Happy Women's Map 茨城県 日本初のイコン画家 山下 りん 女史
「死なば死ね。生きなば、生きよ」
"If I die, die. If I live, live."
山下 りん 女史 Ms. Rin Yamashita
1857 - 1939
茨城県笠間市 生誕
Born in Kasama-city, Ibaraki-ken
山下りん女史は日本初のイコン画家・女流聖像画家として東京神田のニコライ堂ほか各地の正教会教会堂の作品を手掛けました。
*******
Ms. Yamashita Rin was Japan's first icon painter and female religious portrait artist. She worked on artworks for Tokyo's Nikolai-do Church and other Orthodox churches in various locations.
「家の犠牲になってたまるか」
りんは笠間藩下級士族の父・重常と母・多重のもと兄と弟の3人きょうだいに生まれます。幕府軍と尊王攘夷派の天狗党の戦闘が繰り広げられる中、りんは寺小屋を開く祖父のもとで日本画また浮世絵を描いて過ごします。この頃、りんと同じ下級士族の娘の多くは豪農に嫁ぐも辛い生活に耐えかねて乳飲み子とともに心中していました。やがて、農家との結婚話を勧められたりんは画業を志して単身上京します。一度は家族に連れ戻されますが、夢を捨てきれずに再上京。家事雑事を一手に引き受けながら、豊原国周という浮世絵師に学び、次に川上冬崖に洋画を学んだ中丸精十郎に師事します。日本画の落日を目の当たりにしたりんは、親戚の伝手をたよって明治政府が創設したばかりの工部美術学校を受験、見事合格すると笠間藩より月謝の支援を取り付けます。
「こんなに感動させるのはなぜだろう」
りんは日本初となる女性美術学生6人のひとりとなって、イタリア人画家アントニオ・フォンタネージの指導を受けます。レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチ、ラファエロ、ミレー、絵画の技法だけでなく反映されている西洋哲学・思想を説くフォンタネージの指導のもと、りんは新鮮な驚きまた喜びとともに無我夢中で学びます。やがて、政府の予算削減のあおりをうけフォンタネージが辞任、後任として無名の画家が雇われると学生たちは次々と自主退学して美術団体「十一会」を旗揚げします。その頃、りんは同窓生の山室政子の影響でキリスト教のロシア（ハリストス）正教に入信。来日していたニコライ神父からイコンを学ぶためにロシア留学を勧められます。
「民衆の叫びや祈りが聴こえる」
横浜を発ったりんは香港・サイゴン・シンガポール・セイロン・アデン・アレキサンドリア・コンスタンチノープルをスケッチしながら経由、ウクライナのオデーサから入港して汽車でペテルブルクにたどりつきます。ノヴォデーヴィーチ修道院に住み込み、フョードル・イヴァノヴィッチ・ヨルダーンの指導のもとイコン制作に従事します。西洋美術の影響に葛藤するロシアのビザンチン伝統美術を目にしながら、りんは独自のイコン描画を模索します。りんは日本画や肖像画を描いて馬車台を工面、エルミタージュ美術館に通います。社会の矛盾を告発し新時代を希求する闘争が渦巻くロシアで、修道院はじめ取り巻く周囲との軋轢を体験しながら、りんは5年の留学を2年できりあげて帰国します。帰国後は日本正教会の女子神学校にアトリエを構え、ニコライ堂はじめ関東地方や東北・北海道を中心に300点あまりの聖像を残します。生涯独身をとおした山下りんは61歳の時に帰郷、81歳で永眠します。
``I can't stand being sacrificed to my family.''
Rin was born to a father, Shigetsune, and a mother, Matsue, who belonged to a lower class samurai class in the Kasama clan, and was one of three siblings: an older brother and a younger brother. During the battle between the shogunate army and the Tengu party of the sonno-joi faction, Rin spends her time painting Japanese paintings and ukiyo-e with her grandfather, who runs a temple hut. Around this time, many of the daughters of lower-ranking samurai families like Rin were married to wealthy farmers, but could no longer bear the hardships of life and committed suicide with their infants. Eventually, Rin is encouraged to marry a farmer, and she moves to Tokyo on her own, aiming to pursue a career in painting. She is once taken back to her family, but she cannot give up on her dreams and returns to Tokyo. While taking on all the household chores, she studied under an ukiyo-e artist named Kunichika Toyohara, and then under Seijuro Nakamaru, who had studied Western painting under Tougai Kawakami. Witnessing the sunset of Japanese painting, Rin relied on a relative to take the entrance exam for the Kobu Bijutsu Gakko, which had just been established by the Meiji government, and when she passed the exam, she received monthly support from the Kasama clan.
``Why does it move me so much?''
Rin becomes one of Japan's first six female art students to receive instruction from Italian painter Antonio Fontanesi. Under the guidance of Fontanesi, who teaches Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Millet, and Western philosophy and thought as reflected not only in painting techniques, Rin enthusiastically learns with fresh surprise and joy. Eventually, due to government budget cuts, Fontanesi resigned and an unknown painter was hired to replace him, and the students voluntarily left the school one after another and founded the art group Juichikai. Around that time, under the influence of her classmate Masako Yamamuro, Rin entered the Russian Orthodox Church. Father Nikolai, who was visiting Japan, encouraged her to study in Russia to study iconography.
``the cries and prayers of the people''
Rin departs from Yokohama, sketching Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Ceylon, Aden, Alexandria, and Constantinople, then enters the port of Odesa, Ukraine, and arrives by train in Petersburg. He lived in the Novodevichy Monastery and began making icons under the guidance of Fyodor Ivanovich Jordaan. While observing Russian Byzantine traditional art struggling with the influence of Western art, Rin searches for his own unique style of icon painting. Rin paints Japanese paintings and portraits, builds a carriage stand, and goes to the Hermitage Museum. In Russia, where a struggle is swirling to denounce the contradictions in society and seek a new era, Rin completes her five-year study abroad in two years and returns home, experiencing friction with the monastery and other people around her. After returning to Japan, she set up an atelier at a Japanese Orthodox women's seminary, and left over 300 holy statues, mainly in the Kanto region, Tohoku, and Hokkaido, including Nikolaido. Ren Yamashita, who remained single all her life, returned to her hometown at the age of 61, and passed away at the age of 81.
-白凜居 山下りん記念館 Hakurinkyo Rin Yamashita Memorial Museum
Share Your Love and Happy Women's Story！
あなたを元気にする女性の逸話をお寄せください！
Share your story of a woman that inspires you!
この記事が気に入ったらサポートをしてみませんか？