Hello this is Chiaki Tanaka
Following article is the last edition of our newsletter by Mrs. Ikuko Kelly as an our staff. She is absence because she must prepare for baby birth.
Please read her last newsletter:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Customers & Friends
Hello everyone! This is Ikuko sending a Shukado news letter No.21.
In this week, Shukado published our NEW catalog "SHUKADO vol.16"
If you want to receive our catalog please click here!
***********
NEW CATALOG: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/100000012/
We are waiting for your requests and orders!
***********
The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the issue on stained rice is the
popular news here in Japan. Unfortunately, there are so many bad
news in this world, so today, I'm going to deliver you a heartwarming
story about Ukiyo-e.
In 1960's, about 40 years ago, Japan's economy was just in the
beginning of the high-growth period, and one dollar was equivalent
to 360 yen. Today, one dollar corresponds to about 105 yen, so it
the currency has tripped! It was so difficult to go abroad at that
time.
At that time in Kyoto there was a one young student who dreamed to
study abroad in a western country. She worked at SUKIYAKI resturant
where a lot of foreign tourists visited, and she tried to speak
English with them. She enjoyed the exotic air they'd brought with
them. Thus, her dream of going abroad was becoming bigger and bigger.
One day, she happened to be able to get a scholarship to study in
America. Finally, her DREAMS CAME TRUE!!
This news spread rapidly in her neighborhood. Today, most of
Japanese can easily go abroad, and there are a lot of Japanese
people who traveled abroad. But at the time, only a few people went
aboroad. So her neighbors' reaction was definitely normal. Finally,
the rumor spread out of her neighborhood.
One day, a gentleman whom she didn't know visited her holding a
piece of Ukiyo-e in his hand, and said. "I heard you are leaving
for the States alone. Here is "Ukiyo-e", but this is worth money in
which you can use in any country. If you have a financial trouble in
the States, I am sure you can sell it and earn money to help you."
She was so surprised and very glad. Her concerns were gone, and she
was so encouraged. Thus, she carefully put the Ukiyo-e in her
luggage and left for the AMERICAN DREAM!!
About 40 years past since then. In such busy days, she had
completely forgot about the Ukiyo-e offered by the gentleman, but
one day in a few years ago, her eyes caught a poster on the
street in Kyoto. The poster announced an exhibition to be held by
an Ukiyo-e collector living in Kyoto. As soon as she saw the name,
it reminded her of the incident that happened to her 40 years ago.
"He is the gentleman who gave me the Ukiyo-e before I left for the
States!" Without her knowing, the man had become a successful
collector who could hold such exhibition.
She wanted to see him again, but unfortunately she couldn't.
Because he arledy getting over 90 years old. She was un certatin
if she could remrmber where she saw the ukiyo-e last time.
Actually, this girl is my mother. She got married in the States,
came back to Japan and raised three children. Also she worked as an
interpreter and English teacher. She told me the story just a few
days ago. We suppose my father might have sold the missing ukiyo-e
in the USA where he began his life with my mother.
My parents used to say living in the U.S.A had been financially so
hard for Japanese young couples in 1960s. They didn't have much
money to buy a car, so they used a shopping cart to bring groceries
back home.
Nevertheless, they said America before the Vietnam War was so bright
and powerful. They often said it's like a dream country when I was a child.
I worked at Shukado gallary, so I see ukiyo-e everyday, therefore,
Ukiyo-e has become a part of my daily life. However yet, sometimes
it reminds me of my mother's story in which it might encourage
people and even help their life.
Today, we have other ukiyo-e up on our site.
**New Arrivals:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0929
How about giving an Ukiyo-e to someone who is leaving your country
as a memory. Even now, Ukiyo-e is a kind of global currency. But
First of all, we would be so happy if you could find your favorite
item in our wide range of collections.
Thank you for taking your valuable time to read our news letter No.21
until the end.
I must say thank you to everyone who read our newsletter. I will take
maternity leave from October and I will come back maybe next spring.
And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say big thank
my wonderful and lovely co-workers from bottom of my heart who have
always helped me at Shukado.
*Shukado staffs:
http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=shukado
It's been real FUN flying with my co-workers.
Your continued support to Shukado will be greatly appreciated.
See you everyone!
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Our Latest Catalog was released
Good morning, today I will participate a dealer's auction of pottery and porcelain.
By the way,our latest catalog was released and we recieved some orders this week including byoubu(folding screen). Some works are very popular and will be sold out quickly, so please order faster.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
New
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-japan23-2008sep23,0,1022282.story
Taro Aso was elected as a president of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and a prime minister of Japan.
But he must be very short relief leader because we Japanese people strongly want to let him to dissolve a lower parliament and call a snap election.
Economical situation across the globe is very bad, but political situation is worse than it in Japan.
Shukado Newsletter No.20
Hello everyone! This is Ikuko sending a Shukado news letter No.20.
Shukado today in one word:"BUSY". BUSY, BUSY and again BUSY!!!
The summer break is over and now we are busy preparing for the publication
of our new catalog to be issued this week. We Shukado is busy preparing
for the art fair next month. Autumn is the best season for art in Japan.
