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1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Portraits in medieval and Edo Period Japan, a Deta base and Historio-iconographical Study

Research Project

Project/Area Number 04401010
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (A)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Research Field Japanese history
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

KURODA Hideo  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Professor, 史料編さん所, 教授 (90013284)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) HAYASHI Yuzuru  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Associate Professor, 史料編纂所, 助教授 (00164971)
KURUSHIMA Noriko  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Associate Professor, 史料編纂所, 助教授 (70143534)
TANAKA Hiromi  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Associate Professor, 史料編纂所, 助教授 (60111572)
MIYAZAKI Katsumi  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Associate Professor, 史料編纂所, 助教授 (60143533)
HOTATE Michihisa  The University of Tokyo, Historiographical Institute, Professor, 史料編纂所, 教授 (70092327)
Project Period (FY) 1992 – 1995
Keywordsportrait painting / attribute / naming / Nise-e (likeness pictures) / Miei (true portrait) / Shin'ei (True Image) / Chinnzo (portrait of Zen masters) / portraitist
Research Abstract

We are congaged in a basic compilation and study of portrait paintings, which comprise one of the major categories of visual source materials for Japanese historical research. The following is an outline of the results to date.
1. Ever since the Meiji cra, the Historiographical Institute (HI), Tokyo University, has collected portraits by making replicas. At present, the HI has collected about 900 portraits, and it was important that they be properly introduced to the scholarly world. In the current project, we have photographed all of them, preparing 4X5 BW negatives, and 25.4X30.5cm.prints. We have then studied them, and made a catalog. This has drawn the attention of many other scholars to the research possibilities of replica portraits.
2. The enlargements have been entered in an optical-disk filing system, and a preliminary data base has been constructed, enabling searches by the status, occupation, gender, or approximate age of the subject. This data base should enable scholars to e … More xtrapolate from the HI portrait collection some of the basic characteristics of Japanese portraits.
3. The Project Team has done a complete search of all types of Japanese historical writing, as well as local histories, and compiled a catalog of data on portraits now comprising 27,000 data cards. Budget constraints forced us to postpone compiling a database from the cards ; still, by searching these cards it is possible to get a complete picture of the portrait data in Japanese historical writings.
4. finally, through specific research projects, the Project Team has been able to offer several new historical interpretations. For example, the subject of "Mounted Warrior from the Moriya Family Collection" (Moriya-ke bon kiba musha-zo) held by the Culrural Affairs Agency has been traditionally identified as Kono Moronao. We have proposed that the portrait actually depicts Moronao's son Moroaki. We have also given several papers and presentations at symposia and scholarly meetings, in which we have sought to develop a theory and methodology of the portrait as historical source. In furtherance of our project, the HI sponsored a symposium on "Portraits and Historical Studies" in March, 1996, where some 257 scholars from all disciplines gathered to debate the historical status of the protrait. Less

  • Research Products

    (7 results)

All Other

All Publications (7 results)

  • [Publications] 黒田日出男: "表象としての空也と一遍" 思想. 839号. 80-110 (1994)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 黒田日出男: "守屋家本騎馬武者像の像主" 東京大学史料編纂所研究紀要. 5号. 1-18 (1995)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 黒田日出男: "王権と「聖徳太子曼荼羅」" 歴史読本. 40巻3号. 86-94 (1995)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 黒田日出男: "謎解き 洛中洛外図" 岩波書店, 218 (1996)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 山本博文: "対馬藩江戸家老" 講談社, 278 (1995)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Kuroda Hidao: "Hyosyo to shite no Kuya to Ippen [Kuya and Ippen as Representation]" Shiso. 839 (1994)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Kuroda Hideo: "Moriya-ke bon Kibamusya-zo no Zosyu [The Identity of the Man Portrayd as "A Warrior on Horse-back" from the collection of the Moriya Family]" Tokyo Daigaku Shiryo Hensanjo Annual Report. No.5. (1995)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より

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Published: 1997-03-04  

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