冷泉為恭筆藤原行成像 冷泉為恭筆藤原行成像レイゼイタメチカヒツフジワラノユキナリゾウ

Description

A painter of the late Edo Period, Reizei Tamechika (1823-64) was born in Kyoto as the son of Kano Eitai. However, he liked the Reizei surname so much that he adopted it and called himself “Reizei Saburo.” He was later adopted into the Okada Family and appointed the Protector of Ohmi, Junior Fifth Rank. With a strong aversion for the highly-formalized Kano School painting styles, Tamechika was attracted to the revival of the Yamatoe tradition (used in ancient Japanese court paintings), a movement led on the art scene by Tanaka Totsugen (1767-1823). Well-versed in ancient manners and decorum, Tamechika also contributed greatly to the revival of ancient court culture. In his last years, he frequented the Sakai Family mansions to make reproductions of the “Picture Scroll Depicting Major Counselor Tomono”. But, this artistic activity was misinterpreted by the samurai, who were staging urban guerilla warfare in order to dispel foreign influences. As a result, Tamechika fled from Kyoto (1862) and sought the Buddhist life, adopting the name Shinren-Bo Koa. Nevertheless, he was assassinated in May 1864 by a band of Choshu samurai, acting on a self-imposed mission to terminate the military government under the House of Tokugawa. He was 42 years old. The exhibit is a portrait of Three Great Carigraphists of the mid Heian period, Ono-no Michikaze (also Tofu, 894-996), Fujiwara-no Sukemasa (also Sari, 944-998) and Fujiwara-no Yukinari (also Kozei, 972-1027). They established a Japanese style of writing.