Okada Tamechika

Priest Kogaku
( 古 岳 上人 )

Okada Tamechika ( Japanese 岡田 為 恭 , actually Kanō Shinzō ( 狩 野 晋 三 ); born October 20, 1823 ; died June 8, 1864 ) was a painter of the late Edo period and a resuscitator of Yamato-e .

Life

Okada was born as the third son of the painter Kanō Eitai ( 狩 野 永泰 ). Dissatisfied with the style of the Kanō school, he took up the Yamato-e , but not the way it was taught in the Tosa and Sumiyoshi schools of his time. Inspired by Ukita Ikkei ( 浮 田 一 ケ イ ; 1795–1859), he dealt with the Yamato-e of the Heian and Kamakura periods , collected examples and researched the old style of painting. Under the names Reizei ( 冷泉 ) and Fujiwara ( 藤原 ), Tamechika produced pictures with traditional themes and using old techniques. He was later adopted by the court nobleman Okada, Dewa no Kami, and now signed Okada or Sugawara ( 菅原 ). He increasingly painted in the style of the classic Yamato-e.

Okada was particularly interested in the painter from the early Kamakura period Fujiwara no Nobuzane ( 藤原 信 実 , 1176 / 77-1265?) And made copies of his portrait of Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Jingo-ji temple ( 神 護 寺 ), also by others Portraits, from the "Illustrated story of the priest Hōnen " ( 法 然 上人 絵 伝 , Hōnen shōnin eden ) and the "Report on the miracles of Kasuga Gongen" ( 春日 権 現 験 記 ).

His later works, such as the sliding-door pictures ( fusuma-e ) in the Daiju-ji temple ( 大樹 Tempel ) in the city of Okazaki, show classic themes, but now designed in an individual fresh style. Tamechika also painted a number of pictures with Buddhist themes, probably because of his friendship with Priest Gankai.

The revived Yamatoe direction ( 復古 大 和 絵 , Fukko Yamato-e ), which had started with Tanaka Totsugen ( 田中 訥 言 ; 1767-1823), campaigned for the imperial family. Then it was Tamechika who made the biggest contribution. But his contacts to the Sakai family, who were the local representatives ( Vertreter 司 代 , shoshidai ) of the shogunate at the imperial court in Kyoto , was misunderstood by samurai loyal to the emperor, so that he had to go underground. He fled to Kokawa-dera in Kii Province , Sakai and other places, and called himself Shinrenbō Kōa priestly, but was eventually murdered at the age of 42.

Tamechika's work is diverse. In addition to the works mentioned, the following should be mentioned: “New Year's Garden Festival” ( 年 の 日 の 遊 び 図 , Nen no hi no asobi ), “Collecting mushrooms” ( 茸 狩 り , Kinoko-gari ) in Daiju-ji, “The great famine in the tempo time ”( 天保 施 米 図 巻 , Tempō semai zukan ). There are also Buddhist images such as Butchō sonchō darani shimmei butsu kōson mandara-zu and "Amida, who comes over the mountains" ( 山 越 阿 弥陀 如 来 , Yamagoshi Amida nyorai ). The last two works are located in Ōkura Shūkokan .

literature

• Suzuki, Toshihiko (Ed.): Okada Tamechika。In: NIhon daihyakka zensho (Denshibukku-han), Shogakukan, 1996.
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Okada Tamechika . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Okada is the family name, Tamechika the first name.