Namban Byobu by Erin O'Neal
The pair of six-panel namban byobu (“southern barbarian folding screen”)
was created during the transition period from the Momoyama to the Edo era. Like
other namban byobu, this screen depicts the coming of foreign, Western missionaries
and traders to what is most likely the port town of Nagasaki. The foreigners
wear top hats and pantaloons and arrive in a large, masted galleon (nao in Portuguese).
Unique to this particular byobu, however, is the flow from left to right, as
opposed to the traditional Japanese pictoral portrayal of events that would proceed
from right to left. This movement from left to right is evidenced by the foreigners’ arrival
in their ship on the left side and gradual procession from the dock to the church
in the upper right corner of the second of the six-panel byobu.
The namban byobu is done in color and gold leaf on paper and was most likely created by a member of the Kano school. The picture is painted with a close-up and narrative view of this Japanese community that is being inundated by Westerners. Like many screens of the time, gold clouds float throughout the byobu, hovering around pine trees and tops of buildings. The viewer gets a diverse look at different aspects of Momoyama-Edo period life: there are merchants, scholars, women, Japanese Christian monks and priests, children, and animals. Two-thirds of the two screens depict the land activities and the different parts of the 17th century seaside town.
