The Poetry of Play: Hybridity in the "Amusements of the Four Seasons of Kyoto"

Abstract

With calligraphic inscriptions by Takahashi Munenao (1703–­1785) and paintings by Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–­1795), Amusements of the four seasons of Kyoto is a two-handscroll set commissioned by the courtly Kujō family as a gift for the Owari Tokugawa, kinsfolk of the ruling shogun. The work therefore is consistently read as praise for the Pax Tokugawa. This study further argues that Amusements of the four seasons of Kyoto also demonstrates a hybridity, juxtaposing the poetic impulses of the court with the tastes of the society at large.