Zenken kojitsu

Zenken kojitsu 前賢故実

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Commentary by Tamaki Maeda

Posted December 11, 2017


The magnum opus of the painter Kikuchi Yōsai 菊池容斎(1788–1878), Zenken kojitsu (Sage ancestors, ancient matters), portrays 571 men and women from the age of the gods to the Southern and Northern Courts period (1336–1392). [1] Produced during the last fifty years of the Edo period, the book contributed enormously to the development of history painting (rekishiga 歴史画), an artistic genre closely linked to nation building in the following Meiji period.


Yōsai was born into a samurai family. He is said to have studied with a Kano school painter, even though he was critical of the school’s method of copying from their funpon 粉本 (model-albums). Yōsai’s work reveals familiarity with an array of objects, including ancient picture-scrolls (emaki 絵巻) and portraits, Chinese woodblock-printed books, and even images from Europe. [2] He was also versed in literature, in particular, historical and legendary accounts. Yōsai’s scholarly approach is well demonstrated by the bibliography in the last volume of Zenken kojitsu (pp. 39–47 on the website), which lists 264 books and scrolls, followed by a brief note indicating that the artist also referenced 138 other articles housed in Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, and various family archives.    


A postscript by Yōsai’s grandson Kikuchi Takafusa 菊池隆房 states that the artist Yōsai began work on Zenken kojitsu around 1818 (Bunsei 1) and completed it in 1868 (Meiji 1). The book, however, also has a preface dated 1836 by the Confucian scholar Matsuda Nobuyuki 松田順之 (1783–1852). This, along with the introduction by the artist dated 1836, suggests that it had taken some shape three decades earlier than its release in 1868.


Zenken kojitsu has ten parts in twenty volumes. These are further divided into seventy-eight sections, titled after the ruling periods of seventy-eight emperors. The first section, “The Era of Emperor Jinmu 神武” (the legendary first emperor, traditional ruling dates 660–585 bce) [3], has four mythological figures, and the last, “The era of Emperor Gokameyama 後亀山” (r. 1382–92), five historical warriors. This structure, based on the imperial line, recalls the epic project Dai Nihon shi 大日本史 (History of great Japan) began by Tokugawa Mitsukuni 徳川光圀 (1628–1700). [4] In his “Explanatory Note” (Reigen 例言, vol. 1, pp. 10–12 on the website), Yōsai indeed credits this, although he quickly asserts that the primary value of his booklies in visual, not textual, representation of historical figures.

There were Chinese picture-books dealing with historical figures in Yōsai’s time but no comparable Japanese examples—a fact that no doubt motivated the artist. Each man or woman in Zenken kojitsu is accompanied by a short biographical account, a format that he adopted from Qing-dynasty books, most notably, Wanxiaotang Zhuzhuang hua zhuan 晚笑堂竹莊畫傳 (Illustrated accounts by Evening Laughter Studio of Bamboo Villa, 1743) by Shang Guanzhou 上官周 (1665–?). [5]  


Yōsai made considerable effort to incorporate his research findings into his portrayal of figures. Like many other intellectuals of his time, Yōsai was in tune with “evidential study” (kōshōgaku 考証学), a method in historical inquiry that stressed the importance of primary sources, including visual objects. In Zenken kojitsu, the posture and clothing of Minamoto no Yoshitsune 源義経 (1159–1189, vol. 15, pp. 10–11 on the website) are derived from his portrait in the temple Chūsonji. [6] The go game-board on which the courtier Wake no Sadaomi 和気貞臣 (817–853) fixes his gaze in contemplation (vol. 6, pp. 28–29 on the website) resembles a go board in the eighth-century treasure house Shōsōin. [7] As he mentioned in his “Explanatory Note,” Yōsai even had a plan to produce a supplementary volume, focusing on his historical research in clothing, armor, swords, and various other objects (the volume was posthumously published in 1903). [8]


