The Tosa School gTaishokkan-zu Byobuh created circa mid Edo period (17 – 18th Century), Rokkyoku Issou (six panel folding screen created as a pair)
12 scenes from the Kowaka-bukyokugTaishokkanh are depicted in this Rokkyoku Issou Byobu. Kowaka Bukyoku is a kind of Warrior Ballads and Dances. Daishokkan is a story that Fujiwara-no-Kamatari and Ryu-oh (King Dragon) fought for a treasure crystal ball. Taishokkan is one of the most popular Kowaka Bukyoku plays which were created between the Muromachi period (14th -16th Century) and the Edo period (17th -19th Century). In later years, this story was performed on the Jyoruri (Japanese puppet theatre) and Kabuki stages. This story was also depicted in picture books and thus this story was well-known among Japanese people.
The Tosa Schoolfs exquisite miniature painting technique which depicts eyebrows and eyelids with very fine lines can be found in this pair of screens. The colors applied here are so beautiful and the scene where the Ashurafs troop appears is spectacularly depicted. The manor house which has a checkered floor shows that this place is in China or an alien world. Japanese scenes and Chinese scenes are clearly depicted in different styles and this narrative style story which was first written in Otogizoshi (books of folk tales) is wonderfully expressed in this artwork. The order of the images depicted here are not in the order of the story.
ƒThe Synopsis of the Daishokkan„
The powerful Taishokkan Fujiwarano Kamarari (see image 1) had a beautiful daughter Kouhaku. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty heard about Kamararifs beautiful daughter and he yearned to see her. The Emperor sent a mission to Japan to offer her a marriage (see image 2). Kouhaku went to China and she came up with the idea to donate various precious gifts to the Kofukuji temple in order to show her fame as an Empress consort(see image 3).
Among all the donated treasures, Muge-Houjyu (Magical Crystal Ball) was the most valuable one. The King Dragon tried to steel this ball but failed (see image 4). Then the King Dragon sent Ashurafs troops but General Unso defeated them (see image 5). However, at Fusasaki Bay in Sanuki (currently Kagawa prefecture), General Unso fell in love with the Ryuujyo or the Dragon Lady and the magical ball was stolen by her (see image 6).
The mission from China arrived in Japan and told Kamatari about the things that happened on the way to him (see image 7). When the mission from China went back home, Kamatari went to Fusasaki to get the ball back for him. (see image 8). Kamatari found a sea lady who was a good diver and he spent some nights with her. When she gave birth to his child, Kamatari told her about his true identity and asked her to get the magic ball back from the King Dragonfs palace. (see image 9).
The sea lady accepted his offer and she went down in the sea to the Dragonfs palace where she found many guards there and came to know that the ball was kept in the annex with tight security(see image 10). It was too difficult for her to fight alone with the guards so she decided to attract their attention to her dance. She danced on the sea and enticed them to come up to the sea surface. The King Dragon and his followers admired her performance(see image 12). While their defenses were down, she went into the sea with the rope attached around her waist and a knife in her hand. She got the ball back but her leg was eaten by the little guard dragons(see image 11). @ Her dead body was lifted onto the boat and a deep cut was found on her chest, where the magical ball was found. This ball was inlayed between the eye brows of the statue of Buddha at the Kofukuji temple.
