Emaki style illustrations

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Sometimes, even if the photo in the book is printed in grayscale, the original emaki is in color. In these cases, I don't know what the original pigments or colors, but I can use (hideously expensive) Yasutomo watercolors and make guesses. I'm not really happy with the expression I got on the lady's face in this one. She looks nefarious, hooded and shadowed.

The Dojo-ji Engi ("Legends of Dojo-ji Temple") scroll from the Muromachi period tells the tale of a wandering priest and his tragic relationship with another man’s wife. He flees her and is consumed by the fires of her anger while hiding in the bell of Dojo-ji temple. The prayers of the monks of Dojo-ji re-unite the lovers as spirits in the heavens. This late-period scroll is considered to be of poor artistic quality and "awkward" technique, but it shows a development towards real narrative literature.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Looks like you guessed pretty well! upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Dojoji_engi_emaki_-_p1.png

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Here's the matching illustration of the priest. I'm guessing that the "furry backpack" is actually a straw rain cape used as a pad between the large box he's carrying and his back. Another bit of artistic license with this one on the facial expression, his expression in the original emaki is one of dismay.

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Oct 3, 2014 11:40:38 GMT -5 Saionji Shonagon said:

Looks like you guessed pretty well! upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Dojoji_engi_emaki_-_p1.png

Heh, you know, contrary to my customary "research" methods, I haven't spent much time at all looking up emaki online. I guess I should. The annoying thing is that if anything I think that image of the Dojo-ji Engi emaki is lower resolution than the one in this book.

[Please Delete]

Oct 4, 2014 6:54:24 GMT -5 @ishiyama said:

Here's the matching illustration of the priest. I'm guessing that the "furry backpack" is actually a straw rain cape used as a pad between the large box he's carrying and his back. Another bit of artistic license with this one on the facial expression, his expression in the original emaki is one of dismay.

I would have guessed that at first, then I thought about it: it may be a deerskin, used as a pad and a place to sit. The two feet at the bottom of the "pack" make that setup look like the portable altars of the yamabushi:





That would fit the box on top being three "kata-bako" for prayers, etc. The furry pad would be the hisshiki. Here is a good (if long) article:

www.shugendo.fr/en/doctrines-costumes-and-tools-symbolisme

-Ii

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This one would be good for a bardic award of some kind, I think. I'm pleased with the final result on this one.

This image from the Sanjuniban Shokunin Uta-awase emaki (Muromachi period) depicts an etoki, an itinerant narrator of illustrated stories and explainer of paintings. He is shown with a biwa for musical accompaniment, a box of pictures, and a feathered pointer. This kind of craftsman, or shokunin, was common sight in temples and noble households, presenting narratives and religious stories to those who could not necessarily read them.

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Oct 5, 2014 6:25:37 GMT -5 Please Delete said:

I would have guessed that at first, then I thought about it: it may be a deerskin, used as a pad and a place to sit. The two feet at the bottom of the "pack" make that setup look like the portable altars of the yamabushi:

That seems like a more informed theory than mine. I guess I knew about the sitting pad, but wasn't putting the facts together. I think you're right. Thanks! Dammit, this project is making me learn stuff. I didn't even know medieval Japan had an illustrated bardic tradition until I read the description of the etoki shokunin, either.

Here is a good (if long) article:
www.shugendo.fr/en/doctrines-costumes-and-tools-symbolisme

It amuses me that the most detailed rule in the list of Basic Rules is the one about not leaving your sandals in disarray. This, I suppose, confirms the great wisdom of Mothers.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Oct 4, 2014 19:37:57 GMT -5 @ishiyama said:

Oct 3, 2014 11:40:38 GMT -5 Saionji Shonagon said:

Heh, you know, contrary to my customary "research" methods, I haven't spent much time at all looking up emaki online. I guess I should. The annoying thing is that if anything I think that image of the Dojo-ji Engi emaki is lower resolution than the one in this book.

It never hurts - sometimes you can find out if something in a book exists in an online museum collection, or you can nail down provenance if your first source is a bit sketchy.

BTW, I wanted to say that I am thoroughly enjoying your forays into yamato-e! These are delightful.

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This next example is the purest demonstration of the current inadequacy of my ability of imitation. This set of scrolls is considered one of the most artistically developed of the 150 or so extant historical emaki. It has detailed figures, and colorful settings. I have skipped the background altogether, and left at least one layer of detail off of the lady's clothing. Sigh.

