kassen-zu　合戦図

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Lit. battle pictures. Edo period depictions of warfare from the 16c and early 17c as well as scenes from the wars of the 12c and 13c based on earlier illustrated handscrolls *emaki 絵巻. Most are screens painted to commemorate the battles which brought the Tokugawa 徳川 family to power. Pictures of the battles of Nagashino 長篠 (1575), Nagakute 長久手(1584), and Sekigahara 関ヶ原 (1600) and the sieges of Oosaka (Oosaka-no-jin 大坂の陣, 1614 and 1615) were all depicted on screens. Typical of the genre is the pair of screens of Sekigahara kassen-zu 関ヶ原合戦図 (former Maeda Collection, early 17c) which show in minute detail the events of the battle. Although the attention given to an accurate depiction of the deployment of troops and placement of the camps serves a documentary function, the detail lavished on depictions of costumes, horses, and weapons suggests the theme is also a type of genre painting using warriors. Edo period kassen-zu derive from 12c and 13c scrolls that depict famous wars of the period. Representative examples include the Heiji 平治 (1159) disturbances captured in the three extant handscrolls of illustrated Tale of Heiji Heiji Monogatari Emaki 平治物語絵巻 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Seikadou Bunko 静嘉堂文庫 Art Museum, Tokyo and Tokyo National Museum, late 13c-mid 14c) and the Mongol attacks of 1274 and 1281 depicted in the Repulse of Mongol Invasions Mouko Shuurai Emaki 蒙古襲来絵巻 (Imperial Collection, 1293). By the late 16c, screen compositions, based on the earlier handscrolls, reproduced ancient battles on a large scale. The screens of Heiji Kassen-zu 平治合戦図 (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Ichinotani Kassen-zu 一の谷合戦図 (Chishaku-in 智積院, kyoto), and Genpei Kassen-zu 源平合戦図 (Akama Jinuu 赤間神宮, Yamguchi prefecture), are notable examples.

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