A History of Japanese Art

by Noritake Tsuda

  CHAPTER 7

  Realistic Art Under New Religious Inspiration: The Kamakura Period 1186-1333 A.D.

  1. GENERAL SURVEY

  The last flickering glory of the Fujiwara civilization, which was upheld by the Taira family for some twenty years, was brought to an end by the crushing defeat it sustained in the battle of Dan-no-ura with the rival clan of Genji. Yoritomo, the chieftain of the Genji, inaugurated the Shogunate at Kamakura at the close of the twelfth century and a new era of feudal government was for the first time ushered in, to be followed by radical changes in manners and customs.

  The new culture at Kamakura was full of martial spirit, quite different from the effeminate delicacy of the Fujiwara in the preceding period.

  Naturally the art of the Kamakura Period assumed a very different aspect and national consciousness was expressed in it. However greatly Kyoto differed from Kamakura, it still retained something of its former splendor in art and literature.

  Thus, in the Kamakura Period there were two cultural centers, one in Kamakura where everything was new and full of life, and the other in Kyoto where people were clinging to the old. This contrast of opposite ideas lasted through the whole course of the Kamakura Period and was mirrored in the art until the succeeding Muromachi Period when, in the fourteenth century, the Ashikaga Shogun established his government in Kyoto and the two currents were united.

  There were three noticeable aspects in the Kamakura Period. One was the intercourse with the Sung Dynasty of China; the second, the introduction of Zen Buddhism and the newly formed Buddhist sects, Shinshū, and Nichiren, and Jishū; and the third, the influence of the martial spirit and new religious ideas upon art.

  The communication with the Chinese Sung Dynasty became active, especially after Taira-no Kiyomori opened the port of Hyōgo to foreign intercourse. Its effect was twofold, material and spiritual; that is, trade and an exchange of visits between priests of the two countries. Each served as a means of introducing Chinese art, which was at that time marked with elaborate splendor and delicate execution and greatly struck the fancy of the Japanese.

  In religion, Zen, a new form of Buddhism, was introduced by Dogen and Eisai. It gained ground slowly at first against the power of the established sects, the Tendai and Shingon, which held their traditional sway over the court at Kyoto. Consonant, however, with the growing individualism of the new age, the Zen sect was welcomed at Kamakura. Tokiyori and Tokimune, both famous dictators of the Hōjō family, believed firmly in the Zen faith, and all the military aristocracy followed them. So it became an important social force.

  From this time on, under the influence of Zen idealism, a new Style of art, quite different from the older Buddhist arts, developed, and that influence was most conspicuous in the later Kamakura and Muromachi periods which followed.

  On the other hand, within the country, religious reformers appeared and founded new sects against the old Buddhism to arouse national ideas and consciousness.

  The most outstanding figures among the reformers were Hōnen, Shinran, and Nichiren.

  Hōnen, 1133-1212, democratized the Amida Buddhism and founded the Jōdō-shū, or Pure Land sect. Shinran, 1173-1263, who was the disciple of Hōnen, established the Jōdo-shin-shu sect and made Buddhism most popular. Nichiren, 1222-1282, a militant propagandist of prophetic ardor, founded the Hokke Buddhism, and likewise greatly democratized the Buddhist deliverance.

  Throughout the new Buddhist teachings in the Kamakura Period, the strong personalities and careers of these founders were a very important force in the religious movements of the time. Moreover, this force was an important feature of the Kamakura Period that naturally expressed itself as shown in Buddhist architecture, sculpture, and painting.

  2. PAINTING

  Naturally, the new spirit of the Kamakura Period expressed itself in paintings as well as in other branches of art. There were various styles, old and new; but each of them had new life.

  The paintings of this period were mostly Buddhistic as in former periods, and those relating to the "Jōdo-kyō" or Pure Land doctrine, were most popular. The painters of such pictures generally followed the styles of the preceding age. From the middle of the thirteenth century, the influence of the Sung and Yuan dynasties of China began to be felt remarkably, and was especially accelerated by the prosperity of the Zen sect. Such subjects as "Rakan" and the ten kings of Hell, were copied after Sung and Yüan prototypes.

