Soga Chokuan

Japanese: 曾我直庵 - そが・ちょくあん

Years of birth: unknown. A painter from the Momoyama period. He is said to have lived in Sakai, Senshu (Osaka), and died during the Keicho era (1596-1615). Some art histories from the Edo period state that he was the son of Soga Shosho, the youngest grandson of Soga Jasoku, who served the Echizen Asakura clan, and the family tree written by Chokuan's son, Ni Chokuan, also places him as a fifth-generation descendant of Jasoku. No direct documentation linking Chokuan to the Echizen Soga school has been found, but the rough and wild aspects of Chokuan's painting style show a sense that is similar to that of Jasoku, so it is quite possible that a descendant of the Echizen Soga school or a disciple of the school migrated to Sakai when the Asakura clan was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga (1573). He often painted flowers and birds, people, and landscapes, and his works have a unique, strong character and a clear tendency to capture the subject in a unique way. In terms of technique, the majority of his works are primarily ink-wash works, and there are no highly colorful gold-ground folding screen paintings, which were popular during the Momoyama period. He excelled at painting hawks, and his large-scale folding screen paintings of birds of prey, such as "An Eagle on a Pine and Cypress" (Private Collection) and "A Pine, Hawk and Reed Heron" (Private Collection), exude a particularly sharp and powerful spirit. In addition to pressed-paper hawk paintings accompanied by inscriptions by Zen monks, many of his works have been passed down at Mt. Koya, such as the "Shangzan Shiko and Kokei Sanshozu byobu" at Koyasan Henjoko-in and the "Chicken Screen" at Hōki-in, and one of his surviving works with a known date is the "Divine Horse Ema" votive tablet, which was donated by Toyotomi Hideyori to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in 1612. <References> Minamoto Toyomune "Soga Jyasoku" (Complete Works of Japanese Painting Art, Vol. 3), Tanaka Toyozo "Soga Nichian - My Thoughts on the Soga School" (Kokuka, No. 365), Nara Prefectural Museum of Art "Exhibition Catalogue of Paintings by Soga Nichian and Nichian"

(Keiko Kawamoto)

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

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
桃山時代の絵師。泉州(大阪)堺に住し,慶長年間(1596～1615)に没したと伝えられる。江戸時代の画史類に,越前朝倉氏に仕えた曾我蛇足の末孫曾我紹祥の子とするものがあり,直庵の子二直庵の書き残した系図でも蛇足5世孫に位置づけられている。直庵と越前曾我派を結びつける直接資料は未発見だが,直庵画風の粗々しく野性的な側面に蛇足の系統に通ずる感覚が認められることから,朝倉氏が織田信長に滅ぼされた際(1573),越前曾我派の後裔またはその門流が堺に移住した可能性も十分考え得る。花鳥,人物,山水いずれの画題もよくしたが,その作品には独特のアクの強さがあり,対象を個性的にとらえる傾向が顕著である。技法的には水墨を主体とした作品が大半で,桃山時代に流行した金地極彩色の障屏画はみられない。画鷹を得意とし,「松柏に鷲図」(個人蔵)や「松鷹蘆鷺図」(個人蔵)など猛禽を扱った大画方式の屏風画には特に鋭い気迫が感じられる。禅僧の着賛を伴った押絵貼の鷹図も伝わるほか,高野山遍照光院の「商山四皓・虎渓三笑図屏風」や宝亀院の「鶏図屏風」など,高野山に多くの作品が伝えられており,そのうち年代のわかる現存作には,慶長15年に豊臣秀頼が北野天満宮に奉納した「神馬図絵馬」がある。<参考文献>源豊宗「曾我蛇足」(『日本絵画美術全集』3巻),田中豊蔵「曾我二直庵―曾我派に関する私考」(『国華』365号),奈良県立美術館『曾我直庵・二直庵の絵画展/図録』

(川本桂子)

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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