Hikone Screen
Hikone Screen
Edo period, 17th century
Six-fold screen, color on gold-leaf paper
Height 94.0 cm; Width 48.0 cm (each panel)
(Hikone Castle Museum, Shiga Prefecture)
This screen, whose artist is unknown, was produced in the first half of the 17th century. It was handed down in the Ii family, who were during the Edo period the feudal rulers (daimyo) of the Hikone domain (han), east of Kyoto, from which the screen derives its name. It shows an indoor scene of men and women enjoying themselves in an urban pleasure quarter, and follows a traditional Chinese-influenced style of depicting the four accomplishments of the cultivated gentleman, namely, music, the board game of go, calligraphy, and painting." Here, music is that of a shamisen and the board game is sugoroku. Calligraphy is represented by letter-writing and painting is represented by the screen shown in the two left-hand panels. The drawing of the people is very precise, and one senses a certain sophisticated but relaxed atmosphere. The landscape scene in the "painting within the painting" is in the Kano school style, although other influences are evident in the depictions of the people.
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