Imagining the “Capital”: Paintings and Ballads of Kyoto in the Realm of a Feudal Lord

• In Event: Discourse on the “Capital”: Imagining Kyoto in Medieval Japan

Abstract

Following the devastating Ōnin War (1467–77), Kyoto experienced a period of rebuilding and rejuvenation. Over the course of several decades of physical and cultural reconstruction, a new type of folding screen appeared that depicted the capital in ways never before seen. While earlier screens displayed a variety of famous places and official ceremonies, this new series of paintings, named Tsukinami Fūzokuzu (Monthly Genre Scenes), showed a novel attention to locality, culture, and everyday life. In this presentation I argue that what makes the Tsukinami Fūzokuzu even more intriguing is that they were produced outside of the capital by the feudal lord of the Kikkawa clan who governed the area of present-day Hiroshima. In addition to exploring how these paintings created in a provincial region envisioned the capital, I analyze a sixteenth century ballad, Tauezōshi, also presumably produced in the same region. The ballad is a collection of short songs recited by local farmers during planting season that reveal connections between capital and countryside. Both the screens and ballad share important characteristics in that they incorporated images of Kyoto, such as a flourishing market and historical events, in addition to the regional landscape. By analyzing how the provincial paintings and ballads represent the capital, this presentation illuminates cultural production of the imagery of the capital created outside of Kyoto and how local people’s memories and imaginations were interwoven into texts and images beyond official historical records.

Author

• Misato Ido, University of Tokyo