Abstract
The Keio University Century Akao Collection contains Sugawara Dosai’s own handwritten manuscripts, ‘Eshi Seimei Kanji Ruisho’ (Biographies and seal records of painters classified by name) (3 volumes). These manuscripts are drafts of the 13-volume ‘Eshi Seimei Kanji Ruisho’ (13 volumes), manuscripts held in the National Diet Library, and are valuable historical documents that show how Dosai copied the seals of paintings he saw in person onto transparencies.
Using these manuscripts as a starting point, the research results of two groups of copied materials, copies of Akita clan painters (in the Senshu Bunko Museum) and material from Kano Shusui family (deposited at the Aizu Museum, Waseda University), who were younger brothers of Dosai, are used to unravel his copying activities and the compilation project for the ‘Eshi Seimei Kanji Ruisho’.
Furthermore, in the course of the above research, it was found that the majority of Dosai’s interest was directed towards Chinese painting and Japanese ink painting of the Muromachi period (1336−1573) when compared to the overall activities of Akita clan painters. Therefore, the various aspects of the reception of Muromachi ink paintings in the late Edo period (Late 18th − early 19th century) were explored, with specific examples of Dosai’s reproductions.
