Baekje River - Kudara no Kawanari

Japanese: 百済河成 - くだらのかわなり

Year of death: 853.9.30 (Jinju 3.8.24)
Year of birth: Enryaku 1 (782)
A painter from the early Heian period. His ancestors were from Baekje, and his real surname was Yo. In Jowa 7 (840), he was given the title of Baekje Ason. He was a skilled warrior and served as a servant of the Sahyoefu in Daido 3 (808), but he also showed talent in painting, and the people, landscapes, plants, and trees he painted were praised as being "as if they were naturally growing (almost alive)." There is a story in Montoku Jitsuroku (Chronicles of Montoku) that Kawanari drew a "shape" to call his attendant, and the attendant found it without difficulty, and an episode in Konjaku Monogatari (Tales of Times Now Past and Present) in which a craftsman from Hida ran away after smelling the putrid odor of a corpse Kawanari had drawn. Both of these stories speak of his outstanding skill. However, no works remain. It is also said that he erected the stone for the Takidono in Saga-in (later Daikaku-ji Temple, Ukyo Ward, Kyoto City), the detached palace of Emperor Saga (Tales of Times Now Past and Present) (Konjaku Monogatari). In 833, he was promoted to Junior Fifth Rank. During the Jowa era (834-848), he served as the governor of Bitchu and the governor of Harima.

(Murai Yasuhiko)

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

Japanese:

没年：仁寿3.8.24(853.9.30)
生年：延暦1(782)
平安前期の画家。先祖は百済の出で,本姓は余。承和7(840)年百済朝臣を賜る。武勇に長じ大同3(808)年左兵衛府の舎人として出仕するが,絵画の才を発揮し,描くところの人物や山水草木は「自生のごとし(まるで生きているようだ)」と称賛された。河成が従者を呼ぶのにその「形体」を描いて示したところ難なくみつかったという話(『文徳実録』)や,ある飛騨工が,河成の描いた屍に腐臭を感じて逃げ出したというエピソード(『今昔物語』)は,いずれもその卓抜な技量を物語っている。ただし作品は現存しない。嵯峨天皇の離宮嵯峨院(のちの大覚寺。京都市右京区)の滝殿の石を立てたとも伝える(『今昔物語』)。天長10(833)年外従五位下。承和年中(834～848)備中介,播磨介を歴任。

(村井康彦)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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