(above)The Time Traveler Umeyama’s Drawing: Preliminary Drawing for Five Mokkenshu, 2016, Sumi ink and gouache on oriental paper, 22 x 40 inches

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(left)Drawing of Labels for Umeyama’s Drawing: Preliminary Drawing for Five Mokkenshu, 2016, Graphite on paper, 24 x 18 inches

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​(From the label Drawing)

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Shoei Umeyama 

 

Preliminary Drawing for Five Mokkenshu, circa 2016

Ink and polychrome on oriental paper    

 

On loan from Penelope and Sonny

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After returning to Japan, Umeyama was commissioned to make a scroll painting of Mokkenshu (fire hydrant) by Yoshinobu Tokugawa, who was the 15th and last Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the 19th century. This work is a preliminary drawing for the scroll painting.

 

The finished scroll painting was well received by the shogun, and later the work was donated to a repository of the former Tokyo Imperial University Library and Museum. However, the original painting was destroyed by fire during a WWII air raid.

 

Umeyama’s classification of the five Mokkenshu is as follows:

• The Armor (Yoroi Kabuto Gata)

• The Pagoda (Nanpo Buttoh Gata)

• The Family Crests (Monsho Gata)

• The Sun (Nichi-rin Gata)

• The Box (Hako Gata)

 

He suggested that Mokkenshu might have also served as reliquary because of the similarity between the general shape of Mokkenshu and a reliquary from Horin-ji temple, Nara Japan.

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