Kōetsumura: Of Rhythms and Reminiscence in Hon'ami Kōetsu's Commune

摘要

Historical cycles, widely used as organizational expedients in Chinese political history ("dynastic cycles"), have also been applied to rhythms of political change in Japan. Th e life of eclectic artist Hon'ami Kōetsu spans the cyclic rise and fall of several periods and political regimes: the warring states or sengoku (mid 15 th c.–late 16 th c.), the Azuchi-Momoyama (1568–1600), and the "Great Peace" of the Tokugawa period (1600–1868). Th ough an iconic presence within Kyoto's resurgent machishū establishment, Kōetsu nonetheless defi es easy placement within this paradigm of cyclical change. 2 Th is article considers what cyclical history might contribute to the study of Kōetsu and interprets the disempowerment of Kyoto's machishū following the establishment of the Tokugawa regime through a discussion of Kōetsumura, an autonomous commune established by Kōetsu in Takagamine in 1615. 3 Scholarship has labeled Kōetsu a Heian revivalist for his role in the development of the Rinpa school. Th e label points to his relationships with elite warriors and courtiers, and to the decorative, nativistic features of his art as evidence of nostalgia for classical courtliness. Th is essay posits that cyclical history aff ords an alternative interpretation of Kōetsu: as an anachronism—not a revivalist—responding in self-defensive ways to recent events that threatened machishū culture and the Hon'ami house in particular.