Large preparatory drawing for a folding screen, Japan, Kano - Lot 187

Large preparatory drawing for a folding screen, Japan, Kano school, mid-Edo period Ink and polychrome on paper, consisting of numerous sheets of Japanese paper glued together. A typical Japanese technique of preparatory work for large-scale works. It depicts two samurai in armor near a tree. Above them are two birds taking flight. This is a representation of the legend of Ishibashiyama. Various parts of the screen are inscribed with indications of the colors to be used in the final design. On one of the leaves, a cyclical date can also be distinguished: 享保九 甲辰 年 五月吉日, "a good day of the fifth month of the ninth year of the wooden dragon of the Kyôhô era (May 1724)". Unsigned. 208 x 232 cm After the victory at Ishibashiyama (1180), during the Genpei War, Heike (Taira) generals pursued the Minamoto (Genji) forces. One of them, Kagetoki, betrays his clan. Near a tree, he convinces his commanders that the enemy isn't there, and that the noise is only due to birds, by showing two doves taking flight, emerging from the hollow of a giant tree. In fact, the commander of the Genji clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo, was hiding in the tree. He escaped capture and eventually won the war against the Heike (Taira) clan.