  But in these Buddhist paintings nothing peculiar to this period was produced except that they were concordant with the new spirit of the time.

  The most conspicuous development in painting was attained, however, in the production of picture scrolls, or emakimono. They were purely Japanese in their development and were full of life in their vivid rendering of historical, legendary, and religious subjects, and the lives of venerable priests. The extant examples of such scrolls are so numerous that this period is called the age of picture scrolls.

  On the other hand, the art of portraiture also made remarkable development. Warriors and high priests were favorite subjects of the imagination.

  Such were the varieties of subjects painted by the artists of four different schools, namely, the Kose, Takuma, Kasuga, and Tosa. However, it should be noticed that not all of these schools had such a distinctive style as did those of later periods; but some of them involved nothing more than the difference of the families to which they belonged.

  The specialty of the Kose School is seen in Buddhist pictures, but this school declined greatly during the period. Of the painters belonging to it may be mentioned Arihisa, Korehisa, and Yukitada.

  The Takuma School also is noted for Buddhist painting. It gradually lost its original characteristics, outshone as it was by the splendor of the Sung style. The noted painters of this school were Shōga, Seinin, Tameyuki, Eiga, and Ryōson.

  Eiga, who appeared in the later Kamakura Period, studied the Chinese painters Ri Ryū-min (Li Lung-mien) and Can Ki (Yen Hui) of the Sung of China and paved the way for reviving the Chinese style in Japan.

  The Tosa and Kasuga schools maintained respectively their own special native styles which are generally called Yamato-e in contrast to the Chinese styles. But the Tosa and Kasuga schools were ultimately blended. The Tosa School produced in rapid succession a number of celebrated artists who maintained faithfully the graceful style of the Fujiwara age and contributed much toward enhancing the characteristic merit of the Yamato-e School. Nobuzane, Keinin, Kunitaka, Yukinaga, Yoshimitsu, Mitsuaki, Hōgen En-i, Goshin, and Yukimitsu are noted names in the Tosa School; while Nagataka, Takakane, Takasuke, and Nagaaki, came to be recognized as of the Tosa School, though they started as representatives of the Kasuga.

  Fujiwara Nobuzane, son of Takanōbu, studied after Mitsunaga and was a distinguished portrait painter in the early Kamakura Period.

  Keinin, or Keion as he is erroneously called, was probably a Shinto priest of the Sumiyoshi Shrine, Settsu; and he is also known as a painter of the Sumiyoshi School. He painted the illustration of the Kwako-genzai-ingwa-kyō or "Sutra on the Cause and Effect of the Past and Present" in the sixth year of Kenchō (1254). The sutra is now owned by Baron Masuda and Mr. Nezu of Tokyo. His style is marked by extraordinary vivacity and vigor.

  Fujiwara Yoshimitsu lived in the later Kamakura Period and the picture scrolls illustrating the life of Saint Hōnen Shōnin are attributed to him.

  Hōgen En-i was a master painter and is known as the painter of the picture depicting the life of Ippen Shōnin owned by the Kwankikō-ji, now on view in the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art.

  Fujiwara Nagataka succeeded in blending the Tosa and Kasuga schools. The famous scroll paintings in the Imperial Household collection illustrating the Mongol Invasion are attributed to him.

  Takashina Takakane, flourishing about the beginning of the fourteenth century, was appointed chief painter to the Court. He was a keen observer of nature and life and his style is very vivid. He was one of the greatest artists of this age; and
the cheerfulness of his coloring and the minuteness of his design can hardly be equalled by others. He is remembered as the painter of the celebrated masterpiece of the Kasuga Gongen Reikenki in the Imperial Household collection.

  The paintings produced in the Kamakura Period may be classified conveniently into three different kinds: first, Buddhist paintings; secondly, portrait paintings; and lastly picture scrolls.

  Fig. 69. One of Twelve Devas (Moon) (N.T.)

  Tō-ji, Kyoto

  The Buddhist paintings most popular in the early Kamakura Period were the images of Amida and his attendant figures, all related to the Pure Land doctrine. One of the most representative examples of such paintings is owned by the Konkai-kōmyōji temple of Kyoto, and is now on view in the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art.

