Ishūretsuzō (夷酋列像), also known as or A Series of Paintings of Ainu Chieftains [1]: 5 or Portraits of Ezo Chieftains, [2]: 9 is a series of twelve painted portraits, dating to 1790, of Ainu elders in the aftermath of the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion. They are by the Japanese artist and Matsumae Domain retainer Kakizaki Hakyō (1764–1826). Eleven of the twelve paintings survive, in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon. A number of preparatory drawings and copies are to be found in collections in Japan. The clothing worn and other accoutrements depicted help cast light on late eighteenth-century connections between the indigenous inhabitants of Ezochi, the Wajin, China, and Russia. [1] [3] [4] The portrait of Ininkari from the series also represents the earliest known documentation of brown bears (Ursus arctos) with white pelage, the so-called "Ininkari bears" that are to be found on Kunashir (Kunashiri) and Iturup (Etorofu) in the disputed Southern Kurils. [5]
In 1604, the Tokugawa shogunate granted the Matsumae Domain exclusivity in trade with the people of Ezo. [6] From the 1630s, these exchanges were managed through the so-called akinaiba chigyo sei [ja] trade-fief system, [7] which saw Ezochi demarcated into a number of trading posts (known as akinaiba or basho), each assigned to a senior vassal of the Matsumae clan, with exclusive rights to trade with the local Ainu. [1]: 123 Following Shakushain's revolt and during the eighteenth century, this was gradually replaced by the basho ukeoi sei [ja] or subcontracted trading post system, with Japanese merchants granted rights to manage local trade on behalf of the Matsumae clan vassals, in exchange for commission. [1]: 123 [7] [8]: 30 The outcome was loss of economic independence, as the Ainu increasingly became in effect labourers in fisheries and other businesses operated by Wajin merchants. [1]: 123 [7]
In 1788, merchant Hidaya Kyūbei (飛騨屋久兵衛) began commercial fishing operations in the Menashi- Kunashiri area, employing Ainu workers to catch salmon and trouth for use as fertilizer. [1]: 77 Worked so hard that they had insufficient time to lay up food for the winter, food shortages combined with overbearing behaviour — including fishery supervisors making Ainu wives their mistresses — and suspicions of poisonings sparked the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion of May 1789. [1]: 77 While local potentate Tsukinoe was away hunting sea otters on Uruppu, seventy-one Wajin were killed, twenty-two of them on Kunashiri, the rest in the Menashi area, all but one of them (a Matsumae Domain soldier) Hidaya employees. [1]: 77 When news reached Matsumae at the beginning of June, daimyō Matsumae Michihiro despatched 260 soldiers, who made their way east, recruiting local Ainu chieftains as they went. [1]: 77 Arriving in the Nemuro area in July, over three hundred of those involved surrendered, and of the thirty-eight directly involved in the killings — including Tsukinoe's son Seppayabu — all but one (who had fled) were beheaded, their heads stored in salt. [1]: 78 In the aftermath, Matsumae Michihiro commissioned the Ishūretsuzō series of portraits of twelve elders who had helped suppress the revolt. [4]: 90
As was common in contemporary Ainu genre painting, the Ainu elders are depicted with stereotyped physiognomic and bodily deviations that emphasize their alterity, in particular hairiness — beards, unbound hair, hairy hands, hairy legs, hairy feet, a synophrys — also large noses and ears, and "sinister" sanpaku eyes. [4]: 100 Moreover, their robes are wrapped right over left — known as "sajin" ( 左衽) — a manner historically regarded as barbaric in the Sinosphere. [4]: 100 [9] A wealth of ethnographic detail further emphasizes their "foreignness", including elm bark cloth attush robes, with ayus thorn patterns; tekunpe (テクンぺ) mittens; boots of seal skin; cloth and blue bead earrings; a ritual hoe-shaped helmet ornament (ペラウシトミカムイ); a shitoki necklace; a female mouth tatoo; Ezo nishiki Qing robes; Russian coats; and western-style shoes. [1] [2] [4]: 100
Elder | Comments | Preparatory sketch | Finished painting |
---|---|---|---|
Mautarake (麻烏太蠟潔), chieftain of Urayasubetsu |
with his sanpaku eyes, he sits on bear [10]: 158 or sea otter [11] [1]: 121 skins, his Ezo nishiki robe — with dragons, clouds, and waves, worn right over left — rides up, revealing his hairy legs; in his hands is an item of jewellery with tassels and beads [10]: 158 |
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Chousama (超殺麻), chieftain of Urayasubetsu |
