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Unattributed 'Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace' (late 13th Century)

Unattributed 'Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace' (late 13th Century)

By Paul Dunwell, writing for EasyFrame
© Copyright EasyFrame 2021

What this article is about

'Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace' is a Japanese handscroll, or 'emaki', in ink and colour on paper. It is about 40 cm high and some seven metres long. It is an action-packed, violent account of a complex series of events, designed to be read from right to left. Ordinarily one would look at just one section of a handscroll at a time, not the whole thing. The artist is unknown.

This article describes the piece, the events it shows, and the context you need to appreciate how unusual it is.

The whole of the handscroll 'Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace', shown in two halves — ‘Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace’. The right-hand half, above, is read first, from right to left. The left-hand half, below, follows, again from right to left.

How to read a handscroll

Emaki can be very long, so they suited landscapes and stories. Text introduces the pictures. Japanese is traditionally written from top to bottom, in columns that run from right to left, and the pictures follow the same direction.

It is vital to understand that the scroll does not show one moment. It shows a series of events, with some characters appearing several times, blended together as if it were a single scene viewed from above. In that sense it is almost like a modern strip cartoon, but without frames. That can make cause and effect hard to follow until you get used to it.

Provenance

The work dates from the second half of the 13th century, in the Kamakura period (1185 to 1333), named after the city where the first shōgun, Minamoto no Yoritomo, set up his government. This was when the samurai were replacing the court aristocracy as Japan's rulers.

We know what it depicts. In 1159 to 1160 there was a short but brutal conflict, the Heiji Insurrection. Its most notorious episode was the attack on the Sanjô Palace in Kyoto, and this scroll shows that. It was one of a set telling the whole story of the insurrection. Only three scrolls of the set survive, with fragments of others.

The scroll may well have been commissioned by one of the new samurai class, to share with friends who would enjoy its belligerence, bravery and bloodshed. Such works were 'otoko-e', 'men's pictures', illustrating a 'gunki monogatari', a war tale. Victors always show conflicts in terms that favour them, so it is no surprise that the warriors dominate.

Today it is held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It left Japan in the 1880s, when the American collector Ernest Fenollosa bought it. For a time it was attributed to a painter called Keion, but nothing has been proved, and the artist may never be identified.

The opening text of the handscroll, in columns of Japanese calligraphy — The opening text of ‘Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace’.

The events in a nutshell

The retired emperor Go-Shirakawa, the 77th, had handed the throne to his son Nijô but still held great influence, and lived in the Sanjô Palace in Kyoto. Around the two of them swirled the rivalries of the court, and of the Fujiwara family in particular, whose members were on both sides.

Two warrior clans were in the frame too:

The Taira, led by Taira no Kiyomori with his son Shigemori, and allied with the retired emperor's adviser Fujiwara no Michinori.
The Minamoto, led by Minamoto no Yoshitomo with his sons Yoshihira and Yoritomo, and allied with the ambitious courtier Fujiwara no Nobuyori.

The attack was Nobuyori's bid for power. He saw his chance when Taira no Kiyomori left the city on a pilgrimage. Backed by Yoshitomo, the head of the Minamoto and father of the future first shōgun, he seized Go-Shirakawa and set the palace on fire. The emperor Nijô was confined too.

The ox-drawn carriage sent to carry off the former emperor is the first thing we see. Nobuyori, in colourful robes, arrives at the palace and orders Go-Shirakawa into the carriage amid the melee. He appears again later on horseback. Yoshitomo, in red armour and a horned helmet, appears a couple of times: behind the carriage as it reaches the veranda, and then with a bow and arrow. All around there is carnage, and no mercy for the people of the palace, women included.

It did not last. Kiyomori returned, Nijô escaped, and the plotters were defeated. Nijô, the 78th emperor, reigned until 1165.

Warriors on horseback storming the burning palace — The attack under way in ‘Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace’.

The detail

The scroll is packed with detail that helps us understand the period. We see:

Architecture. Long-vanished wooden buildings with bark roofs, and their corridors, verandas, walls, gateways, shutters and bamboo blinds.
People. Cavalry and foot soldiers, police, priests and courtiers, women among them, all with the robes, armour and weapons that mark their rank.
Acts, gestures and expressions. Some are black humour, but most reflect the unfolding horror.

A detail of warriors attacking people in the palace — Typically visceral violence in ‘Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace’.

The closing section of the scroll, with warriors riding away — The closing sequence of ‘Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace’.

Conclusion

Here is a startling work from a bygone age that relates, with some reliability, a complex chain of events in turbulent times.

Images of the scroll are available through its owner, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. See Night Attack on the Sanjô Palace at mfa.org.

You'll want to frame whatever you buy. Any good framers will show you a range of solutions and advise on what suits the work and where it will hang. You can contact EasyFrame on 01234 856 501 or at sales@EasyFrame.co.uk, and they'll always chat even if you don't want to buy!

Article Posted: 13/08/2021 07:12:37