Heiji Monogatari Emaki

Nowadays, only three original scrolls and a few fragments of a fourth remain; they are held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, and the Tokyo National Museum. The civil wars for the domination of Japan at the end of the Heian period, which ended with the victory of the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War, had a strong effect on the course of history in Japan. They have also been illustrated in many artworks, including the Heiji Monogatari Emaki, which has inspired many artists up until modern times. The paintings in the work, in the Yamato-e style, are distinguished by both the dynamism of lines and movement and the vivid colours, as well as a realistic impetus characteristic of the arts of the Kamakura period. Cruelty, massacres and barbarities are also reproduced without any attenuation. The result is a "new style particularly suited to the vitality and confidence of the Kamakura period". In several scrolls, long painted sequences introduced by short calligraphy passages are carefully composed in such a way as to create the tragic and the epic, such as the passage of the fire at Sanjō Palace, deeply studied by art historians.

Recorded constituent parts are Illustrated Tale of the Heiji Civil War ： Scroll of the Imperial Visit to Rokuhara, Narrative picture scroll of the Heiji Civil War (Scroll of Shinzei) and Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace, from the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era (Heiji monogatari emaki). It is associated with Japan. The record gives 1275 as its date of establishment or first appearance. It is associated with Yamato-e. It is recorded in the collection of Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

• Title — Heiji Monogatari Emaki • Other Language 1 — ja • Other Title 1 — 平治物語絵巻 • Artist — Unknown • Completion Date — Second half of the 13th century • Medium — * Emakimono • Paint and ink on paper handscroll • Movement — Yamato-e • Subject — Heiji rebellion • Designation — National Treasure • Museum — * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston • Seikadō Bunko Art Museum • Tokyo National Museum

• Illustration — Emperor Go-Shirakawa and his escort fleeing from the attack by the Minamoto clan on Sanjō Palace (Sanjō Palace fire scroll) Originating in Japan in the sixth or seventh century through trade with the Chinese Empire, emakimono art spread widely among the aristocracy in the Heian period. An emakimono consists of one or more long rolls of paper narrating a story through Yamato-e texts and paintings. The reader discovers the story by progressively unrolling the scroll with one hand while rewinding it with the other hand, from right to left (according to the then horizontal writing direction of Japanese script), so that only a portion of text or image of about is visible. The narrative of an emakimono assumes a series of scenes, the rhythm, composition and transitions of which are entirely the artist's sensitivity and technique. The themes of the stories were very varied: illustrations of novels, historical chronicles, religious texts, biographies of famous people, humorous or fantastic anecdotes, etc. The Kamakura period, the advent of which followed a period of political turmoil and civil wars, was marked by the coming to power of the warrior class (the samurai). Artistic production was very strong, and more varied themes and techniques than before were explored, signalling the "golden age" of emakimono (the 12th and 13th centuries). Under the impetus of the new warrior class in power, emakimono evolved towards a more realistic and composite pictorial style. Paintings of military and historical chronicles were particularly appreciated by the new ruling warrior class; ancient documents identify many emakimono on these subjects, including the Hōgen Monogatari Emaki (no longer extant), which recounted the rebellion, the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba on the Mongol invasions, and of course the emakimono the subject of the present article. According to Miyeko Murase, the epic battles transcribed in those emakimono must have strongly marked the minds of the Japanese, because the artists had made the battle theme enduring.

• Illustration — In the Emperor's room, Fujiwara no Nobuyori learns of the flight of Emperor, whom he was holding prisoner (Emperor 's flight scroll) The work describes the Heiji rebellion (1159–1160), one of the episodes of the historical transition period that saw Japan enter the Kamakura period and the Middle Ages: the Imperial Court lost all political power in favour of the feudal lords led by the shogun. During this transition, the authority of the emperors and the Fujiwara regents weakened due to corruption, the growing independence of local chiefs (daimyos), starvation and even superstition, so that the two main clans of the time vied for control of the state: the Taira clan and the Minamoto clan. Relations between the two clans deteriorated and political plots were asserted, so much so that in early 1160, the Minamoto clan attempted a coup by besieging Sanjō Palace in Kyoto to kidnap Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and his son Emperor. It was the start of the Heiji rebellion. The Taira, led by Taira no Kiyomori, hastily gathered its strength to retaliate; it took the advantage and decimated the rival clan, except for the young children. Ironically, among these children spared was Minamoto no Yoritomo who, a generation later in the Genpei War (1180–1185), would avenge his father and take control of all of Japan, establishing the political domination of the warriors in the new Kamakura period, from which the emakimono dates. The Heiji rebellion, famous in Japan, has been the subject of many literary adaptations, in particular The Tale of Heiji from which the emakimono is directly inspired. The rivalries of clans, wars, personal ambitions and political intrigue amid social change and radical policies have made the Heiji rebellion an epic subject par excellence. Indeed, this type of bloody, rhythmic storytelling is particularly suitable for emakimono.

