Focus on this artwork and discuss the abstract.
The Heiji Monogatari Emaki (平治物語絵巻, "The Tale of Heiji Emaki", or sometimes "The Tale of Heiji Ekotoba"; also translated as the "Heiji Rebellion Scrolls") is an emakimono or emaki (painted narrative handscroll) from the second half of the 13th century, in the Kamakura period of Japanese history (1185–1333). An illuminated manuscript, it narrates the events of the Heiji rebellion (1159–1160) between the Taira and Minamoto clans, one of several precursors to the broader Genpei War (1180–1185) between the same belligerents.
Both the author and the sponsor of the work remain unknown, and its production probably spanned several decades. Nowadays, only three original scrolls and a few fragments of a fourth remain; they are held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, and the Tokyo National Museum. The civil wars for the domination of Japan at the end of the Heian period, which ended with the victory of the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War, had a strong effect on the course of history in Japan. They have also been illustrated in many artworks, including the Heiji Monogatari Emaki, which has inspired many artists up until modern times.
The paintings in the work, in the Yamato-e style, are distinguished by both the dynamism of lines and movement and the vivid colours, as well as a realistic impetus characteristic of the arts of the Kamakura period. Cruelty, massacres and barbarities are also reproduced without any attenuation. The result is a "new style particularly suited to the vitality and confidence of the Kamakura period". In several scrolls, long painted sequences introduced by short calligraphy passages are carefully composed in such a way as to create the tragic and the epic, such as the passage of the fire at Sanjō Palace, deeply studied by art historians.
Kamakura Kamakura period The Tale of Heiji Sanjō Heian Heiji Japanese history Seikadō Bunko Minamoto Heian period Heiji rebellion Genpei War Minamoto clan Yamato-e handscroll Genpei Taira Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Tokyo National Museum emakimono illuminated manuscript Seikadō Bunko Art Museum