painting;
hanging scroll
- Museum number
- 1913,0501,0.393
- Description
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Painting, hanging scroll. Scene from Ise monogatari, lovers in Heian court dress hiding in dense grasses of Musashino moor. Ink, colours and gold on paper. Signed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1736-1748
- Dimensions
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Height: 91.50 centimetres
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Width: 40 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Reproduced and discussed in Museum Rietberg, 'Love, Fight, Feast: The Multi-faceted World of Japanese Narrative Art' (2021), no. 17.
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Clark 1992
'Ise monogatari', the Heian period set of tales with poems centring on the exploits of a courtier lover thought to be Ariwara no Narihira (825-80), includes a story commonly known as 'Musashi Moor' (chapter 12). 'A certain man' (as he is invariably styled) abducts a young woman and carries her off to lonely Musashi Moor. The man is captured by the guards of the Governor of the province but has managed to hide the young woman in the dense 'susuki' grasses of the moor. Soldiers are just about to set fire to the grass when they hear the woman reciting a poem of love for her 'husband' and take her back with them.
As in the painting of 'Saigyo and Eguchi' (no. 33), Sukenobu sometimes followed the practice of 'mitate' in reworking ancient tales in modern costume, but here he has chosen to clothe the lovers in Heian court dress, she wearing the 'twelve-layered' long brocade robes ('juni hitoe') and he hunting costume ('kariginu') and stiff, black 'eboshi' hat. Sukenobu adopts a similarly historical approach in his illustrated book Ise monogatari of 1747, an abridged version of the Heian classic which contains illustrations of twelve chapters (but not 'Musashi Moor').
Sukenobu has devised a touching composition in which the lovers press close together amid the desolation of the moor, he kneeling and alert for any approaching danger, and she standing leaning on his shoulder, one hand raised to her face in dejection. Such sentimental courtly themes would certainly have found favour with a Kyoto audience, nostalgic for the long-vanished age of Imperial rule.
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Asahi 1996
『伊勢物語』は、在原業平（825-80）と思われる恋多き廷臣の手柄を綴った平安時代の和歌集で、その中に第12段「武蔵野」としてよく知られた物語がある。「ある男」が、若い女性をさらって物淋しい武蔵野に逃げ込んだ。男は国守に捕らえられたが、首尾よく女を薄の茂る野原の中に隠した。兵士が草むらに火を放とうとしたその時、彼女の「夫」を思う恋詩が聞こえ、彼らは女を連れ戻したという話。
「西行江口の君図」（No.27）で見たように、祐信は時折古典の物語を当世風に読み替える「見立」という手法を使っている。しかし、本図の恋人たちは平安時代の宮中の衣装そのままに、女は十二単、男は狩衣に烏帽子という姿で描かれている。祐信は延享4年（1747）の絵本「伊勢物語」でも、同じように歴史に則った手法を用いた。これは古典の抄本で、「武蔵野」を除いた12の章からなり、それぞれに挿絵が付されたものである。
祐信は、荒涼とした草原に恋人たちが寄り添うという感動的な構図を考え出した。男はひざまずいて近づく危険に身構え、一方女は男の肩にすがるようにたたずみ、左手で顔を押さえて落胆を表している。このように感傷的な宮廷物語は、いにしえの王朝時代に郷愁を抱いた京都の観衆の心を確実につかんだのであろう。
（荒木康子（福島県立美術館））
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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2021 9 Sep-5 Dec, Zurich, Museum Rietberg, Love, Fight, Feast: The Multi-faceted World of Japanese Narrative Art
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Ise monogatari 伊勢物語 ('Musashi Moor' (chapter 12))
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings belonging to Arthur Morrison was purchased by Sir William Gwynne-Evans, who presented it to the British Museum in 1913.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0501,0.393
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1401 (Japanese Painting Number)
