Vividly illustrated screens, scrolls, fans and printed books tell an ancient Japanese story of a monster, samurai and sake in the exhibition “The Tale of Shuten Doji,” at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art through September 20.
With a plot fit for an action movie, this popular legend, set in Tenth Century Japan, begins with news of the abduction of young noblewomen from Kyoto. Under orders from the emperor, samurai heroes disguised as pilgrim monks take off in pursuit, entering the mountain fortress of Shuten Doji, who turns a fiery shade of red and transforms to a monstrous giant when he drinks sake.
After tricking Shuten Doji into drinking a sake potion, the samurai hero, Minamoto Yorimitsu (948‱021), beheads him, battles his monstrous horde, rescues the surviving women and returns to Kyoto in triumph. The tale proved so popular that it appeared in works commissioned for elite patrons and in widely available printed books.
The exhibition explores the dynamic methods that Japanese artists of the Edo period (1615‱868) developed for rendering action and movement through time and space in illustrated stories. Working on hand scrolls and folding screens that allow uninterrupted illustrations of sequences of events, artists created modes of pictorial narratives that approach the effects of modern cinema. Clouds and mist create effects such as fades and dissolves and scenes that appear to zoom in and out.
A highlight of the exhibition is a set of three hand scrolls by Kano Shoun (1637‱702), a professional artist of the Kano school. Shoun depicts the tale in an especially luxurious and vibrant manner on silk, rather than the usual paper, and uses ink, color, gold and silver for illustrations. Calligraphy of these scrolls by an imperial prince and two other noblemen attests to the elite patronage of this work.
Also on view are preliminary sketches for paintings of the “Tale of Shuten Doji.” Presented together for the first time since their acquisition are two sets of hand scrolls, a pair of screens, sketches for a set of fan paintings by Kawanabe Kyosai (1831‱889), book illustrations by Hokusai (1760‱868) and other artists, as well as paintings from the private collections of Joe and Etsuko Price and Robert and Betsy Feinberg.
The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, at 1050 Independence Avenue SW, and the adjacent Freer Gallery of Art, at 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW, are on the National Mall. For more information, www.asia.si.edu or 202-633-1000.
