Greetings
Our mission is to cultivate the legacy of art and design of Kyoto and create new traditions.
In an age of transition, where welter of commodities flood, it is questionable to keep tradition in closed attitude.
Producing the creativity from within traditions, our primary is to find peace through relationships with religion and delve into the essence of the beauties of nature.
It is our hope to put our heart into the work, pushing ourself to the limit, and bequeath the great traditions to the future generations.
We will appreciate your further help and encouragement.
Nyofu Yasukawa
What is MIYAESHI?
Miyaeshi (Miya-Eshi) is the painter who works specially for temples and shrines.
This term is a combination of the word Miya- (the shrine) and Eshi (a painter), as we call Miya-Daiku for the carpenter (Daiku) who build temples and shrines (Omiya).
Since there is no official name for this profession today, Miyaeshi would be easily comprehensible to describe what we do.
In the past, the office that handles paintings and decorations called Edokoro were organized within Imperial courts, Shogunate governments, and major temples.
Under the ancient ritsuryo legal codes, they named Edakuni-no-Tsukasa, which belongs to The Ministry of the Center (Nakatuka-sho). The painters who belong to the bureau were called Eshi or Edakumi.
In Heian era, Edokoro was organized in Imperial court. After Kamakura era, major shrines and temples such as Sumiyoshi shrine, Kasuga shrine, and Hongwanji temple begin to assign their own official bureaus. The Muromachi Shogunate and The Edo Shogunate have also assigned their own Edokoro.
In Edo era, the painters who work for Imperial court and dominant temples called their self Miyaeshi-Dokoro-Eshi. There is also a signage written as Tansei-Eshi (Tansei: color of red and blue, paintings and Eshi: painter).
Today, such official bureaus of painting have disappeared from public institutions and major temples.
Miyaeshi is the artist who paints temples and shrines with colors.