ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE ASAI SISTERS by Elizabeth Self Bachelor of Arts, University of Oregon, 2007 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of the Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Elizabeth Self It was defended on April 6, 2017 and approved by Hiroshi Nara, Professor, East Asian Languages and Literatures Mrinalini Rajagopalan, Assistant Professor, History of Art and Architecture Katheryn Linduff, Professor Emerita, History of Art and Architecture Dissertation Advisor: Karen Gerhart, Professor, History of Art and Architecture ii Copyright © by Elizabeth Self 2017 iii ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE ASAI SISTERS Elizabeth Self, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2017 In early modern Japan, women, like men, used art and architectural patronage to perform and shape their identities and legitimate their authority. Through a series of case studies, I examine the works of art and architecture created by or for three sisters of the Asai 浅井 family: Yodo- dono 淀殿 (1569-1615), Jōkō-in 常高院 (1570-1633), and Sūgen-in 崇源院 (1573-1626). The Asai sisters held an elite status in their lifetimes, in part due to their relationship with the “Three Unifiers” of early 17th century Japan—Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537- 1589), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). As such, they were uniquely positioned to participate in the cultural battle for control of Japan. In each of my three case studies, I look at a specific site or object associated with one of the sisters. The objects that I examine—a mausoleum, a portrait, and a memorial temple—were all associated with death and memorial rituals. Mortuary culture may have been seen as an appropriate subject for women’s patronage because it was inherently a family responsibility, and it served to define and propagate the lineage. Since portraits and memorial buildings were expensive, ostentatious luxury objects, they were one of the most public ways that women could participate in patronage. This dissertation addresses two research questions: how the social identities of the Asai sisters, specifically their lineage connections and roles in the complex web of political marriages of the time, were defined and asserted by architectural and artistic patronage; and how these three case studies expand our understanding of the problematic term “patronage” and its relationship to women. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... XI A NOTE ON THE TEXT ........................................................................................................ XIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 SETTING THE STAGE: THE LATE MOMOYAMA AND EARLY EDO PERIODS .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 OBJECTS AND ARCHITECTURE IN CONTEXT: MORTUARY CULTURE ........................................................................................................................... 11 1.2.1 Methodology and Literature Review ........................................................... 11 1.2.2 Function and Use of Mortuary Objects. ...................................................... 14 1.2.3 Lineages, the Ie, and Mortuary Culture ...................................................... 16 1.3 WOMEN AND ART, OR "WHY HAVE THERE BEEN NO GREAT FEMALE PATRONS?" ..................................................................................................... 18 1.4 THE MEANING AND FUNCTION OF PATRONAGE IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN .............................................................................................................. 23 1.5 AVAILABLE TEXTUAL SOURCES ............................................................. 27 1.6 SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS ........................................................................... 30 1.6.1 A Mausoleum Fit for a Shogun’s Wife: Two Seventeenth-Century Mausolea for Sūgen-in ............................................................................................... 30 v 1.6.2 Life After Death: The Intersection of Patron and Subject in the Portrait of Jōkō-in .................................................................................................................... 32 1.6.3 A Matrilineal Tradition of Patronage at Yōgen’in: Yodo-dono and Her Relatives ...................................................................................................................... 33 1.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 34 2.0 A MAUSOLEUM FIT FOR A SHOGUN’S WIFE: THE TWO SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MAUSOLEA FOR SŪGEN-IN CHAPTER ......................... 35 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 35 2.2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 39 2.3 WHO WAS SŪGEN-IN? .................................................................................. 42 2.4 THE HISTORY OF MAUSOLEA IN JAPAN ............................................... 44 2.5 THE 1647 SŪGEN-IN MAUSOLEUM ........................................................... 48 2.5.1 Reconstructing the 1647 Sūgen-in Mausoleum ........................................... 52 2.5.2 The Use of Gongen Style Architecture ........................................................ 55 2.6 THE 1628 SŪGEN-IN MAUSOLEUM ........................................................... 60 2.6.1 The Form of the 1628 Mausoleum ............................................................... 61 2.6.2 Changes to the 1628 Mausoleum After Its Move ........................................ 63 2.6.3 Architectural Style and Precedent ............................................................... 64 2.7 THE IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF THE 1647 SŪGEN-IN MAUSOLEUM ................................................................................................................... 66 2.8 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 68 3.0 LIFE AFTER DEATH: THE INTERSECTION OF PATRON AND SUBJECT IN THE PORTRAIT OF JŌKŌ-IN .......................................................................................... 70 vi 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 70 3.2 THE PORTRAIT OF JŌKŌ-IN ...................................................................... 73 3.2.1 The Historical Context of the Portrait of Jōkō-in ...................................... 76 3.2.2 Facts About the Portrait ............................................................................... 77 3.3 THE QUESTION OF THE COMMISSIONER ............................................. 81 3.3.1 The Practice of Commissioning Portraits in Early Modern Japan .......... 81 3.3.2 Jōkō-in’s Concern for Her Soul ................................................................... 86 3.3.3 The Sources of Jōkō-in’s Wealth .................................................................. 89 3.3.4 The Asai Family Crest ................................................................................... 92 3.4 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 96 4.0 A TALE OF TWO SISTERS: THE PATRONAGE HISTORY OF THE ASAI MEMORIAL TEMPLE YŌGEN’IN ........................................................................................ 99 4.1 METHODOLOGY AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................ 103 4.2 YODO-DONO: THE ASAI AND TOYOTOMI FAMILIES ...................... 108 4.2.1 Founding of the Temple .............................................................................. 109 4.2.2 Patronage of Other Asai Family Sites........................................................ 116 4.3 SŪGEN-IN: THE TOKUGAWA AND ASAI FAMILIES .......................... 121 4.3.1 The Rebuilding of Yōgen’in ........................................................................ 122 4.3.2 The Paintings at Yōgen’in ........................................................................... 126 4.3.3 Sūgen’in As a Patron of Other Religious Sites.......................................... 130 4.4 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 133 4.4.1 Yōgen’in After the Asai Sisters .................................................................. 134 4.4.2 Two Temples, Two Sisters, Two Purposes ................................................ 137 vii 5.0 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................... 140 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 145 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Table showing dimensions (in bays) of various mausolea. ............................................ 56 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Asai Family Tree ............................................................................................................. 7 Figure 2: Kyōgoku and Asai Family Tree ...................................................................................