石山寺縁起と慕帰絵詞に現れた障屏画

It is generally believed that, judged from the existing specimens, door and screen paintings for architectural ornamentation were most fashionable in the Momoyama Period. It is true that, while some works of door and screen paintings in black monochrome (suiboku), dating back to the Muromachi Period, still remain, there exist nearly nothing of ancient works in colours in the Yamatoe or the classical “Japanese style.” Yamato-e paintings were painted, however, very fashionably on doors and screens since the ancient Heian Period, as is evidently proved by the prevalent depiction of such paintings reproduced in miniature in old scroll paintings. But when was the style of “recent age” door and screen paintings established? The scroll-painting “Ishiyama-dera Engi” (legends about the origin of the Ishiyamadera Monastery) was painted in 1325, and a portion of it was substituted by a copy made in 1476. The scroll-painting “Boki E-kotoba” (illustrated life of the priest Kakunyo) was made in 1315, and a portion of it was supplemented by a copy of 1482. Comparison between the original portions and replacements of these two scroll-paintings tells that the style of door and screen paintings had a distinct change from the Period of Southern and Northern Dynasties to the middle of the Muromachi Period. The “Ishiyama-dera Engi” is painted entirely in the Yamato-e style, but there can be noticed a definite difference between the depiction of door and screen paintings in its original portion, treating of the traditional subjects of famous historical or scenic spots, and of those in the restored portion, dealing with the moon and autumn grasses showing an approach to the “recent-age” flower depiction. In style, too, the latter portion is decorative in depiction and bold and unconventional in composition. The door and screen paintings reproduced in the original portion of the Boki E-kotoba, too, are generally in the traditional Yamato-e style, while those in the restored portion are much more grandiose, and some of them appear to be paintings on golden panels...one of the most distinguished characteristics of Momoyama Kimpeki Shōheki-ga (door and screen paintings of the Momoyama Period painted in rich colours on panels covered with gold leaf. To summarize, the door and screen paintings in and before the Period of Southern Dynasties used to be painted in the traditional Yamato-e style, while those of the middle of the Muromachi Period came to show a considerably great change: they are much like the decorative art of the Momoyama Period both in subject matters and in style. The fact leads us to the presumption that, judged from the result of study on these two scroll-paintings, the style of “recent-age” Japanese door and screen paintings was established in about the middle of the Muromachi Period.