Emakimono
Encyclopedia
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll
Handscroll
The handscroll is a long narrow scroll for displaying a series of scenes in Chinese painting. The handscroll presents an artwork in the horizontal form and can be exceptionally long, usually measuring up to a few meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height. Handscrolls are generally viewed...
. They depict battles, romance, religion, folk tales, and stories of the supernatural world.
History and physical characteristics
The handscrollHandscroll
The handscroll is a long narrow scroll for displaying a series of scenes in Chinese painting. The handscroll presents an artwork in the horizontal form and can be exceptionally long, usually measuring up to a few meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height. Handscrolls are generally viewed...
, along with the hanging scrolls are the two most common forms of Japanese painting. They are usually made of paper or silk, were attached to a wooden dowel at the left end to be rolled up for storage. Rolled up, the scrolls were secured with a braided silk cord, then backed by silk. Secured, the scrolls could be carried, placed on shelves, or stored in elaborate lacquerware
Lacquerware
Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. The lacquer is sometimes inlaid or carved. Lacquerware includes boxes, tableware, buttons and even coffins painted with lacquer in cultures mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere.-History:...
. The scrolls ranged in size, averaging 30 centimeters (1 ft.) in width and 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 ft.) in length. A normal story would take one to three scrolls in total.
Emakimono are read by exposing an arms-length of the scroll at a time, from right to left, as Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
is written. It was common for there to be a written account of the story being illustrated either at the start of the scroll, or interspersed between the pictures. It is expected that the person viewing the scroll will re-roll the scroll back in its original form, much as one is supposed to rewind video tape after viewing it.
Emakimono also serve as some of the earliest and greatest examples of the otoko-e (Men's pictures) and onna-e (Women's pictures) styles of painting. There are many fine differences in the two styles, appealing to the aesthetic preferences of the genders. But perhaps most easily noticeable are the differences in subject matter. Onna-e, epitomized by the Tale of Genji handscroll, typically deals with court life, particularly the court ladies, and with romantic themes. Otoko-e, on the other hand, often recorded historical events, particularly battles. The Siege of the Sanjō Palace
Siege of Sanjo Palace
The Siege of the Sanjō Palace was the primary battle of the 1159 Heiji Rebellion. In early January of 1160, after Taira no Kiyomori left Kyoto on a family pilgrimage, Fujiwara no Nobuyori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo saw an opportunity to effect changes they sought in the government...
(1160), depicted in the painting "Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace" is a famous example of this style.
Well known examples
The most often discussed example of emakimono is the Genji Monogatari Emaki dating from about 1130. This emaki illustrates Murasaki ShikibuMurasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
's epic The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. Written about the year 1000, the novel deals with the life and loves of Genji and the world of the Heian court after his death. While only 15% of the original scrolls remain, the fragments are protected as national treasures
National treasures of Japan
National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...
.
The Chōjū giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals) is unusual in its own medium, as it does not contain any text, only pictures. It depicts scenes of animals in amusing scenes, analogizing Japanese society in the 12th century.
See also
- KamishibaiKamishibaiKamishibai , literally "paper drama", is a form of storytelling that originated in Japanese Buddhist temples in the 12th century, where monks used emakimono to convey stories with moral lessons to a mostly illiterate audience....
- Kasuga Gongen Genki EKasuga Gongen Genki EKasuga Gongen Genki E （春日権現験記絵、かすがごんげんげんきえ） is a set of painted handscrolls that was produced during the early 14th Century of Japan, by members of the Fujiwara clan. The work was created in order to honor the deities of Kasuga, with the stories revolving around the Kasuga shrine and Kōfukuji...
- Wayang beber
- Moving panoramaMoving panoramaThe moving panorama was a relative, more in concept than design, to panoramic painting, but proved to be more durable than its fixed and immense cousin. The word “panorama” is derived from the Greek words “to see” and “all.” Robert Barker invented the first panorama to describe his impressive...
- CantastoriaCantastoriaCantastoria comes from Italian for "sung story" or "singing history" and is known by many other names around the world. It is a theatrical form where a performer tells or sings a story while gesturing to a series of images...
External links
- "Emaki" in the Encyclopedia of Shinto (Kokugakuin UniversityKokugakuin UniversityKokugakuin University is a private university, whose main office is located in Tokyo's Shibuya district...
) - "The Choju Giga by Masakazu Yoshizawa"