SPECULATION ON THE GENEALOGY OF THE EARLY TORII MASTERS HOWARD A. LINK Auochne Curator of Orienml Art. Keeper of 1he Ukiyo-e Print Ccn1rr. Honolulu Academy of An ~ EDITORIAL NOTE : TJ.i, i1 tlu ,u.. i i• • 1tri,s •f •rtidu iuli•t •Wt 1/11url,y Ttrii ,• .,,.,, ._, Mr. Lid:. Tit, jut ••tic/1, "T•, 1'trii E•i1•1•· 11;;1,r,tl i• Ultiyo·t Art, Jtf•. JJ, !Jill . ii tl,irti •rlic/1 iu/i111 •itl, 11,. ,,,{, T 1rii-slJI• Eiri•kJ·iiJ• h• ir ,t,••ti 11b1. O-, II 1/i, li•it1i spuu, ••U' th, h ,111 HliiuJ •f ''" r.,;; ;,,u,. ,... , ,.. ,;,,,,, /,,,, FORE iOST AMONG T l-IE UKIYO-E ART IST~ of th• "Prirni1ivc'' period art ,i.~ £int muteu to ~■ r th• 11 ■ n1• ■ of Torii Kiyomuu ind Torii Kiyonobu. To111hcr, thc.e ■ nin, Ht11bli1b,d • 11 ■ ndard in tbt: r,,, .. ,ntat'on of K,bd:' ubj,cct m• tt"r 1hu1 •s to "nfl ■ c ■c• ul(yo-• ar1 to the u1d of the n"nctctnth oer:11ur7. Tradition ,tat" th•t Torii l(iyonob1;1 wu tb• fo1mdtr or th• Terii 11:Jbool, :ind ori1i11a.1,d 1hi1 11yl or art,,--' that Tor· K"yo,•ua, h"• 1011, QI.DI.I .-:c:ond. Tbt foundat'oa of 1h·, tra(l"t"ou, ho Lu, i1 1h,ky and contradietor}', ••d mo11 1aholu1 1Mar 1.. ,., open tht' 11roltlt1• of bloo,:\ ni1illion1hi1111■ nd the 100chy 1ro111tion of "founder."" Tht •t•dy •f thue ar1i111 i1 furth ■ r complicated h}· the faot tl:,.i uti111 of th• 1ucc- ■ din• Torii •enenuion• 11.cd the 11i111awr11T orii Kiyonobu and Torii KiyomHu ,,,i1bo1;11 di1dn1ui1hi•• the prc-c:ttltact nf d1t1e mHtrr1, :ind :idop1t•1l thl' ••me uyl,· of 1lrnwin111■ nd ;ob~cL matter . 7'Ju Gu111l■ 1ir■ l /fu1ulruli1 ■ 1 A br"tf r · ··••• of tht 11-n_ conffct"n• t hcor"t ■ rew .. J"ng the "den1°1:, nf the t-arlr T···-t"~ts ·sher~ aon ■ ·du,d Tliury I. B11e1l on ■ n io1cn1i.-c 1enulo1il·1\ 1tutly of tilt T•rii f■ mily, lnout Ka1uo concl ■ dtd that tbtr1 TCI two 11rt'111 1,bo 1;11td1b1 nun1 K)o•u■ ■ nd t••o •n·,11 ••ho 1;11rdthCI n,n11 K"yo11ob1.o Aagorcliaf 10 lnou.-, findin11, both Kiyoman I ,n .. 11, Hd Kiyonohu II were 10111 of Torii 5hobai. or u h, wu al10 kno••n, Kiyonob• I. Inoue' • rccon1truction of the uti11ic rrn•alotY ind bi, identiliQl.tion of th• Torii family i ■ ba-i o• th1 7' ■ r ii 11 K1i/• .tf {Torii family rtcord), •n• ■ dition of th• U.tiJl·I lf •i.tl, ■ tornb11on• in ■ cription, hi1 i1•1hili1y to findprint11i1n•d Ki1o•H• bt1..,·ct.n 1718 •nd 17:l•, •nd 101111rubrr •rtilicial daduction1 ·rh1 Ttrii t• Xii/• al 1t1tll thlll Kiyonob■ -..·u horn in 168., ••11 niurito:l ia 1193 t• • -..·olllllln born in 117&, 11,•llobor, him thrN 10111 and o n ■ daufbter (or II lnouc 1011c.t1, four 1on11nd lwo dau1 b- 1tr1). I) Aoc1ptin1 tbr11 d1101 ,md •ork in111backward frol'.l th1 dt.tt of the firat Kiy01•11u••i1n1d print known to l now.