Portrait of Madenokoji Fujifusa
- Person
-
作者土佐光信
- Date
-
制作年 AD15
- Title
- マデノコウジフジフサゾウ
- Materials, techniques and shape
- 絹本着色
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Keio Museum Commons Campus Mita
Madenokoji Fujifusa (1295-?), the court noble who lived toward the end of the Kamakura Period, was the firstborn son of Lord Nobufusa (1258-1348). He served close to Emperor GoDaigo (1288-1339) and was later given the title of Provisional Middle Counselor of the Senior Second Rank. In 1331, the emperor formed a plot to overthrow the military government. Fujifusa was soon captured and, in the following year, exiled to the Hitachi Province (today’s Ibaraki Prefecture) in Japan’s northern territories. When the Kamakura military government was ousted by the coup d’état of 1333, Fujifusa was allowed to return to Kyoto and was given a post in the new administration. The very next year, however, he abandoned his duties and worldly lifestyle to take refuge in Buddhism, disappearing into oblivion. Nothing is known about what happened to him thereafter. Theories abound about the true reason for his self-imposed exile. Being an honest and straightforward man, he was likely disenchanted by the new regime, in which he had felt belittled. In this portrait, Fujifusa wears an eboshi cap of nobility and carries a hossu, a little device to drive off insects. Although he is wearing a monk’s robe, his facial expression is that of a strong-spirited, lively man. The facial features are drawn with precision. The certification of authenticity issued by Sumiyoshi Hiroyuki (1755-1811) and a letter written by Tosa Mitsuzane (1780-1852) to Naruse Masatane, a painter active ca. 1801-1804, certify that the portrait was the work of Tosa Mitsunobu (years of birth and death unknown). Mitsunobu was a painter in the latter part of the Muromachi Period. So we have reasons to believe that this noted painter really rendered this portrait. Designated as the head painter of the imperial court, Mitsunobu was awarded the Junior Fourth Rank, the highest rank given to painters (1503). The versatile and prolific Mitsunobu painted on byobu (foldable paper screens) and painted emaki (picture scrolls), portraits and Buddhist drawings, as well as in other genres, and eventually established the Tosa school of painting. The exhibited hanging scroll has been passed down in the aristocratic ShorenIn-no-Miya family and the EnmanIn Temple, affiliated with the Miidera Temple.
忠也報国義也終身抱芳埜苦喫笠山辛功焉不成名焉不遂辞世皈（帰）仏恁如麼生
Overview
Rights
Depository and ID
Components
OPEN DATADESIGN
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Details
Identifiers
- Title (EN)
- Portrait of Madenokoji Fujifusa
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
-
Quantity 1幅
- Attachments
- 内箱（紐切れ、破損） 目録切抜（参考資料多数）
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