• Sagamigawa monogatari (Tale of the Sagami River)
    さがみ川物語

Artist:
  • Asakura Juken
Publisher:
  • [Japan], [approximately 1660-1670]
Extent:
  • 3 rolls : illustrations
Format:
Abstract:
  • Three scrolls produced in a workshop in Kyoto, ca. 1660-70. They were privately commissioned, probably by a local warlord of the Daimyo class. The calligrapher was probably Asakura Jūken. The models for the paintings were Japanese block-printed books. The accompanying text is by an unknown author. The narrative begins with the building of a bridge across the Sagami River and includes scenes from the Heike period featuring Yoshitsune, Yoritomo, Kajiwara, and the battle of Ichinotani.
Description:
  • Ms. rolls.
  • Decoration: 18 paintings on multiple sheets. Roll 1 contains pictures 1-5; roll 2 pictures 6-9; roll 3 pictures 10-18. Each roll is made up of multiple 3-foot sheets.
Binding note:
  • Unbound. Housed in a contemporary laquered box.
Subject:
Edm rights:
  • No Known Copyright
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Classical Japanese
    Japan, 1660–1670, paper

    Scrolls allow for large-scale illustrations, as shown here in this Japanese-sung libretto of a dance. As the Heike monogatari does elsewhere in this exhibition, this work depicts the war between the Taira and Minamoto clans, this time from the latter’s point of view. During a service for a newly built bridge over the Sagami River attended by Minamoto no Yoritomo, many dead spirits suddenly appear. In this image, Yoritomo’s brother Yoshitsune practices martial arts with a tengu creature in support of Yoritomo, who, however, would later kill him.

    Gift of Robert Garrett, Class of 1897, 1942
    Garrett Japanese Manuscripts, no. 1

    For further reading

    Schwemmer, Patrick Reinhart. “Samurai, Jesuits, puppets, and bards: the end(s) of the kōwaka ballad. Volume One: Sagamigawa, transformations of a post-kōwaka ballad.” PhD diss., Princeton University, 2015.

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