Zōho ehon isaoshigusa 増補絵本勲功草
FSC-GR-780.317.1-5
Commentary by Iwakiri Yuriko
Posted April 19, 2017
Original unedited text in Japanese follows

Kita Busei, the artist of Zōho ehon isaoshigusa (A picture book revised: a collection of meritorious deeds), studied painting with Tani Bunchō (see e.g., [Nihon] meizan zue; FSC-GRC-780.601.1-3). Although Busei is not generally considered a ukiyo-e artist, he did design illustrations for both yomihon and surimono. Busei was also a pupil of Yamazaki Tomo’o, this book’s author and a scholar of kokugaku, or “National Studies.” The introduction is attributed to Zen’an Chinjin, who is thought to be the Confucian scholar Asakawa Zen’an 朝川善庵 (1781–1849).

The author’s explanatory notes states that the text is intended for children, which accounts for the inclusion of tales of wise women alongside those of the famous warriors often illustrated in votive plaques (ema 絵馬) and paintings in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Although the text remarks that it covers events from the time of the legendary emperor Keikō (reign c. 71–130) to around the Bunroku era (1592–1596), the contents of Zōho ehon isaoshigusa in fact spans the mythological era of the gods to the period of the Genpei War (1180–1185). The advertisement at the end of the fifth volume in the first printing has a forthcoming notice for the second and third parts of Zōho ehon isaoshigusa, and perhaps these sequels would have dealt with the post-Genpei era. However, it appears that these were never published since extant copies are unknown.

This book differs stylistically from the warrior picture books generally designed by ukiyo-e artists, possessing an elegance more associated with the Yamato-e painting lineage and a richness in the printed color. Striking examples include the skilled archer Minamoto Yorimasa (源頼政) eliminating the here unseen supernatural nue beast (vol. 3; seventh double-page illustration, pp. 28–29 on the website), and the young Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸; Minamoto Yoshitsune’s childhood name) combating the warrior-monk Musashibō Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) in a composition set against a jet-black background (vol. 4; fifth double-page illustration, pp. 20–21 on the website).

The image of the courtier-poet Teishin-kō貞信公(Fujiwara no Tadahira藤原忠平; 880–949) and the demon in the seventh double-page illustration (vol. 1; pp. 38–39 on the website) influenced the rendition of this figure in Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s woodblock print series New forms of thirty-six ghosts (Shinkei sanjūrokkaisen新形三十六怪撰; 1889). The Pulverer copy could be a first printing.

書名増補絵本勲功草

執筆者岩切友里子

喜多武清（1776–1857）は谷文晁について絵を学んだ絵師で、浮世絵師ではないが読本の挿絵や摺物にも筆を執っている。著者の山崎知雄（1798–1861）は国学者で、喜多武清について絵も学んだ。序文を記した善庵陳人は、儒学者の朝川善庵（1781–1849）と見られる。

著者の凡例には、子どもたちに伝えるため、寺社の扁額や画によく描かれる名将勇士たちのほか賢女の話もまじえたと述べられている。また、景行天皇の時代から文禄の頃までを扱うと述べているが、本書にあるのは、神代から源平時代のものである。巻末の広告に「増補絵本勲功草」二編・三編追刻とあるので、本書に続く編でこれ以降の時代が扱われていたものと思われるが、二編・三編は出版されずに終わったようで、その存在は知られていない。

浮世絵師による一般的な武者絵本とは異なる画風で、やまと絵風の雅趣がある。彩色摺も濃厚なものが多く、特に三冊目の源頼政の鵺退治や四冊目の牛若丸と弁慶の戦いに用いられている、闇を表わす漆黒の摺が特徴的である。

一冊目の貞信公の図は、明治22年に出版された月岡芳年「新形三十六怪撰」の貞信公を描いた1図への影響が窺われる。

Copies in other collections:

Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Chiba City Museum of Art

National Diet Library, Tokyo