Sogaha　曽我派

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

The Soga school. A group of Japanese painters active from the 15c through the 18c. Although later Soga artists claimed to be direct descendents of the founders of the lineage, evidence verifying such claims is lacking. Numerous early documents refer to Soga painters, but the records are often contradictory. Recent scholarship tends to support to early accounts that Ri Shuubun 李秀文 (also known as Ri Hidebumi, K: Yi Su-min), an emigrant from Korea, founded the Soga school. In the inscription on his album of ten monochrome ink paintings of bamboo Bokuchiku gasatsu 墨竹画冊 (Matsudaira 松平 Collection, Tokyo), Ri Shuubun relates that he either came to Japan or painted the album in 1424. According to certain records, Ri Shuubun was the father of Soga Jasoku 曽我蛇足 (also read Dasoku), commonly identified as the preeminent artist of the early Soga school. It is now apparent, however, that a number of painters used the name Jasoku, although their identities have not been clearly established. Among the Soga painters who used the name Jasoku are: Bokkei 墨渓 (?-1473), Soujou 宗丈 (?-pre 1512), Shousen 紹仙 (act. ca. 1523), Souyo 宗誉 (?-post 1562) and Shoushou 紹祥 (dates unkown), perhaps in that order of succession and perhaps related as father and son, respectively. These artists were patronized by the Asakura 朝倉 clan at Ichijoudani 一乗谷 in Echizen 越前, near the present-day city of Fukui. Asakura Toshikage 朝倉敏景 (1428-81), leader of the clan during its most prosperous years, was closely affiliated with the renowned monk of Daitokuji 大徳寺 in Kyoto, *Ikkyuu 一休 (1394-1481). Numerous portraits *chinsou 頂相 of Ikkyuu were painted by the early Soga artists. Current scholarship credits Soujou with painting the screens of Four Seasons Landscape and Landscapes with Flowers and Birds at the Shinjuan 真珠庵, a subtemple of Daitokuji. Paintings attributed to Bokkei, Soujou, Shousen and Souyo include a number of landscapes, flower and bird paintings, and figural subjects. No works by Shoushou are known to survive. Soga Chokuan 曽我直庵 (act. ca. 1596-1615), perhaps Shoushou's son or student, is said to have been active in the thriving port city of Sakai 堺 (present day Osaka), as was Nichokuan 二直庵 (act. ca. 1625-60), his son. A document written by Nichokuan in 1656, which accompanies a set of three hanging scrolls depicting hawks, preserved at Houryuuji 法隆寺, includes a lineage chart that ties Chokuan to Jasoku. In this lineage chart, Nichokuan claimed to be the sixth generation descendent of Jasoku. It remains uncertain whether Nichokuan was justified in his claim to Soga lineage or whether he invented a lineage to bolster his reputation. According to documentary sources, Chokuan and Nichokuan painted screens for several temples in the Kansai 関西 region, the largest number of which were preserved at Mt. Kouya 高野. There are also a number of surviving folding screens *byoubu 屏風 and hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 by the two artists that feature dynamically posed hawks and eagles, rendered with vigorous brushwork, see *shichou-zu 鷲鳥図. Nichokuan was apparently succeeded by a number of painters, including Sanchokuan 三直庵 and Tamura Chokuou 田村直翁. The most celebrated of the later artists who claimed descent from Jasoku was Soga Shouhaku 曽我蕭白 (1730-81). Shouhaku was an innovative, prolific painter of highly individualistic temperament. Although he studied with Takada Keiho 高田敬輔 (1674-1755), Shouhaku aligned himself with the Soga tradition, claiming to be tenth in line from Jasoku. His brushwork is bolder and more expressive than was that of the earlier Soga painters.

REFERENCES:

EXTERNAL LINKS:

NOTES:

(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System.　No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。