Kanō Motonobu’s Shuten Dōji Scrolls and Aspects of the Monstrous in Medieval Japan

Shuten Dôji was one of the best known monsters in late medieval and early modern Japan, the story of his downfall appearing frequently in texts, paintings, and prints. While the earliest extant version of the tale appeared in the fourteenth century, it became a staple of Japanese visual culture with its adoption by the Kanô School starting in the sixteenth century. Was there more to its popularity than the simple fact that it was a rousing good tale? Modern commentators have suggested that the tale draws upon anxieties about threats ranging from plagues to foreigners. This talk will present a synopsis of the Shuten Dôji story illustrated with slides from Kanô Motonobu’s 1522 handscroll version and discuss modes of interpreting the story drawing on particular Shuten Dôji scholarship and recent trends in “monster theory.”