六人部暉峰について --竹内栖鳳門の女性画家--

Abstract

乙訓地域屈指の古社・向日神社の神官を明治期に務めた六人部是暉の二女として明治12年(1879)5月に生まれた六人部貞栄は，10歳代前半で竹内栖鳳に入門し，暉峰の号を名乗る日本画家となった。暉峰は日本美術協会，京都美術協会，日本絵画協会，京都後素協会，日月会の諸団体の展覧会に出品して入賞を重ねたほか，第四回内国勧業博覧会や，栖鳳にとって大きな転機となった1900年パリ万博にも出品している。また，皇室の御用品にも数回選定されている。明治29年(1896)には，山階宮晃親王から「晴雲閣」の別号を与えられ，そのことをもって地元・向日町で画会が発足した。17歳の新進女性画家が，京都における天皇の名代として尊敬を集めていた晃親王から別号を与えられていた事実は，驚嘆に値する。さらに，近代日本画界を代表する大家たちとともに雑誌や画集に作品が収録され，明治〜大正期の美術番付にも多く登場するなど，その活躍にはめざましいものがあった。10歳代半ばから活躍していた暉峰は，京都画壇の中堅画家として順調にキャリアを重ねており，そのまま画業を継続していれば，上村松園や伊藤小坡と並び，現代まで名を残す女性画家になっていた可能性がある。しかし，展覧会への出展は明治期に限られ，日本美術関係書籍の各種の栖鳳門系譜にもその名はみられず，現在では忘れ去られている。栖鳳の画業を助手として支え，私生活では栖鳳との間に7人の子を産み，栖鳳の晩年は湯河原で共に生活していた暉峰の存在は，竹内栖鳳論に一石を投じ得る。また，乙訓地域出身の女性活躍の先駆けとしても注目される。本稿では，これまで美術史上で顧みられることのなかった六人部暉峰の画業と生涯について，他の京都の女性画家の動向も交え，関係資料を元に論じる。

Sadae Mutobe was born in 1879, and was the second daughter of Yoshiteru, who served as a priest at Muko Shrine, one of the oldest shrines in the Otokuni region. She visited Seiho Takeuchi to study Japanese painting in her pre-teen years and became a Japanese painter with the special name “Kiho”. Kihoʼs paintings were displayed at lots of exhibitions organized by various institutions and she won many prizes. Her paintings were also exhibited at the fourth National Industrial Exhibition as well as the Paris Expo in 1900, which became a turning point for Seihoʼs career. Furthermore, some of her paintings received royal warrant. In 1896, the Imperial Prince Yamashinanomiya Akira granted her the name “Seiunkaku”. It is amazing that a 17-year-old female artist was granted a special name by prince Akira, who was respected as the Meiji Emperorʼs right-hand man . In addition, her works were introduced in magazines and art books along with other great artists who represented the period of modern Japanese art, and many of her works appeared in top art ranking in the Meiji-Taisho period, which showed that she produced significant achievements. Kiho, who had already exhibited her extraordinary talent since her pre-teen years, advanced her career steadily as one of the main painters in the Kyoto art world. However, since her participation in exhibitions was limited to the Meiji period, her name is not found as an artist in Seihoʼs genealogical tree in books related to Japanese art, and she has now been completely forgotten. Kiho supported the painting work of her master, Seiho, as his assistant, and she also gave birth to seven of his children in her private life. They lived together in Yugawara in their later years ; thus, she seems to have also played a role in studies on Seiho. In addition, as she was a pioneer for women with successful careers and who were born in the Otokuni region, some local history was newly created. In this paper, we will discuss the painting works of Kiho Mutobe, who has not been spotlighted in the history of art, together with the trends of other female artists in Kyoto, based on related materials.