この展示室のワークシート16世紀の後半、織田信長や豊臣秀吉が天下統一を進めた時代を「桃山時代」とよびます。天下人たちは大きな城を建て、その部屋のふすまや壁、屏風を、金箔をはりつめた豪華な絵で飾りました。これらを「障壁画」といいます。うす暗い城の中で、金は少ない光を反射して部屋を明るく見せる役目もありました。
The late 16th century, when Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were uniting Japan, is called the Momoyama period. These rulers built huge castles and decorated the sliding doors, walls and folding screens with splendid paintings on gold leaf. In the dim castle rooms, the gold also reflected what little light there was, making the rooms brighter.
この時代の主役が、絵師の一族「狩野派」です。なかでも狩野永徳は、信長の安土城や秀吉の大坂城、聚楽第の障壁画を手がけました。画面からはみ出すほど巨大な木や岩を、太く力強い筆で描く「大画様式」で、天下人の力を見せつけました。『檜図屏風』や『唐獅子図屏風』がその代表とされます。
The stars of this age were the Kano family of painters. Kano Eitoku painted the walls of Nobunaga's Azuchi Castle and Hideyoshi's Osaka Castle and Jurakudai palace. In his bold 'large-scale style', huge trees and rocks seem to burst out of the picture, showing off the rulers' power. The Cypress Trees screen and the Chinese Lions screen are among his best-known works.
狩野派は、親から子へ、師から弟子へと技を受けつぎ、江戸時代の終わりまで約400年も日本の画壇の中心にあり続けました。京都に残った狩野山楽・山雪の一門は「京狩野」とよばれ、山雪の『老梅図襖』では、梅の老木が生きもののようにうねる、ふしぎな形が見られます。
The Kano school passed its skills from father to son and teacher to student, and stayed at the center of Japanese painting for about 400 years, until the end of the Edo period. The branch that remained in Kyoto, led by Kano Sanraku and Sansetsu, is called the Kyoto Kano. In Sansetsu's Old Plum, an ancient plum tree twists and bends as if it were alive.
