“Chinese Lions” (Provided by the Museum of the Imperial Collections)
Masterpieces of Japanese art handed down by the imperial family for generations are to be designated as national treasures for the first time.
They include “Chinese Lions,” which is painted on a folding screen by Kano Eitoku (1543-1590) and regarded as one of his most important works, and “The Mongol Invasion,” a picture scroll dating from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).
The Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report July 16 to the education minister proposing that four paintings and a work of calligraphy be given the double status of important cultural properties and national treasures.
“Moko Shurai Ekotoba” (picture scrolls on the Mongol invasion) (Provided by the Imperial Household Agency’s Museum of the Imperial Collections)
Thousands of valuable artworks connected to the imperial family that are rarely seen by the public will be leased out to museums for free from April so they can be exhibited across Japan.
The works are from the Museum of the Imperial Collections, located within the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.
The initiative comes as the museum has temporarily closed for refurbishment work until fiscal 2024.
Officials decided to use the renovation period to give people far and wide a chance to see the unique art.
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Earlier versions of the descriptions of these paintings first appeared in 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die
, edited by Stephen Farthing (2018). Writers’ names appear in parentheses.
Irises (1702)
Ogata Kōrin was born into a rich merchant-class family that owned a textile shop in Kyōto patronized by the ladies of feudal lords and nobles. Kōrin was influenced by the tradition that the artists Kōetsu and Sōtatsu had developed at the artistic community Takagamine, where his grandfather was a member. The Rinpa (“School of Rin”) style established by his two predecessors in fact takes its name from Kōrin, who consolidated the style with his brother Kenzan. After losing the family fortune, Kōrin and Kenzan made their living by designing textiles, screens, lacquer, and ceramics.