Fact and Fiction in Meisho-e (Paintings of Famous Places) : Concerning the Album Matsukawa juni-kei waka-shikishi-cho (Tanka poems and pictures for the Twelve Views of Matsukawa)

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  • 新名所の虚実 : 「松川十二景和歌色紙帖」(相馬市教育委員会)をめぐって
  • シン メイショ ノ キョジツ : 「 マツカワ ジュウニケイワカ シキシジョウ 」(ソウマシ キョウイク イインカイ)オ メグッテ

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Sōma Masatane (1661–1728), the feudal lord of Sōma Domain (now Fukishima Prefecture),commissioned the album Matsukawa jūni-kei waka-shikishi-chō (Tanka poems and pictures for the Twelve Views of Matsukawa; Sōma Board of Education) around 1688. Matsukawa is a famous place, which we can already find mention of in the Man'yōshū, a collection of poems from the 8th century. The Twelve Views of Matsukawa designates places only, unlike the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang or the Eight Views of Ōmi, which combine places with seasons or particular kinds of weather. The Emperor Higashiyama sanctioned the Twelve Views newly-chosen by Masatane, and twelve court nobles composed tanka to accompany them. In this way, the new Twelve Views of Matsukawa were officially accepted. Masatane, who inherited Sōma Domain due to his brother’s sudden death, wanted to represent his legitimacy through this official acceptance. Moreover,the pictures of the Twelve Views were painted by genuine Edo Kano painters, including Kano Tsunenobu, to further legitimize Masatane’s authority. These pictures were not painted as real landscape, but as idealized ones with overtones of classical literature. The order of the Twelve Views was originally determined by season, but it is different in the album.

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