松前藩の絵画戦略──〈夷酋列像〉と京都

抄録

Ishū retsuzō is a set of portraits of twelve Ainu chiefs-painted by Kakizaki Hakyō (Kakizaki Shōgen Hirotoshi, 1764–1826), a painter and poet who was also a house elder of the Matsumae domain. It was created in the aftermath of an Ainu uprising in the eastern Ezo districts of Kunashiri and Menashi in the fifth month of Kansei 1 (1789). After the completion of the set, which took a whole year, it was first taken to Kyoto, where it was viewed by Confucian scholars, court nobles, and finally Emperor Kōkaku.In those days, the Tokugawa shogunate was increasingly vigilant against foreign ships such as Russia approaching the Ezo districts.The Ishū retsuzō paintings represent the Ainu chiefs as loyal vassals (kōshinzu) in the same manner as the Kenjō no sōji, a set of wall panels for the Shishinden Hall in the imperial palace in Kyoto. Based on that style, trade goods and products of Ezo are elaborately depicted in a manner resembling natural history illustrations. This choice of mode, following the Kenjō no sōji, suggests that the intention was to convey loyalty to the emperor. Moreover, the preface and the appendices by Matsumae Hironaga also reiterate the Matsumae domain’s position as “the keystone of defense in the north.”Utilizing these “Ezo” paintings by the rising artist Hakyō, the main purpose of this project must have been to introduce the Matsumae’s cultural maturity to the emperor, whom the domain lord admired, as well as to court nobles and the most famous Confucian scholars of the day in Kyoto, thus further strengthening ties between Kyoto, with the imperial court, and the Matsumae domain.