS_06915_0339_000(080804).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The first 13in. x 48ft. 10in. (33 x 1489cm.); the second 13in. x 61ft. 9in. (33 x 1883 cm.)
The title Shinkyoku as listed by most authorities including Schneider and Ago belongs to the story of Prince Takanaga's retainer Hata, who sacrifices himself in an effort to rescue Takanaga's beloved from pirates, but as the word Shinkyoku (literally 'new songs' or 'new stories'falls) suggests, it probably includes a number of different narratives that were added to the canon of otogi zoshi, kowakamai and other genres of storytelling during the later Muromachi period.1 It concerns the career of the upwardly-mobile Qinshi Huangdi, the selfstyled 'First Emperor' (3rd century BC), best known today as the creator of the 'Terracotta Army'. The twelve scenes are as follows:
Scroll 1 Scenes 1-2: The King of Qin plans to invade neighbouring states
Scroll 1 Scene 3: The 'burning of the books', Qinshi Huangdi's most infamous act
Scroll 1 Scene 4: The new Emperor builds himself a magnificent palace
Scroll 1 Scene 5: Two evil omens, a horned horse and a white-headed crow, disturb the Emperor's peace
Scroll 1 Scene 6: The King of a neighbouring state plans to resist invasion
Scroll 2 Scene 1: The King of the neighbouring state entertains a group of supporters who will help him launch a counterattack
Scroll 2 Scene 2: The King prepares for invasion
Scroll 2 Scene 3: An old man sacrifices his own head as an inducement to Qinshi Huangdi's proposed assassin (see Scene 6)
Scroll 2 Scene 4: The assassin prepares to kill the Emperor with his sword
Scroll 2 Scene 5: A farewell banquet for the assassin
Scroll 2 Scene 6: Using the head of the old man (a long-standing enemy of the Emperor) as a means of gaining access to the Imperial Palace, the assassin puts his sword to the Emperor's throat. Subsequently the assassin grants the Emperor a last wish, providing him with an opportunity to escape; in return for this kindness he is slaughtered by the Emperor's men.
1 Ago Toranoshin et. al. (eds.), Kowaka bukyoku kenkyu [Studies in kowaka dance recital], (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1979-); Roland Schneider, Kowakamai: Sprache und Stil einer mittelalterlichen japanischen Rezitationskunst (Hamburg: Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1968), pp. 66-79; for illustrated versions of the other story see Takayama Fujihiko, Otogizoshi (Nihon no bijutsu, 52; Tokyo: Shibundo, 1976), fig. 108; Stephan Graf von der Schulenburg (ed.), Mönche, Monster, schöne Damen: japanische Malerei, Buch- und Holzschnittkunst des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts in Frankfurt am Main (Berlin: Mann, 2000), cat. no. 9
The title Shinkyoku as listed by most authorities including Schneider and Ago belongs to the story of Prince Takanaga's retainer Hata, who sacrifices himself in an effort to rescue Takanaga's beloved from pirates, but as the word Shinkyoku (literally 'new songs' or 'new stories'falls) suggests, it probably includes a number of different narratives that were added to the canon of otogi zoshi, kowakamai and other genres of storytelling during the later Muromachi period.
Scroll 1 Scenes 1-2: The King of Qin plans to invade neighbouring states
Scroll 1 Scene 3: The 'burning of the books', Qinshi Huangdi's most infamous act
Scroll 1 Scene 4: The new Emperor builds himself a magnificent palace
Scroll 1 Scene 5: Two evil omens, a horned horse and a white-headed crow, disturb the Emperor's peace
Scroll 1 Scene 6: The King of a neighbouring state plans to resist invasion
Scroll 2 Scene 1: The King of the neighbouring state entertains a group of supporters who will help him launch a counterattack
Scroll 2 Scene 2: The King prepares for invasion
Scroll 2 Scene 3: An old man sacrifices his own head as an inducement to Qinshi Huangdi's proposed assassin (see Scene 6)
Scroll 2 Scene 4: The assassin prepares to kill the Emperor with his sword
Scroll 2 Scene 5: A farewell banquet for the assassin
Scroll 2 Scene 6: Using the head of the old man (a long-standing enemy of the Emperor) as a means of gaining access to the Imperial Palace, the assassin puts his sword to the Emperor's throat. Subsequently the assassin grants the Emperor a last wish, providing him with an opportunity to escape; in return for this kindness he is slaughtered by the Emperor's men.
1 Ago Toranoshin et. al. (eds.), Kowaka bukyoku kenkyu [Studies in kowaka dance recital], (Tokyo: Miyai Shoten, 1979-); Roland Schneider, Kowakamai: Sprache und Stil einer mittelalterlichen japanischen Rezitationskunst (Hamburg: Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, 1968), pp. 66-79; for illustrated versions of the other story see Takayama Fujihiko, Otogizoshi (Nihon no bijutsu, 52; Tokyo: Shibundo, 1976), fig. 108; Stephan Graf von der Schulenburg (ed.), Mönche, Monster, schöne Damen: japanische Malerei, Buch- und Holzschnittkunst des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts in Frankfurt am Main (Berlin: Mann, 2000), cat. no. 9