The Owari Tokugawa family, the most senior of the three Tokugawa branch daimyo families (Gosanke), was founded by Tokugawa Yoshinao (1600-1650), the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). Yoshinao was born at Osaka Castle in September 1600 roughly two months after the fateful Battle of Sekigahara. He was initially granted the province of Kai, but when his elder brother Matsudaira Tadayoshi (1580-1607), Ieyasuʼs fourth son, passed away, he succeeded Tadayoshi as the lord of Kiyosu Castle. When the construction of Nagoya Castle, which became the hereditary castle of the Owari Tokugawa family for generations, was completed in 1614, his feudal domain spanned all of Owari province, parts of the provinces of Mino and Mikawa, and Kiso Mountains in Shinano Province, and was valued at 619,500 koku.

Japan’s daimyo (feudal lords) were warriors and the heads of fighting forces who established their dominion through force of arms. Even in peaceful times, daimyo always remained prepared for battle, and throughout the Edo period (1603-1868) they continued to maintain stocks of weapons such as swords and guns as well as armor and other armaments. The Owari Tokugawa family was particularly scrupulous in maintaining and preserving items that once belonged to Ieyasu and successive heads of the family as treasures exemplifying the history of the family.

Japan’s daimyo (feudal lords) played a political role and were also patrons of culture. As such, they were expected to be refined and to demonstrate proper etiquette. It was particularly important for daimyo to master the ways of tea, Noh music and performance, and incense, as these were the arts that would be conducted as part of official occasions such as ceremonies and diplomatic functions.

The tea ceremony, established in the Muromachi period (1333-1573), was incorporated into rituals and feasts. Because the utensils of the tea ceremony signified the prestige of a household, daimyo families competed with each other to collect renowned and masterful tea utensils with storied histories.

Noh music and performance became a favorite of the samurai class thanks to the patronage of the Ashikaga shogun family, and during the Edo period, came to be the official, i.e., ceremonial, music of the samurai. Daimyo sought to collect Noh masks made by famous pre-Edo period mask makers and also hired their own mask makers to create masks in the styles of their favorite schools. In addition, with vast fortunes at their disposal and increasingly sophisticated dyeing and weaving techniques being developed in Japan, daimyo families had Noh costumes crafted using the best quality fabrics in gorgeous and original designs.

Originating in a game called takimono-awase in which participants competed to create the best-smelling incense, the culture and art of incense which formed in the Muromachi period continued to be important into the Edo period, and daimyo families sought to procure fine quality aromatic woods as well as extravagant incense sets with maki-e lacquer.

Literature, including history and treatises on moral principles as well as poetry, was an indispensable part of the education required of the ruling elite, and they were even expected to compose poems for ceremonies, parties, and various other occasions. Calligraphy examples, such as letters from an Emperor and writings by the hands of famous poets, writers, or past feudal lords, were displayed in ceremonial spaces and given as gifts. Likewise with paintings, masterpieces from a variety of locations and periods were used not only for appreciation but also as presents and to add solemnity and magnificence to a ritual space.

At the same time, Japan’s daimyo (feudal lords) and their children also appreciated calligraphy and paintings in their private spaces, called the oku, as a pastime to ease the boredom of the everyday, or as models for their own brushwork. Some daimyo came to develop spectacular skill in these areas on par with professional artists.

The wedding furnishings of Chiyohime (Princess Chiyo)(1637-1698), the eldest daughter of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who married Mitsutomo, the second load of the Owari Tokugawa family, in 1639 at the age of two, is known as the Hatsune Furnishings. The collection consists of the 47 pieces of the Hatsune Maki-e Furnishings, whose designs are derived from “Hatsune (The Warbler’s First Song),” the 23rd chapter of The Tale of Genji; the 10 pieces of the Kochō Maki-e Furnishings, derived from “Kochō (The Batterflies),” the 24th chapter of The Tale of Genji; and 13 pieces of other maki-e furnishings, textiles, swords, and other items. Totaling 70 pieces in all, the collection was designated a National Treasure in 1996. The Hatsune, Kochō, and other maki-e furnishings were made by Chōjū (1599-1651), the 10th head of the Kōami family of maki-e artisans who served the government from the Muromachi to the Edo periods. Maki-e is a group of lacquer techniques which use gold, silver, and other metal powders to create designs. These pieces have been praised as masterpieces that exemplify a pinnacle of maki-e techniques in the history of lacquer craftsmanship. The furnishings have a literary theme and feature written characters depicted in the playful and painterly ashide-moji style scattered throughout. Overall, the furnishings are finished in nashiji with gold and silver flakes, but a variety of other maki-e techniques requiring sophisticated skills have also been masterfully applied, including taka-maki-e, togidashi-maki-e, hira-maki-e, kirikane, and tsukegaki.

The scrolls in this set are the oldest extant examples of paintings based on The Tale of Genji, a novel written by Lady Murasaki in the early 11th century. They are believed to have been produced mainly at the imperial court in the first half of the 12th century. Even among the many paintings of that have been created depicting scenes from the novel, these works, based on a deep understanding of and identification with the story, vividly convey the lifestyle and aesthetic sense of Heian period (794-1185) aristocrats, and entrance the viewer with their exceptionally high quality and cogency.

Gorgeously colored, the paintings’ delicate and meticulous portrayals were created using the tsukuri-e technique with a facial style called hikime-kagihana. The fukinuki-yatai technique, in which the roofs and ceilings of buildings are removed to create a birdʼs-eye view, is skillfully incorporated into the paintings’ compositions, and the world of the story and even the emotional shifts of the characters are masterfully depicted.

Although the text is an abridged version, it belongs to the Beppon classification of Genji manuscripts and is valuable as the oldest extant example of its kind. Each verse is written on a single sheet of gorgeous writing paper dyed with gradations of purple, red, and other colors and sprinkled with gold and silver particles as well as gold and silver flake that has been cut into blocks (known as kirihaku) and thin strips (noge) and torn into irregular patches (sakihaku). Five styles of calligraphy, a mix of new and old, have been identified in the scrolls (three of which are represented in the scrolls in the exhibition), including the Hosshōji-temple style, then a new style of calligraphy; in addition to the traditional running characters of the Jōdai style. Combining painting, calligraphy, and ornamented paper, the scrolls are a veritable crystallization of beauty, condensing the mature aesthetic sensibilities of the late Heian period in all their glory.