@article{oai:tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00006332,
 author = {相澤, 正彦 and Aizawa, Masahiko},
 issue = {355},
 journal = {美術研究, The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies},
 month = {Jan},
 note = {This is a report on a newly discovered Byōbu screen painting depicting farming scenes of the four seasons, which I consider to be a representative work by Maejima Sōyū. Maejima Sōyū was one of Kanō Motonobu's desciples, and quite a few paintings by Sōyū have been known to us. Using this newly discovered screen painting as a stepping stone, I hope to shed some light on the significance of Maejima Sōyū's painting activities.
     The Farming Scenes of the Four Seasons screen, now at the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum, is a six panel Byōbu (149.2cm × 334.2cm), painted in ink and light colors on paper. Originally a pair of Byōbu, only the right half remains, but it is one of the few extant early paintings of Farming Scenes of the Four Seasons in screen format, comparable to the paintings on the Fusuma at the Daisen-in Kyakuden.
     The screen depicts farming scenes of spring and summer. Although the motifs are based on the Farming and Weaving handscroll attributed to Liang Kai, the screen also incorporates motifs found in Silk-growing paintings and some Ming prints, and even includes an indigenous Japanese farming scene. These motifs are characteristics commonly found in the early Kanō school Byōbu paintings of Farming Scenes of the Four Seasons, such as the four examples found in old sales catalogues, and it is assumed to be a new convention established by Kanō Motonobu. Judging by the composition, the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum screen seems to be a later production among the Motonobu-style Farming Scenes screen paintings.
     The Kanagawa Prefectural Museum screen bears an inscription by Kanō Yasunobu in the lower right, attributing the painting to Kanō Motonobu. However, although there is no artist's signature or seal, it is clear, by comparing the formation of the rocks and trees and details of the brushwork to his other paintings, that this screen painting was done by Maejima Sōyū. Sōyū's period of activity is considered to be from the late 15th century to the middle of the 16th century, contemporary with that of Kano Motonobu. Some of Sōyū's later works show characteristics of Kantō regional style, which is noteworthy in considering the theory that Maejima Sōyū and Kanō Gyokuraku, a painter in the service of Hōjō rulers at Odawara, were one and the same person, as is recorded in some art historical documents from the Edo period. It is difficult to clarify this theory, but comparison between Sōyō's paintings and the paintings bearing the “Uto Gyoshi no In” seal, a seal considered to have been used by Gyokuraku, reveals that Sōyū and the painter who used “Uto Gyoshi no In” seal are not the same person.
     After studying more than ten extant examples of Sōyū's paintings, including the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum screen, I have come to the conclusion that Soyū first studied the style of Kanō Masanobu, and then faithfully followed the style of Motonobu, as can be proved by the changes in the seals as well. I believe that Sōyū was a gifted painter who became the most orthodox inheritor and practitioner of the style of Motonobu's landscape paintings in Kaitai (formal brushwork). However, Sōyū's paintings are not just imitations of Motonobu's paintings, but rather possess a kind of crystallized beauty achieved through a distillation of Motonobu's painting style. This is a characteristic clearly found in the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum screen, and indicates that it was produced in the mid-16th century, and quite possibly in the Kantō region. Therefore, the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum screen provides various useful clues for future studies of Maejima Sōyū's paintings.},
 pages = {1--27},
 title = {前島宗祐小考―四季耕作図屏風の紹介をかねて―},
 year = {1993}
}