with European stockings and shoes under his fur-lined Ezo nishiki robe, [4]: 100 he wears blue bead and cloth tassel earrings and holds a hoe-shaped helmet ornament [1]: 121 (as does the chieftain Tobu in Kakizaki Hakyō's 1783 portrait (see Gallery below)) |
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Tsukinoe (貲吉諾), chieftain of Kunashiri |
with a Russia military greatcoat over his Ezo nishiki robe, [1]: 121 worn right over left, and long mittens, he sits on a low chair fitted with a bearskin [10]: 157 |
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Shonko (贖穀), chieftain of Nokkamappu |
stroking his beard and with long mittens, an emusat (エムㇱアッ) sword holder is visible below his Ezo nishiki robe |
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Ikotoi (乙箇吐壹), chieftain of Akkeshi |
with a spear and bare-legged, he wears a Russia greatcoat over his Ezo nishiki robe [1]: 121 |
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Shimochi (失莫窒), chieftain of Akkeshi |
out hunting with a small bow and some of his quarry tucked into his belt, he wears a skin jacket over his Ezo nishiki robe and thorn-pattern leggings [12] |
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Ininkari (乙唫葛律), chieftain of Akkeshizarasan |
with spear, makiri [ja], tobacco case, and mittens, he leads two bear cubs, one a so-called "Ininkari bear" [5] [10]: 158 |
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Nochikusa (訥窒狐殺), chieftain of Shamo-kotan |
with headband, tashiro sword, tobacco case, and pipe, he lifts aloft a deer |
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Poroya (卜羅鵶), chieftain of Bekkai |
wearing an attush over his Ezo nishiki robe, barefoot, and walking a dog, he has a tobacco case and tashiro sword [10]: 158 |
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Ikorikayani (乙箇律葛亞泥), son of Tsukinoe |
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Nishikomake (泥湿穀末決), chieftain of Akkeshi |
stringing his bow, he has a quiver and seal-skin boots [1]: 172 |
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Chikiriashikai (窒吉律亞湿葛乙), mother of Ikotoi |
with lip tattoo and shitoki necklace, [4]: 100 she is seated on a Korean tapestry [1]: 121 |
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Ishūretsuzō (夷酋列像), also known as or A Series of Paintings of Ainu Chieftains [1]: 5 or Portraits of Ezo Chieftains, [2]: 9 is a series of twelve painted portraits, dating to 1790, of Ainu elders in the aftermath of the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion. They are by the Japanese artist and Matsumae Domain retainer Kakizaki Hakyō (1764–1826). Eleven of the twelve paintings survive, in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Besançon. A number of preparatory drawings and copies are to be found in collections in Japan. The clothing worn and other accoutrements depicted help cast light on late eighteenth-century connections between the indigenous inhabitants of Ezochi, the Wajin, China, and Russia. [1] [3] [4] The portrait of Ininkari from the series also represents the earliest known documentation of brown bears (Ursus arctos) with white pelage, the so-called "Ininkari bears" that are to be found on Kunashir (Kunashiri) and Iturup (Etorofu) in the disputed Southern Kurils. [5]
In 1604, the Tokugawa shogunate granted the Matsumae Domain exclusivity in trade with the people of Ezo. [6] From the 1630s, these exchanges were managed through the so-called akinaiba chigyo sei [ja] trade-fief system, [7] which saw Ezochi demarcated into a number of trading posts (known as akinaiba or basho), each assigned to a senior vassal of the Matsumae clan, with exclusive rights to trade with the local Ainu. [1]: 123 Following Shakushain's revolt and during the eighteenth century, this was gradually replaced by the basho ukeoi sei [ja] or subcontracted trading post system, with Japanese merchants granted rights to manage local trade on behalf of the Matsumae clan vassals, in exchange for commission. [1]: 123 [7] [8]: 30 The outcome was loss of economic independence, as the Ainu increasingly became in effect labourers in fisheries and other businesses operated by Wajin merchants. [1]: 123 [7]
