Konmeichi-no-shōji 昆明池障子

Keywords
Art History
Painting

A tall (6 shaku 尺, or 181.8 cm), single-panel, standing screen *tsuitate shōji 衝立障子 placed in the extended area *hirobisashi 広廂 of the Seiryōden 清涼殿, the main building of Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. From the Heian period, the front of this screen had an image of Lake Kunming (Jp: Konmeichi 昆明池), a body of water created to the west of Chang'an (Jp: Chōan 長安) at the order of Emperor Wu (Jp: Butei 武帝, reign: BC 141-87) of the Han dynasty, for use in naval training. The Japanese theme of falconry at *Sagano 嵯峨野 was painted on the reverse side. Both sides use color. No Heian period Konmeichi-no-shōji is extant; however, a representation is included in a scene at the Seiryōden in the first scroll of the illustrated handscroll of stories about The Conspiracy against The Courtier Ban Dainagon Ban Dainagon emaki 伴大納言絵巻 (12th century; Idemitsu 出光 Museum, Tokyo).