The same principle of modeling on “facts” can be seen in Yōsai’s figures. Often depicted in motion, his figures recall those in the aforementioned book by Shang Guanzhou. Yet Yōsai, a keen observer of real life, is also known to have used living models. [9] The figures in Zenken kojitsu are, indeed, remarkably vivid, as demonstrated by the fourth-century legendary archer Tatehito no Sukune (盾人宿禰) shown from the back (vol. 2, pp. 6–7 on the website). Firmly rooted to the ground, Sukune leans slightly forward and twists his upper body to his left as he aims. His arms and shoulders, the bow and arrow all align in foreshortened space, suggesting the extraordinary concentration and strength of the archer.

Zenken kojitsu presents ancient figures in a life-like manner based on historical research and real-life observation. This, coupled with its encyclopedic coverage, led the book to became a standard textbook for history painting during the Meiji period. Zenken kojitsu provides important insights into ways in which the pre-modern historical consciousness was carried over into modern art, at a time when its creators and viewers alike sought roots for the newly emerging nation-state of Japan. 

Selected readings:

Nakano Noriyuki 中野慎之, Zenken kojitsu no shiteki ichi 「前賢故実の史的位置」, Museum [Myūzeamu]: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan kenkyūshi 664『Museum = ミューゼアム: 東京国立博物館研究誌 664』(October 2016), 31–53.

Nerima Kuritsu Bijutsukan 練馬区立美術館, ed., Kikuchi Yōsai to Meiji no bijutsu『菊池容斎と明治の美術』(Tokyo: Nerima Kuritsu Bijutsukan, 1999).  

Shioya Jun塩谷純, “Kikuchi Yōsai: gazoku o koete”「菊池容斎─雅俗を超えて」, in Gekidōki no bijutsu: bakumatsu, Meiji no gaka tachi (zoku) 『激動期の美術幕末・明治の画家たち[続]』, ed. Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄(Tokyo: Perikansha, 2008), 33–60.

Shioya Jun 塩谷純, “Kikuchi Yōsai to rekishiga” 「菊地容斎と歴史画」, Kokka 1183 『国華』(1994), 7–23.

Yamanashi Toshio 山梨俊夫, Egakareta rekishi: Nihon kindai to “rekishiga” no jiba 『描かれた歴史:日本近代と｢歴史画｣の磁場』(Tokyo: Bryukke, 2005), 13–71.   

Copies in Other Collections:

British Museum, London

Columbia University Library, New York

Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Kyoto University Library

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

National Diet Library, Tokyo

National Library of Australia, Canberra

SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) Library, University of London

Yale University Library, New Haven

Waseda University Library, Tokyo

[1] The number 571 is cited in Shioya 2008, 37. 

[2] Among Yōsai’s oeuvre are the paintings Napoleon and Western woman, which show that he studied images imported from Europe. For models for Yōsai’s work, See Shioya 1994, 10.   

[3] These dates are according to Chronicle of Japan (Nihon shoki 日本書紀, compiled in 720 CE).

[4] Dai Nihon shi, altogether 397 volumes, was completed in 1906—though a major part was done in Mitsukuni’s time and was well-known among Edo period intellectuals.

[5] For discussion of Chinese models for Zenken kojitsu, see Nakano 2016.

[6] Shioya 1994, 11.

[7] Yōsai’s reference included Tōdaiji Shōsōin takaramono zu 東大寺正倉院宝物図 (Pictures of treasures in Shōsōin in Tōdaiji). Ibid., 14. 

[8] In 1903, Tōyōdō 東陽堂 published Zenken kojitsu kōshō 前賢故実考証, which consists of Zenken kojitsu and the new supplementary volume. Under the title Zenken kojitsu kōshō 前賢故実考証, Tōyōdō 東陽堂 reprinted Zenken kojitsu accompanied with the new supplementary volume. For the supplementary volume, see http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/778236 (accessed September 5, 2017).

[9] Shioya 1994, 10.