In 1788, merchant Hidaya Kyūbei (飛騨屋久兵衛) began commercial fishing operations in the Menashi- Kunashiri area, employing Ainu workers to catch salmon and trouth for use as fertilizer. [1]: 77 Worked so hard that they had insufficient time to lay up food for the winter, food shortages combined with overbearing behaviour — including fishery supervisors making Ainu wives their mistresses — and suspicions of poisonings sparked the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion of May 1789. [1]: 77 While local potentate Tsukinoe was away hunting sea otters on Uruppu, seventy-one Wajin were killed, twenty-two of them on Kunashiri, the rest in the Menashi area, all but one of them (a Matsumae Domain soldier) Hidaya employees. [1]: 77 When news reached Matsumae at the beginning of June, daimyō Matsumae Michihiro despatched 260 soldiers, who made their way east, recruiting local Ainu chieftains as they went. [1]: 77 Arriving in the Nemuro area in July, over three hundred of those involved surrendered, and of the thirty-eight directly involved in the killings — including Tsukinoe's son Seppayabu — all but one (who had fled) were beheaded, their heads stored in salt. [1]: 78 In the aftermath, Matsumae Michihiro commissioned the Ishūretsuzō series of portraits of twelve elders who had helped suppress the revolt. [4]: 90
As was common in contemporary Ainu genre painting, the Ainu elders are depicted with stereotyped physiognomic and bodily deviations that emphasize their alterity, in particular hairiness — beards, unbound hair, hairy hands, hairy legs, hairy feet, a synophrys — also large noses and ears, and "sinister" sanpaku eyes. [4]: 100 Moreover, their robes are wrapped right over left — known as "sajin" ( 左衽) — a manner historically regarded as barbaric in the Sinosphere. [4]: 100 [9] A wealth of ethnographic detail further emphasizes their "foreignness", including elm bark cloth attush robes, with ayus thorn patterns; tekunpe (テクンぺ) mittens; boots of seal skin; cloth and blue bead earrings; a ritual hoe-shaped helmet ornament (ペラウシトミカムイ); a shitoki necklace; a female mouth tatoo; Ezo nishiki Qing robes; Russian coats; and western-style shoes. [1] [2] [4]: 100
Elder | Comments | Preparatory sketch | Finished painting |
---|---|---|---|
Mautarake (麻烏太蠟潔), chieftain of Urayasubetsu |
with his sanpaku eyes, he sits on bear [10]: 158 or sea otter [11] [1]: 121 skins, his Ezo nishiki robe — with dragons, clouds, and waves, worn right over left — rides up, revealing his hairy legs; in his hands is an item of jewellery with tassels and beads [10]: 158 |
![]() |
![]() |
Chousama (超殺麻), chieftain of Urayasubetsu |
with European stockings and shoes under his fur-lined Ezo nishiki robe, [4]: 100 he wears blue bead and cloth tassel earrings and holds a hoe-shaped helmet ornament [1]: 121 (as does the chieftain Tobu in Kakizaki Hakyō's 1783 portrait (see Gallery below)) |
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Tsukinoe (貲吉諾), chieftain of Kunashiri |
with a Russia military greatcoat over his Ezo nishiki robe, [1]: 121 worn right over left, and long mittens, he sits on a low chair fitted with a bearskin [10]: 157 |
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Shonko (贖穀), chieftain of Nokkamappu |
stroking his beard and with long mittens, an emusat (エムㇱアッ) sword holder is visible below his Ezo nishiki robe |
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Ikotoi (乙箇吐壹), chieftain of Akkeshi |
with a spear and bare-legged, he wears a Russia greatcoat over his Ezo nishiki robe [1]: 121 |
![]() |
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Shimochi (失莫窒), chieftain of Akkeshi |
out hunting with a small bow and some of his quarry tucked into his belt, he wears a skin jacket over his Ezo nishiki robe and thorn-pattern leggings [12] |
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Ininkari (乙唫葛律), chieftain of Akkeshizarasan |
with spear, makiri [ja], tobacco case, and mittens, he leads two bear cubs, one a so-called "Ininkari bear" [5] [10]: 158 |
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Nochikusa (訥窒狐殺), chieftain of Shamo-kotan |
with headband, tashiro sword, tobacco case, and pipe, he lifts aloft a deer |
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Poroya (卜羅鵶), chieftain of Bekkai |
wearing an attush over his Ezo nishiki robe, barefoot, and walking a dog, he has a tobacco case and tashiro sword [10]: 158 |
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Ikorikayani (乙箇律葛亞泥), son of Tsukinoe |
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Nishikomake (泥湿穀末決), chieftain of Akkeshi |
stringing his bow, he has a quiver and seal-skin boots [1]: 172 |
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Chikiriashikai (窒吉律亞湿葛乙), mother of Ikotoi |
with lip tattoo and shitoki necklace, [4]: 100 she is seated on a Korean tapestry [1]: 121 |
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