Shōgunke no fusumae: Fusuma paintings in the shoguns' residence

Abstract

"The Muromachi period (1336-1573) was the point of origin for contemporary Japanese culture, the period in which many art forms thriving today--including Noh, Kyogen, the way of tea, and ikebana--were born. At the center of Muro-machi culture were the residences of the Ashikaga shoguns, rulers of the Muromachi shogunate, in Kyoto. The shoguns' residences consisted of a number of buildings, of which a particularly important structure was the kaisho. The kaisho was where people gathered, enjoyed Noh and Kyogen performances, held poetry parties at which they composed renga, linked verse, and participated in tea gatherings. The kaisho could be said to symbolize Muromachi culture; its fusuma sliding doors were adorned with paintings by the leading artists of their time, including Shūbun (n.d.), painter by appointment to the shogun's household. Sadly, all those fusuma paintings have been lost. Our eyes will never see them. We do know, however, what the subjects of those paintings were, thanks to descriptions in surviving texts. Also, extant folding screen paintings that are extremely similar to the fusuma paintings in size and format make it possible to imagine them, restoring them in our minds. This exhibition recreates the world of Fusuma Paintings in the Shoguns' Residence, by selecting classic subjects used in the fusuma paintings in the kaisho of the Ashikaga shoguns' residences, gathering folding screen paintings on those subjects from the latter half of the Muromachi through the Edo periods, from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries, and displaying them as a group. Those fusuma paintings, the very heart of Muromachi-period painting, now seen through folding screens, provide an opportunity to reconsider the significant role they played in the history of painting in Japan"-- Foreword (page 135).