•, 171", Lh1 lilit1ly dat1 of bir th of Kiy•nob•· • nut {or 1.:ond) 10n, i.e., Kiyornuu I, 11,•01;1ldlMin llgiij att bt latc1t in order tobaoldc•o•1h toh .. c produced hi1h·quali1y:1rt in 17U lor10.-er, l noa1 d"d not •nco,, r any pr"1111•·11;1td K"1•omuu dated or·,11·11:r''i.., t 1111 th• 1"ath 1•01;11lt of 1711 :rnd 1714. Sp•c1;1luin1 d•t Kiyomu• 111irlu i.... di..-.1 url,•, hot then conn1ctttl him with th ■ i111cri1nio11/ uu D•••111d th• bori■ I d.111 1718, both •PL1Carin1 .;in th• 11ft ..id1 of tlw Cllrli•r of tht two Torii farnily 101•b1to11u. loou1 thtori•d tbat Kiyo,nun l, u 1 10n of Kiyonob• I, 1r.1r1.! in 1h1 ;trti1tic world in l7U ind diCld 1wo yttn l1tC1T.T h, prin11 1i.ncd Kiyo111111••P1-rin1 afttr 17>1 •erC1, acoordi•• to him, p,crb1p1 do111 hy K iyo , mt ■ u II who wu, ti•• 1d1ptad son of Kironob'ol I Kiyonob1;1"1 te1on<l 10n w11 10 btcornt Kiyonob1;1 II 1ho•t tbe •11111th•e. lorco.-er, 11101;111111t11;1111 t.bat the tr•• found.tr of th1 Torii 1ahool. wu not Torii Sh1b1i Kiyi>n•hu. b1;11hi• fa1htr, Torii Kiyo111010. Thu,, lnou•·• ftnu loi ic•I aonau .. 1ion i, u folio-..·• l Torii Kiyornoto, found.Cirof tl11 Torii 1crhool :t Torii hohti Kiyonobu, firatorac.:i ♦nd1on To rii Kiyo111:111;1I, fint 101 of Torii Kiyonolt■ I Torii Kiyom111u 11, •dopted .,, •f Torii Kiyonob■ I T orii K iyoaob ■ II, -o•d 10n of Torii Kiyonobu I Hoth 1he Ukiyo•• RwiU edi1ion and the Torii 10 Ktifw kd were act down at some distance from t_he evenu in question, and therefore suffer from many unreliable additions and omission, . The Torii 10 K,ifu I,;~ makes no d"sfnct'on between f"rs1 ~• second generat"on r ·yom111u, suggesfng that the r, ' ~nee, Kiyonobu lint, and Kiyomosu second, i1 more IHI arti1tic genealogy than n family j(enealogy in the truest scn~.o r-.tor«iver, pr"n1>1d,fn·1e\y aur'hu111ble to the 'i •l K y1,masu have IJ,t.~11uncovered bet ?en 1716 and 1n-1 "'hich mu.y prove thai Kiyo,na1u I did not die in 1716 (Fig. 1). (Sec also 1he Clam1tt Bwdi1ttham Calfrdia• •f Jopu,.u Pri~ts, Vol. 1, "The Primm,·e,i , .. N011.19, 20, 21, and 22 ) ' 1 We n d not c-01_iJ-!r the thorny ~1ueston a, to ""he1her the ·11 r pl on I u Dom• 's or 1~ not 11]'.>0!;1hu• mous name. There ia a body of opinion, however, 1hat tlu$ intcription is a Buddhiat 1,rayer and uo1 11 K11imy,i 11t 1111.•l It t1,lsoa111x:urs, based on certllin dated prinls, that there wu :, 1hird Ki>·onobu We will discuss the,ie problem• nt n later poin1 in our review Th,ory II. In 1924, the German scholar Friti Rumpf disagreed with Inoue, 11etting fonh his belief that the fir$\ Kiyonobu and th.. lint Kiyomuu were one and the lame p,er!M>n,and 1h111the son of this an'11t con ·nued to use both names aher h s f .her's refrement. 