This is only one small scene from the Kasuga Gongen Reikenki (Miracles of Kasuga Gongen) scrolls that are explicitly dated to 1309. Minister of the Left Saionji Kimihira commissioned this set of twenty (!) scrolls from the painter Takashina no Takakane. They depict the miracles performed by the Shinto divinity Kasuga Gongen around Saionji’s family shrine to Kasuga in Nara. The scrolls were kept at the shrine until the family donated them to the collection of the Imperial Family.

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Oct 5, 2014 14:09:52 GMT -5 Saionji Shonagon said:

It never hurts - sometimes you can find out if something in a book exists in an online museum collection, or you can nail down provenance if your first source is a bit sketchy.

That's what I have three reference books for.

BTW, I wanted to say that I am thoroughly enjoying your forays into yamato-e! These are delightful.

Thanks! I am having fun, but sometimes I feel like I am spamming the board with my amusement. It really helps me to organize my thinking to present things to other people though, and the feedback and input I get here is useful and encouraging.

That said, I need to take a few days off from this project to get some other things done. I still have some post-pennsic ironing to take care of, a few braids to make, a couple of woodworking projects that have been stalled for some time...

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Yes, I know that the Choju Giga emaki is just black and white, but I was in a room full of people who were doing illumination, and I succumbed to peer pressure.

This Choju Giga scroll begins with the animals bathing in a stream. Then, they participate in archery contests and a meal is brought to them. Then, it appears a priest blesses their beasts of burden, One monkey steals a sacred branch and is chased. Well dressed nobles begin to arrive. There is a bit of dancing. There is a bit of wrestling, and perhaps some betting. Two monkeys leave the scene with a sugoroku set and a full purse. Finally, a monkey appears in court where he amuses some and embarrasses others.

All in all, it looks like an SCA event to me.

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The Sumiyoshi Monogatari predates the Tale of Genji by about a half century, but it is not as well developed narratively, and only fragments of the original text remain. It is the tale of love between an abused stepdaughter and the middle son of an important family who must go through years of struggle to be together. Here, the young nobleman stands on the white beach of Sumiyoshi, straining to hear the distant koto playing of the princess who will one day be his wife.

One interesting aspect of this emaki is the way both time and space are represented. At one point in the story, the nobleman visits a house where he believes his love to be hiding from her family. The floorplan of the house is presented in its entirety as a single long illustration in isometric view, and the nobleman is represented within that illustration several times to show his journey through the house to where his love waits for him.

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This one was probably even more brightly colored than I have re-made it, but the colors on the original are now faded. The drum was definitely red, though.

Minamoto Yoriyoshi cemented the reputation of the Genji clan by leading a campaign to quash a rebellion by Northern provincial governors in the early eleventh century. This emaki is based on earlier picture scrolls that are now lost, and shows the battles fought during the first part of what was to become a twelve year war. This scene shows the battle drum of the Genji during a night attack by the rebellious Sadatou clan. Nothing is known of the artist.

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The temple at Seiko-ji houses a statue of the Bodhisatva Ksitigarbha, who is known as Jizou, the savior of children and protector of sinners who suffer in hell. This scroll tells the history and legends of the temple, starting from its foundation by the nobleman Taira Sukechika.

In this first scene, Sukechika receives a visit from a priest, who instructs him to reclaim a statue of Jizou that has been abandoned in the wilderness, and build a shrine for it.


Sukechika rides out with his retinue to fetch the statue, but when he finds it, he is unimpressed. It is small, and worn from its time in the wilderness. He desires a more impressive statue for his shrine, and returns home without this one. That night, Sukechika dreams of Jizou who is batching his feet by the well of Sukechika's mansion. The next morning, when Sukechika enters his courtyard there on a stone by the well are wet footprints where Sukechika dreamed Jizou had stood.

Sukechika honors the wet footprints on the stone which confirm his dream of Jizou. The miracle convinces Sukechika to recover the statue.

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The facial expressions came out kind of funny on this one, but I'm very happy the way the coloring went.

The Kegon-engi (Legends of the Kegon Sect) emaki is a 6-scroll biography of the lives of the Korean priests who were important in founding the Kegon sect of Buddhism. The text of this scroll was written by the founder of the Kozanji temple, which is today the Toudai-ji temple where the scrolls are still kept. In this scene, the priest Gijyo speaks with Lady Zenmyo in T’ang era China. Variations in artistic style between this scene and others indicate multiple artists worked on the 270 feet of scroll, completing it in the 12th century.