Tosa Mitsunobu and the Small Scroll in Medieval Japan

(University of Washington Press) This book is a study of short-story small scrolls (ko-e ), a form of early Japanese painting that emerged in the 14th century. About half the height of the narrative handscrolls that had been produced in Japan for centuries, these small scrolls illustrated short stories of personal transformation informed by the Buddhist notion of the illusory nature of worldly desire. Exploring the history of the small scroll’s emergence and examining its qualities and production contexts, McCormick focuses on the collaborations between imperial court painter Tosa Mitsunobu (active ca. 1469-1522) and the erudite Kyoto aristocrat Sanjonishi Sanetaka (1455-1537). Three of Mitsunobu’s scrolls form the core of the study, making it the first sustained examination in English of his work. McCormick is a professor of Japanese art and culture at Harvard University.