Votive tablet (ema) painted in a European style, Wakamiya Hachimangū shrine

Votive tablet (ema) painted in a European style, Wakamiya Hachimangū shrine​

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Prefecturally Designated Important Cultural Property (designated 1960)
Made: Dedicated in Kansei 4 (1792)
Wakamiya Hachimangū shrine, Shirimi, Oku
Dimensions: 128.0×218.0 cm. 

This ema, which depicts the ancient legendary Chinese swordsmith Kanshō and his wife Bakuya, was dedicated to Wakamiya Hachimangū shrine in 1792 by two maritime merchants from Shirimi, Oku. The painter was Tashiro Tadakuni, a retainer of Akita domain (modern Akita prefecture, north Japan) and one of the leading painters of the Akita Ranga school. This votive tablet is thought to have resulted from one of the many relationships forged by the kitamaebune, the name for those cargo ships that sailed the Japan Sea during the Edo period. Ships from Shirimi were active as kitamaebune and it is recorded that one of the people who donated this tablet, Hiranoya, had business connections through this network with Akita domain. 
Akita Ranga is a western-influenced school of Japanese painting that was originated by famous polymath Hiraga Gennai (1728-79), who imparted his knowledge of Western artistic concepts and methods to the lord of Akita domain and his retainers. This ema shows the unique characteristics of Akita Ranga, such as its use of western-style perspective. This important relic evidences Shirimi’s relationships with other areas though the kitamaebune.​

Cultural properties in Setouchi city