'l Th1• theory co1' ned w·th the tra­ dmonal genealogical ordering (which noted only 011, Kiyonobu followed by on, Kiyomuu ) and was based primarily on the evklem::t, of cenain prints !hat were $e8led "Kiyomuu" hut signed "Kiyonobu," aml wu bolstered by ceriain styli.iic similaritie. and 1~rallcla. Rumpf's judgement, however, hH not found 11uP1K1rtamong cr't'cs, most of whom are able to d'st 'ngu·sh the hoods of two"11t"nct 11<'.nona!"t"es·n Tori\ works that cun be dnte<l hefore 1720. Rumpfs hypo1hcsi11111110 assu mes the simultaneou~ use of t ) art'st names based on the ,uime stem "Kyo, •· " procC1lure that has no known occurre11ce Th,o,:, III. Thi s thL'Ory involves the opinion 1h111Ki yomasu I was a younger brothl'r of Kiyonobu I and not a sou. The earlic,11 rder<'nce in the Wut to the identifi.:atio.rnof Kiyomasu I, with a hypothe t ical you11J(cr brotht.ar of Kiyonobu wa~ made hy Dr. Julius Kurth. lie based his conclusion on a theater 1•r0i,tmm dated inaccuriucl>· 10 1693, n date near Kiyonob11'~ marriaJ,Ce l>r. Kurth offored no n<ldiuonal evidence.'' RL-ceutly, Dr. Richard Lane 11dvanced the ,.amc thcur)'• ) He bo<S<"dhis 011inion on the diseovery of the novel K6shoku T suyo KomuJd,l,y Torimlo Chomnro, which, with illu21trutions presumed 10 be I))' Kiyomusu I, i• located in thl' Ryeraon l.ihrnry of the Ari Jn~titute of Chi<:uij:O.The colophon of this book be'.tr, the 11.igonture Ki)'mnasu and is dat<'tl 1696. l{t~ent rel«'arch proved that the 11igna1ure is spurious, however, and the hook is now R<'ncra!ly pln.ee<lin tltt: Hishikawa ouort. Dr. Lane offered no other recorded evidence to 1upp<>rt his claim of a youngt"r bro1het Thto,:, IV. In 1965, it wa, determined to re•uamine all the available evidence on the Torii school in an attempt to reach11 more tenable solution than those that h11ve been offered in the 11351, In making 1hi11.1tudy, the writer wu forced to devend on sources which were known or ~uspected to be very "nndequate-some of the game a"ds used by Inoue Kazuo ·n h' monumcn· ' re9earch. Scanty surv·val of works from this period, and the demonstrated unreliability of information reported in burial :rnd family records required an attitude of unrelt'nting skepticism fndet.-d since 1923, the time of lnoue·s work, a deva,uuing war has dcsuoyed any burial documentation of H0.iO•ji (temple) that might have yielded some edditional mformauon. lks1me thil: $<!tback, it was pouihle to uncover two new documenl!I one, an wki}0•.;6shi dated 1709, and the other, 11. receut Torii Kak.o,1,1,( burial record) kepi at Tok yo's Myoken•ji. This Kakoch6 wu copied by an unknown transcriber from the Torii houll(!hold Kakochu. which in turn hat! bc.;,n copied in the lute Edo period by Saito Chohachi (Torii Kiyon1ine II) from the original llojo.ji temple record.