A "Mockup" of The Genki
As one might expect, Takakane, who did the Genki paintings, prepared a full set of sketches (nakagaki) before executing the final version. These are mentioned in Kanmon gyoki, the diary of Prince Sadafusa (a son of Emperor Go-Hanazono) under the date Eikyo 10.2.27 (1438) (ZGR:52 l, cited in Nagashima 1944:245):
Narutaki-dono lent me the set of the nakagaki of the illustrated Kasuga engi (20 scrolls). It belongs to Hagiwara-dono. How extraordinary to see it again! The final set was offered to the Kasuga Shrine . . . [The nakagaki] I borrowed is by Takakane too. I suppose it is an heirloom in Hagiwara-dono's family, which must be why Narutaki-dono has it now.
It is not clear whether this nakagaki included the text. Perhaps it stiil exists, though it is unknown in modern times.
The Genki through the Centuries
Once presented to the shrine, the Genki was carefully kept there. The shrine still owns the special, lacquered stand on which it was to be displayed, but the work was seldom seen. If required at Kofukuji it could normally be taken only to Tobokuin (Daijoin jisha zojiki for Entoku 2.8.1 [ 1490]). Moreover, according to the diaries of Konoe Motohiro for Genroku 14.4.27 (1701, cited in Wada 1917) and of the Kasuga priest Mitsutomo for Horeki 10 (1760, cited in Ohigashi 1983b:4), no shrine priest or Kofukuji monk less than forty years old was allowed io see it. Mitsutomo, a high-ranking priest, did not even ask to see it until he was in his forty-first year.
There weret exceptions, however. In the Daijoin jisha zojiki entry just cited, Jinson noted that the Genki was back from being shown to Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado in Kyoto, and was now at Tobokuin. He went on:
The superintendent [Shokaku, a son of Nijo Mochimichi] has sent word to Tobokuin that he wants to view it in private. Tomorrow, apparently, the monks who are sons of senior nobles (ryoke-shu) will see it, and it will be shown to the superintendent in the evening. The day after tomorrow it will be returned to the Shrine. I have never heard of its being shown anymhere except at Tobokuin, but since the superintendent wants a look at it....
The Genki is known to have gone to Kyoto four times, as listed by Nagashima (1944:245); and Ohigashi (1983a:86-87) recentiy added to its travels a visit to Edo Castle in Kyoho 10 (1725).
Early in the Oei era (1 394-1428), Ashikaga Yoshimitsu managed to get the Genki for an e-awase ("picture competition") party. Later on, it went three times to the imperial palace: Entoku 2.7 (1490); Kyoroku 2.3 (1529); and Genroku 14.4 (1701). Nagashima (1944:246) described as follows the imperial viewing of 1490, on the basis of the Entoku 2.7.22 entry in the diary of Sanjonishi Sanetaka:
That day the Emperor [Go-Tsuchimikado] proceeded to his Kuroto-no-gosho. Sanjonishi Sanetaka and Nakamikado Nobutane read the kotobagaki-Nobutane scrolls 11, 12, and 13,and Sanetaka the rest. All present were deeply moved. In order to perform his duty, Sanetaka had fasted and bathed on the previous day.
On its trip to Kyoto in 1529, to be viewed by Emperor Go-Nara the Genki was carefully looked after and securely guarded. It left on Kyoroku 2.2.29. When it rerurned to Nara on 4.12, a delegation from Ichijoin came as far as Uji to greet it (Nagashima 1944:247, quoting without attribution Oyudono no Ue no nikki, ZGR hoi, vol. 3).
Thus the Genki was treated by the court not just as a treasure but as a sacred object imbued with the presence of the Kasuga deity himself. However, the excursion to Edo Castle seems to have been less solemn. The Genki was taken to Edo and back by two priests from the shrine, and stayed under the shogun's care for five months. No doubt it was well looked-after, and eagerly viewed by a good many people, but its associations can hardly have been as impressive in Edo as they were in Kyoto.
Later in the eighteenth century an unfortunate laxness seems to have set in. Miya (1983:23) has discussed how, sometime during the An'ei era ( 1772-80), the Genki was apparently removed from its place at the shrine. The circumstances remain a mystery. According to a note appended to the Tokyo National Museum copy of the Genki (the copy is dated Koka 2 [1848], Kajuji Tsunetoshi ( 1748-1804), a major counselor in Kyoto, was amazed one day to learn that a private person in the city was in possession of the Genki, having allegedly obtained it from a certain merchant family. Tsunetoshi informed the shrine, and it turned out that the Genki really was gone. When he recovered the work, happily intact, he entrusted it to the regent, Takatsukasa Masanori. Masanori returned it to the shrine with the order that it should never again be allowed to stray. Ohigashi Nobukazu (1983:88), on the other hand, has found evidence that.this account may not be correct. Whatever really happened, the Genki in the late eighteenth century was treated a bit casually. The decline in its dignity parallels the decline suffered by Kasuga and especially by Kofukuji at about the same time.
In due course the Genki found its way back to the Takatsukasa house, which in Meiji 8 (1875) offered it to the imperial household (Miya 1983:23). It remains imperial property to this day, and is now no easier to see than it was in the fourteenth century.