  The figures of Jūniten, or Twelve Devas (Fig. 69) preserved in the Tō-ji monastery of Kyoto are representative examples in which may be studied the new style of Buddhist paintings which the Takuma School developed under the influence of the Sung style of China. The figures are painted in colors on silk, which are mounted as six-fold screens in pair. They are in a standing posture which is a departure from the sitting attitude of the old school. The lines are vigorously accentuated by an undulating touch of the brush, while the lines of the old school were drawn evenly with quiet power. The colors are gorgeous and full of contrasts. The air of tranquillity that prevailed in the preceding style was now transformed into one of movement. When this innovation was introduced, it not only became the model for all the succeeding Twelve Devas, but established a new school, to be known as Takuma. Another group of paintings representing Twelve Devas, which is also attributed to the same painter, is owned by the Jingo-ji monastery of Kyoto; and they are now on view in the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art.

  Jūniten, or Twelve Devas, represent Eight Directions, with Heaven, Earth, the Sun, and the Moon all together symbolizing the universe; and the screens with their figures were used to visualize their guardianship in the time when the baptismal ceremony was held in monasteries.

  In the Daigo-ji monastery near Kyoto are preserved a great number of Buddhist paintings, produced in the later Fujiwara and early Kamakura periods by priest-painters, most of which are excellent works of Buddhist art. One of them is shown in Fig.70.

  Fig. 70. Fudō (N.T.)

  Daigo-ji

  Fig. 71. Prince Shōtoku Taishi (N.T.)

  Ninna-ji, Kyoto

  The portrait paintings of the Kamakura Period were of great persons, contemporaneous as well as historical, because the people were specially interested in their personalities and were deeply inclined to dream of their individual power and social influence.

  In the Ninna-ji of Kyoto there is preserved a famous picture of Prince Shōtoku Taishi, who was the central figure of the early days of Japanese Buddhism and who has been an object of veneration ever since. Especially he was most widely worshipped in this Kamakura Period. There are many well-known portraits of him from babyhood to full growth, as is the case with most great men of the East and the West. The one under review is traditionally supposed to show him at the age of sixteen in the act of offering incense to Buddha with a prayer for the recovery of his sick father, the Emperor. (Fig. 71) Standing with grave wisdom in his young face, he wears a red ceremonial court robe with gold floral patterns and the colorful scarf of a high priest. Tradition ascribes this picture to Kanaoka, a painter of the ninth century; but this is obviously wrong. The portrait cannot be earlier than the Kamakura Period. The picture is painted on silk and its draughtmanship is that of the Chinese Sung Dynasty which we have come to associate with the Kamakura Period in Japan. The color and the gold work of the shoes and the censer are raised. This is a peculiar technique developed in the Kamakura Period.

  With the dawn of the Kamakura Period, under the influence of the martial spirit of the times, for the first time the warrior was portrayed; and though the workmanship was often conventional, the manner of portrayal was not yet stabilized.

  The portrait of Yoritomo, the first Shogun of Kamakura, which is owned by the Jingo-ji of Kyoto, is an important example illustrative of the new movement in the history of portraiture in Japan. (Fig. 72)

  Fig. 72. Portrait of Yoritomo (N.T.)

  Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art

  Another kind of portraiture much prized in this period was that of the Zen priests, because the Zen sect had high regard for individual personality and respected the portraits of its priests. One of the good examples is that of the priest Daitō Kokushi, owned by the Daitoku-ji monastery of Kyoto, which is described elsewhere, (pp. 360-1)

  The picture scrolls or emakimono were produced to illustrate the lives of great religious leaders, miraculous attributes of Shinto deities and sacred Buddhist images, or the famous battles. They are usually voluminous, sometimes exceeding more than twenty scrolls.

  In the Kitano Shrine of Kyoto are the famous picture scrolls called Kitano Tenjin Engi, composed of nine scrolls illustrating the life of Sugawara Michizane to whom the Kitano Shrine of Kyoto is dedicated.

  In the Imperial Household collection is one of the most famous picture scrolls. It is called Kasuga Gongen Reikenki or the Miracle Records of the Kasuga Shrine. (Fig. 73) It was painted by Takashina Takakane, and is composed of twenty scrolls. It belonged originally to the Kasuga Shrine of Nara. It contains very realistic representations of palaces and street scenes and general customs and manners of men and women of the time. In deft execution and gorgeousness of coloring, as well as in variety of design, these pictures surpass all the picture scrolls of the kind and this scroll is one of the representative picture scrolls produced in the later Kamakura Period.

