Namban Screen by Kano Naizen (1) Right-hand screen
Namban Screen by Kano Naizen (2) Left-hand screen
Namban Screen
by Kano Naizen
Azuchi-Momoyama period
Pair of six-fold screens, color on gold-leaf paper
Height 155.5 cm; Width 364.5 cm (each)
(Kobe City Museum)
This so-called namban (literally, "southern barbarian") screen depicts some of the Portuguese who arrived in Japan in the Azuchi-Momoyama and very early Edo periods. There remain today only about 60 examples of this namban genre. This is an especially important work because the name of its painter, Kano Naizen, is known. The left-hand screen shows Portuguese departing from a port in one of their colonies in Southeast Asia, and the right-hand screen shows them entering a Japanese port and engaging in trade activities. A group of the foreigners are walking in the direction of a Jesuit chapel (nambanji). The artist was active during the Azuchi-Momoyama period and was a close associate of military and political leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Page Top
© Web Japan, 2018