Kyoyuu Souho　許由・巣父

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ch: Xuyou Chaofu. A painting subject representing two legendary Chinese scholar-hermits famous for their extreme aversion to improper behavior. According to tradition, in the Xia dynasty,　Xuyou, upon hearing that Emperor Yao 尭 had proposed to relinquish the throne to him, refused the offer and washed his defiled ears in the Ying 頴 River before returning to Mt. Ji 箕. Chaofu, feeling that the water that Xuyou used to clean his ears had polluted the river, refused to let his ox drink there. Their behavior became a parable for Confucian devotion to principle and eremitic purity. Chinese paintings of the pair include works by Wu Wei (Jp: Go I 呉偉; 1459-1508, Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum) and Wang E (Jp: Ou Gaku 王諤; fl. early 16c). The story was known in Japan by the 13c, and was depicted by artists beginning in the Muromachi period. Notable Japanese examples include paintings by Kanou school *Kanouha 狩野派 members Kanou Eitoku 狩野永徳 (1543-90, Tokyo National Museum) and Kanou Sanraku 狩野山楽 (1559-1635, Tokyo National Museum), as well as parody *mitate-e 見立絵 prints by wood-block print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists such as Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1725-70). While Japanese versions usually show Xuyou washing his ears in a waterfall, Chinese works follow literary sources and depict only a river. Xuyou is also associated with a gourd for scooping water. Although his only possession, Xuyou eventually discarded the gourd because it clattered noisily when the wind blew.

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