• Illustration — One of the surviving fragments of the Battle of Rokuhara scroll Very little information is available about the realisation of the original scrolls, and the events explaining their condition and partial destruction. The artist(s) remain unknown; the work was previously attributed to the supposed 14th century painter Sumiyoshi Keion, but that attribution has been deprecated since the second half of the 20th century, as the very existence of that painter is doubtful. The sponsor is no better known, but was probably a relative of the Minamoto clan, ruler of Japan at the time the emakimono was made, as suggested by the brilliant representation of the Minamoto warriors. According to estimates and stylistic comparisons, the creation of the work dates from the middle and second half of the 13th century, probably between the 1250s and the 1280s. The pictorial proximity between all the scrolls shows that they probably come from the same workshop painters, but slight variations tend to confirm that the preparation took place over several decades during the second half of the 13th century, without the reason for such a long period of creation being known. Fragments of the fourth or Battle of Rokuhara scroll, a little more recent and slightly different in style, may belong either to the original work or to an old copy from the Kamakura period according to art historians, but again the true position is uncertain.

• Illustration — Close-up of the detailed weapons and armour of the warriors; the red-armoured horseman in the top right is none other than Minamoto no Yoshitomo (Sanjō Palace fire scroll) The Heiji Monogatari Emaki provides a glimpse into the unfolding of historical events of the Heiji rebellion, and, more importantly, significant testimony as to the life and culture of the samurai. The first or Sanjō Palace fire scroll shows a wide range of this military class: clan chiefs, horse archers, infantry, monk-soldiers, imperial police (kebiishi)... The weapons and armour depicted in the emakimono are also very realistic, and as a whole the work testifies to the still predominant role of the mounted yumi archer, and not the katana infantryman, for the samurai of the 12th century. The beauty of the luxurious harnesses of the Heian period is also underlined by the work; the contrast between the harnesses and the cruel and vulgar squadron is interesting, in particular because the texts in the work deal very little with this subject. Additionally, some aspects of period military uniforms can only be understood today through the paintings. On the other hand, the texts provide little historiographical information because of their brevity and, sometimes, their inadequate or inaccurate descriptions of the paintings. The depiction of Sanjō Palace shortly before its destruction provides an important example of the ancient shinden-zukuri architectural style that developed in the Heian period away from the Chinese influences in vogue during the Nara period. The long corridors of the Palace lined with panels, windows or blinds, the raised wooden verandas and the roofs covered with thin layers of Japanese cypress bark are characteristic of the style. The emakimono has also been a source of inspiration for various artists, first and foremost those who took up the theme of the Heiji rebellion on a screen or fan, including Tawaraya Sōtatsu and Iwasa Matabei. In paintings of a major military subject in Japan, many depictions of battle are unsurprisingly inspired by the work. So, for example, the Taiheiki Emaki of the period depicts very similar arrangements of groups of warriors and postures of the characters. Additionally, studies indicate that the painter was inspired, among other things, by the Heiji Monogatari Emaki in creating the paintings of the Battle of Sekigahara in his Tōshō Daigongen Engi (17th century) (according to Karen Gerhart, the goal was symbolically to associate the Tokugawa shogunate with the Minamoto clan, the first shoguns of Japan). Similar comments apply to Tani Bunchō in relation to the Ishiyama-dera Engi Emaki. Indeed, the fourth or Battle of Rokuhara scroll was the most imitated and popular in Japanese painting, so much so that in the period it became a classic motif of battle paintings. Finally, Teinosuke Kinugasa drew some inspiration from the work for his film Gate of Hell (Jigokumon).

Heiji Monogatari Emaki - Sanjo scroll Heiji Monogatari Emaki - Shinzei Scroll Heiji Monogatari Emaki - Rokuhara scroll

The whole of the original Heiji Monogatari Emaki was kept for a long time at the Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, overlooking Kyoto, together with the emakimono, no longer extant, of The Tale of. During the 15th and the 16th centuries, the original scrolls were separated, but their history at that time is lost to modern times. In the 19th century, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, won the first or Sanjō Palace fire scroll through Okakura Kakuzō. The third or Flight to Rokuhara Scroll was acquired by the Tokyo National Museum from the Matsudaira clan in around 1926. Finally, the second or Shinzei scroll was acquired by the wealthy Iwasaki family, whose collection is preserved by the Seikadō Foundation (now the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum).