Morikage Kusumi - Dullness and Shadow

Japanese: 久隅守景 - くすみ・もりかげ

Years of birth: unknown. A painter from the early Edo period. His origins are unknown, but he was commonly known as Hanbei, and was known by the names Mugesai, Mugasai, and Ichichin'o. He was counted among the four great disciples of Kano Tan'yū, and is said to have married Tan'yū's niece Kuni, but was excommunicated. In 1641, together with Kano Naonobu and Nobumasa, he created the sliding door paintings for the lower room of the small abbot's chamber at Chion-in Temple. The following year, led by Tan'yū, he worked with Naonobu and Nobumasa on the creation of the sliding screen paintings for the guest hall of Shojuraigō-ji Temple. His style at this time was faithfully modeled after Tan'yū's style. The above two paintings were honored works in Morikage's life, but the style of Morikage was not yet evident in the development of his painting style, and they can be considered to be in the period of his studies. In 1672, his son Hikojurō was excommunicated from the Kano family, and was exiled to Sado for a crime. One theory is that he later went to Kaga (Kanazawa) during the Enpo era (1673-1681) and stayed there for six years, staying at the homes of the Kaga domain's elder retainers, Imaeda and Obata, as well as Kataoka Magobei, a townsman of high social standing. In connection with Morikage's trip to Kaga, eight ink-wash sliding door paintings by Morikage remain at Zuiryuji Temple in Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture. This temple was built by Maeda Toshitsune, the lord of the Kaga domain, as a memorial for his brother Toshinaga, and was constructed between 1645 and 1656, and the sliding door paintings are thought to have been created around the same time. Morikage's characteristic thick, flat brushstrokes can be seen in the outlines of the rocks in the paintings, and while his style was based on the Tan'yū style, he appears to have developed his own unique style. Perhaps this work was the catalyst for his trip to Kaga in later years. In any case, he seems to have spent his later years in Kyoto, and there is a record of him painting a portrait of his tea ceremony teacher, Fujimura Yoken. While many of Tan'yu's disciples were faithful to their teacher's style and eventually became formulaic, Morikage's significance lies in the fact that, within the Edo Kano school, he carved out his own unique world by painting casual scenes from the daily lives of peasants and their occupations in a simple style. His representative works, "Evening Glory Shed Summer Folding Screen" (Tokyo National Museum) and "Farming in the Four Seasons Folding Screen" (Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art), well represent Morikage's distinctive features, but other unusual works that seem to have been created with the help of Yamato-e include "Falconry Folding Screen" (private collection) and "Horse Racing in Kamo and Tea Picking in Uji Folding Screen" (Okura Museum of Art), which should not be overlooked.

(Toshinobu Yasumura)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
江戸初期の画家。出自は不明であるが,通称を半兵衛といい,無下斎,無礙斎,一陳翁などと号した。狩野探幽門下の四天王に数えられ,探幽の姪国と結婚するが,破門されたと伝えられている。寛永18(1641)年,狩野尚信,信政と共に知恩院小方丈下段之間の襖絵を制作。翌年,探幽に率いられ尚信,信政らと聖衆来迎寺客殿障壁画制作に携わる。このころの作風は探幽画風を忠実に習っている。上記ふたつの画事が守景の生涯では名誉ある仕事となっているが,画風展開のうえでは守景風はまだみられず,習作期間に位置づけられよう。寛文12(1672)年,息子の彦十郎が狩野家から破門され,さらに罪を得て佐渡へ流される。一説にこの後の延宝年間(1673～1681)加賀(金沢)に赴き,6年間滞在し,加賀藩の家老今枝,小幡の両家並びに家柄町人片岡孫兵衛の家に寄宿したと伝える。この守景の加賀行きと関連して,富山県高岡市の瑞竜寺には守景の水墨襖絵8面が残されている。この寺は加賀藩主前田利常が兄利長の菩提を弔うために建立したもので,造営は正保2年から明暦2年の間(1645～56)で,襖絵の制作も同時期とみられる。画中の岩の輪郭線などに守景特有のぺったりとして野太い筆使いがみられ,探幽風を基本としながらも独自の画風を形成してゆくさまがみえる。この制作が縁となって後年の加賀行きに至ったものか。いずれにしろ晩年は京都で過ごしたようで,茶道の師藤村庸軒の肖像を描いた記録がある。守景の意義は,探幽門下の多くが師風に忠実で,やがて形式化してゆくが,そのような江戸狩野派のなかにあって,農民の何げない日常のひとこまや生業のさまなどを朴訥な作風で描き,独自の世界を切り開いたことにある。代表作の「夕顔棚納涼図屏風」(東京国立博物館蔵)や「四季耕作図屏風」(石川県立美術館蔵)は,守景のそうした特色をよく表しているが,やまと絵を学んだと思われる異色作として「鷹狩図屏風」(個人蔵)や「加茂競馬・宇治茶摘図屏風」(大倉集古館蔵)も見逃せない。

(安村敏信)

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