Koseha　巨勢派

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

The Kose school which was founded by Kose no Kanaoka 巨勢金岡, who held an important hereditary position in the 9c imperial painting bureau, kyuutei edokoro 宮廷絵所. Documents claim that he was requested by Sugawara Michizane 菅原道真 (845-903) to paint the landscape sights of the imperial pleasure garden, the Shinsen-en 神泉苑, where he served as an official from 868-872. Other records indicate that he was active until 895 and that his painting style was recognized as a new method shin'you 新様, which served as the first step toward adapting Tang style landscape painting *fuukeiga 風景画 and genre scenes *fuuzokuga 風俗画 native to Japanese taste. His associations with the Heian nobility also helped raise the social status of painters at this time. Among his successors, Kose no Oumi 巨勢相覧, was apppointed to the position of a junior official in Sanuki 讃岐 (present day Kagawa prefecture) in 901. Two brothers Kose no Kimitada 巨勢公忠 (also read Kintada) and Kimimochi 公望 (also read Kinmochi; act. mid-10c) in the court of Emperor Murakami 村上(r:946-67), were influential in the development of a second style of painting which is associated with handscrolls such as GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). In addition to influencing the development of classic secular painting in the Heian period, the Kose lineage also branched out into other areas of painting. At the request of Fujiwara Michinaga 藤原道長 (966-1027), Kose no Hirotaka 巨勢広貴 painted portraits, Buddhist paintings and decorations for utensils. In the mid-12c, Kose no Nobushige 巨勢信茂 and Muneshige 宗茂 continued to work as imperial court painters, kyuutei eshi 宮廷絵師. Around the middle of the Kamakura period, a grandson or great-grandson of Hirotaka named Yuuson 有尊 went to work for the Ichijouin 一条院 and Daijouin 大乗院 of Koufukuji 興福寺 and established a new lineage of painters called the *Handaza 吐田座 which formed the core of the *nanto-edokoro 南都絵所. During the Nanbokuchou period, Kose no Yukitada 巨勢行忠 and Arihisa 有久 held government positions as edokoro-azukari 絵所預, a title given painters who worked in the official painting bureau.

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