Articles
Kōetsumura: Of Rhythms and Reminiscence in Hon’ami Kōetsu’s Commune
Abstract
Historical cycles, widely used as organizational expedients in Chinese political history (“dynastic cycles”), have also been applied to rhythms of political change in Japan. The life of eclectic artist Hon’ami Kōetsu spans the cyclic rise and fall of several periods and political regimes: the warring states or sengoku (mid 15thc.–late 16thc.), the Azuchi-Momoyama (1568–1600), and the “Great Peace” of the Tokugawa period (1600–1868). Though an iconic presence within Kyoto’s resurgent machishū establishment, Kōetsu nonetheless defies easy placement within this paradigm of cyclical change.2 This article considers what cyclical history might contribute to the study of Kōetsu and interprets the disempowerment of Kyoto’s machishū following the establishment of the Tokugawa regime through a discussion of Kōetsumura, an autonomous commune established by Kōetsu in Takagamine in 1615.3 Scholarship has labeled Kōetsu a Heian revivalist for his role in the development of the Rinpa school. The label points to his relationships with elite warriors and courtiers, and to the decorative, nativistic features of his art as evidence of nostalgia for classical courtliness. This essay posits that cyclical history aff ords an alternative interpretation of Kōetsu: as an anachronism—not a revivalist—responding in self-defensive ways to recent events that threatened machishū culture and the Hon’ami house in particular.4