  As to the picture scrolls illustrating famous battles, the Heiji Monogatari composed of three scrolls is the best and most famous example. One of the three is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the rest belong respectively to Baron Iwasaki and Count Matsudaira. The picture is painted in colors on paper and its painter is said to be Sumiyoshi Keinin, the master painter of the Tosa School. It is powerful in execution and vivid in the representation of the characters and horses. The composition and coloring are excellent and it is no doubt the most representative masterpiece of the Kamakura painting.

  What we have seen above of the picture scrolls of the Kamakura Period, are all elaborate works with rich coloring. On the other hand there are lighter ones in which the pictures are painted on paper in black and white with lighter mind. As a good example of such picture scrolls, we may take up a set of four picture scrolls painted with animal caricatures owned by the Kōzan-ji monastery and now borrowed by the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum.

  Another specimen of a similar kind is owned by the Kōryū-ji monastery in Kyoto. The scroll is called Noe Hōshi Ekotoba and depicts the miraculous journey of the priest Noe to the nether regions where he is said to have taught Buddhism to the King of Hell. (Fig. 74)Such a subject was much appreciated by the people of the Kamakura Period, because they had much interest in the talk of Hell. The priest Noe died in 1243 and the picture is supposed to date from shortly after his death, probably from the middle or late Kamakura Period. It is painted on paper, mostly in black and white except for a very slight coloring. The words spoken by the characters are written too near them, thus harming the beautiful composition of the pictures. Such, however, added a new style to the later picture scrolls. Its well developed draughtmanship and the ease of delineation belong to the Yamato-e School of the Kamakura Period.

  Fig. 73. Kasuga Gongen Reikenki

  Imperial Household Collection.

  Fig. 74. Noe Hōshi Ekotoba (N.T.)

  Kōryū-ji, Kyoto

  Besides those described above, the following picture scrolls are likewise important masterpieces of the Kamakura Period:

  Illustrated History of the Kegon Sect of Buddhism or Kegon Engi. Attributed to Nobuzane. A national treasure. Kōzan-ji monastery. Colored on paper. Mounted as six makimono. Borrowed by the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art.

  Mongol In
vasion Picture Scroll, by Nagataka and Nagaaki. Imperial Household collection. Colored on paper. Mounted as two maki-mono.

  Pictorial Biography of Ippen Shōnin, by En-i. A national treasure. Kangikō-ji monastery. Colored on silk. Borrowed by the Kyoto Onshi Museum of Art.

  Pictorial Biography of Hōnen Shōnin. A national treasure. Chion-in monastery. Colored on paper. Mounted as forty-eight makimono.

  History of the Origin of Matsuzaki-tenjin. A national treasure. Matsuzaki-jinja. Colored on paper. Borrowed by the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum.

  3. SCULPTURE

  Kamakura sculpture made remarkable development materially under the new policy adopted toward Buddhist temples by Yoritomo, the first Shogun of Kamakura. Yoritomo began the reconstruction work of the great monasteries of Nara, such as Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji and other monasteries with the opening of his Shogunate government at Kamakura. In connection with this, Buddhist figures were greatly in demand, and gave the sculptors great opportunity to display their genius.

  However, what intrinsically made the Kamakura sculpture was the martial spirit of the time which gave new direction to the Kamakura sculptors. The great master sculptors such as Unkei, Tankei, Jōkei and Kōben all benefited from this great opportunity given by Yoritomo.

  The Kamakura sculpture was usually made of hinoki wood, carved in separate parts, and joined together to compose a whole figure, as in the Fujiwara sculpture.

  The most conspicuous characteristic of Kamakura sculpture was the realistic activity of the mind and the chivalrous spirit of that age. Therefore, the Kamakura sculpture excelled in figures representing heroic movement. The touch of the chisel was free and powerful. More interest was felt in the flesh of man than in the graceful faces of godly quiet which we saw in the masterpieces of Fujiwara sculpture.