岩佐又兵衛と浮世絵 --伝承とイメージ--

Abstract

There are various theories about the outbreak of Ukiyo-e, but most of the literature in the Edo period stated that Iwasa Matabei (1578 to 1650) was the first painter of Ukiyo-e. In the discussions so far, it has been verified that Matabei is the ancestor of Ukiyo-e. However, it was rarely mentioned why people in the Edo period were considered Matabei as the founder of Ukiyo-e. What this article considers is not whether the Matabei actually founded Ukiyo-e, but also the question of how the tradition of regarding Matabei as the founder of Ukiyo-e was generated. In order to explore such a large theme, we examined the effects of Matabei's work on posterity, and considered the relationship with the discourse related to it. Specifically, we first looked at the discourse about Matabei in the Edo period, and confirmed what was said about the relationship between Matabei and Ukiyo-e. In the Genroku period, some discourses implied the relationship between Matabei and Ukiyo-e in the form of Ukiyo-Matabei. Later, in the appearance of Ohta Nanpo, Matabei was declared as the ancestor of Ukiyo-e. The theory of Nanpo spread widely, and it has been dominant throughout Edo period. However, such perceptions are not formed based on the Matabei's work we currently recognize. It was considered based on traditions and some works which is not depicted by Matabei. In a way, Nanpo's theory was vague and uncertain. Next, we scrutinized the discourse about Matabei since Meiji period. In the modern Matabei controversy, it was thought that the most important matter was whether Matabei drew genre paintings to decide who was the founder of Ukiyo-e. On the other hand, there is a perception that it is not only Matabei who drew genre paintings in the Keicho and Kanei period. Anyway, reseachers in early 20th century thought Matabei had something like a new “artistic attitude”, which is different from other painters, and it is inherited to next generation. They did not think that Matabei drew the Ukiyo-e themselves. They thought the most important thing was whether Matabei had an influence on Ukiyo-e. Finally, we examined the impact of Matabei on Ukiyo-e artists and it was confirmed that the Iwasa school and Moronobu were connected to the paintings through the Nonoguchi Ryuho, a Teimon Haikaishi. Ryuho did the vulgarization of classics in the world of literature, and had the ideological intimacy of Matabei, who had made the same vulgarization of classics in the world of paintings. Hishikawa Moronobu inherited the manner of depicting classical subject from Matabei through Ryuho and used it in the books for the common people. It was Moronobu who promoted this trend further and added up-to-date elements to create a widespread Ukiyo-e style. As I saw above, the connection on the painting existed between Matabei and Ukiyo-e. However, it was not a direct link to the image, but an effect on consciousness in the process of creating an image of classical subject. The connection between classics and vulgarity in the actual situation of the image inheritance and the connection between the name “Ukiyo-Matabei” and the origin of Matabei are based on the same mental function. The elegance and vulgarness lived together in the Matabei's works, and that's why, in the discourse of Matabei, the phrase that paralleled nobleness and vulgarity was used. The word Ukiyo-Matabei seems to have the ambiguous meaning of nobleness and vulgarity in both the image and the tradition.