JAPANESE HANGING SCROLL:Antique "Zhoki, Demon Slayer"by Tsurusawa Tansaku,1750

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JAPANESE HANGING SCROLL:Antique "Zhoki, Demon Slayer" by Tsurusawa Tansaku, c.1750 If you set your monitor at FULL SCREEN from TOOLS you will be better able to view the photos This is a wonderful and venerable Japanese Hanging Scroll with a terrifically strong painting on paper by the artist, Tsurusawa Tansaku, who was active in the 1700's during the Edo period. He most likely made this painting sometime around 1750. I do not think the mounting is original to the painting, but it serves the later very well. Born in 1729, Tansaku was the s on and pupil of Tangei Tsurusawa. An early teacher of Ohkyo Maruyama, he followed the family tradition of Kano-ha painting. His works are in many collections around the world including the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Tokyo National Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the British Museum. The Kano school is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. It was founded by Kano Masanobu (1434-1530), a contemporary of Sesshu and student of Shubun. Kano painters often composed very flat pictures but they balanced impeccably detailed realistic depictions of animals and other subjects in the foreground with abstract, often entirely blank, clouds and other background elements. The use of negative space to indicate distance, and to imply mist, clouds, sky or sea is drawn from traditional Chinese modes and is used beautifully by the Kano artists. This is exactly what Tansaku gives us in the present painting, a terrifically strong representation of Zhoki in the foreground and the rest of the paper left blank to imply the space in which he stands. Zhoki is a figure who comes from Chinese history and folklore, as so many things in Japanese culture do. Known as Zhong Kui in Chinese, he is traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings, and reputedly able to command 80,000 demons. His image is often painted on household gates as a guardian spirit, as well as in places of business where high-value goods are involved. In addition he has come to be regarded as: -The Protector Against Evil Spirits and Illness -The Guardian of Hearth and Home -The Protector of Children As legend has it, he lived in Zhongnan Mountain in the early Tang Dynasty. He was born with a panther-like head, ring-like eyes, an iron face and curly whiskers. Though very ugly, he was a profoundly learned and talented figure. As a man of integrity, he always upheld justice and feared no evil or mischievous being. In 712 when Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ascended the throne, Zhong Kui went to Chang'an to take the imperial civil examination. Impressed by Zhong's five poems entitled Holding Banquets in Yingzhou, the chief examiner praised him as a prodigy and enrolled him top of all examinees. During the palace examination, however, a treacherous minister named Lu Qi judged Zhong Kui by his unusual appearance, and repeatedly spoke ill of him before the emperor. As a result, Zhong Kui failed to claim championship in the exam. Infuriated, he bumped his head against a pillar in the palace and thus killed himself. The entire court was shocked. Then Emperor Dezong issued an imperial edict, conferring upon Zhong Kui the title of Demon Slayer who traveled all over the world to kill the evil and expel the wicked. In addition, the official title of Number One Scholar was also buried with him. Even today, especially in Kyoto, residents still adorn the eaves and rooftops of their homes with Zhoki’s effigy to ward off evil and illness, and to protect the children of the family. Tansaku given us a representation of Zhoki which befits his role and reputation, and, more importantly, has matched his technique to the qualities of his subject. His brush strokes are prodigiously strong and bold. But boldness is not the only stroke which Tansaku knows. He delicately paints Zhoki's beard and hair almost strand by strand. The soft effect of this delicacy contrasts and emph... read more

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