We will do our BEST for it!
When I hear "art fair", the art fair in Moscow that I visited last
June comes to my mind. " Many celebrities and a Gorgeous atmospher "
says it all for this art fair.
**President blog: http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
You can read our news letter about Moscow art fair here. Click now!
Moscow is a city I used to live. However, today's current situation
and the situation in the 90's in Russia are comletely different. I
can't believe today in Moscow a "million fair" where every elavolate
item is listed as a million dollars is popular.
I can communicate both in English and Russian, so if you feel more
comfortable communicating with us in Russian, please feel free to
contact us in Russian.
Anyway, I promised in our news letter No.17 to buy some interesting
items in the ukiyo-e market. At the previous ukiyoe exchange market,
we were able to finally win the bid for Kiyochika’s war prints and we have
it at Shukado now!
**Our New Arrival of Kiyochika: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0917
There were so many ukiyoe prints listed for the bid. My boss and I
had the same strategy, so we won the bid for Kiyochika's work.
I would like to talk about Kiyochika in this news letter.
Kobayashi Kiyochika was born in Edo in 1847. He studied photographs
under Shimooka Renjyo, oil paintings under British artist, Charles
Wirgman and Japanese paintings under Kawanabe Kyosai and Shibara
Zeshin. However, he was basically a self-taught painter. He pursued
his own artistic expressions after occasionally studying under
great artists.
He gained his fame when he created a new genre of western style
woodblock paints called “Kousen-ga” which employs introducing
western perspectives and shading to express moving light and shade.
To say it briefly, he tried to depict landscape or objects in
western style with the method of woodblock printing.
Even though you do not know about Kiyochika, many of you probably
know about artworks of Impressionist artists. If you imagine if
someone were to create woodblock prints of such artworks, you may
think it is impossible. However, Kiyochika did his best to follow
the style of Impressionist artists. He captured visual features of
the light and shade and changing light and colors in details, and
introduced new techniques to skillfully depict texture of the
objects in his artworks.
If you take a close look at Kiyochika’s artworks, they would look
as if they were the wood block prints created by Impressionist
artists who were good at depicting natural lights, change of colors
and contrast between light and shade in details. It is an
interesting fact that the French Impressionists’ Exhibition held
in France in 1876 coincided with the time Kiyochika showed his
Kousen-ga for the first time to the public in Japan.
When Japanese-Sino War began in 1894, the ukiyoe prints, which were
losing popularity, became popular again as one type of mass media.
Then many war prints were created by wood block artists and
Kiyochika was one of them. He created many war prints in 1894 and
1895.
Kiyochika’s war prints were not just print media to disseminate
news on the war. But also great artworks that evoke viewers’ deep
feelings and sorrow like what people feel when they see the
historical paintings. No other artists expressed people’s emotions
better than Kiyochika in the war prints.
He did a great job to depict details of the battle scene. To give a
few example:moving shadow of soldiers fighting in the sunset,
texture of the burning fire, very lively comprehensive composition
and fireballs flying in the sky. In particular, each fireball was
depicted so skillfully!! You will be surprised to see his techniques
when looking at such a print.
Please look at such detail of his work.
**More photo: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list3/108003980/
I still clearly remember the day when I first saw Kiyochika’s
Kosen-ga at Shukado. Delicate gradation of light was so wonderfully
depicted by his printing techniques that I could not believe it was
possible with the wood block prints. It was a touching moment for
me.
It was a very special print being full of sentiments and I was
curious about who will buy this special artwork. One day an
overseas customer who dropped in our gallery in Ginza saw this
Kiyochika’s print and he was so amazed by his wonderful skills in
expressing light. Although this customer did not even know his name,
he bought this print and today he became a big fan of Kiyochika.
**Shukado Kiyochika's collection: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/sp/list.php?spid=S4759120b1fe83
Thank you for taking the time to read our news letter.
The beginning of the month we have many art market here in Tokyo.
Our chairman and director are trying to get new items almost every
day.
We will be very happy if you keep visit our site and enjoy shopping
with us.
We are looking forward to hearing from YOU.
Have a great week!!
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Shukado today in one word:"BUSY". BUSY, BUSY and again BUSY!!!
The summer break is over and now we are busy preparing for the publication
of our new catalog to be issued this week. We Shukado is busy preparing
for the art fair next month. Autumn is the best season for art in Japan.
We will do our BEST for it!
When I hear "art fair", the art fair in Moscow that I visited last
June comes to my mind. " Many celebrities and a Gorgeous atmospher "
says it all for this art fair.
**President blog: http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
You can read our news letter about Moscow art fair here. Click now!
Moscow is a city I used to live. However, today's current situation
and the situation in the 90's in Russia are comletely different. I
can't believe today in Moscow a "million fair" where every elavolate
item is listed as a million dollars is popular.
I can communicate both in English and Russian, so if you feel more
comfortable communicating with us in Russian, please feel free to
contact us in Russian.
Anyway, I promised in our news letter No.17 to buy some interesting
items in the ukiyo-e market. At the previous ukiyoe exchange market,
we were able to finally win the bid for Kiyochika’s war prints and we have
it at Shukado now!
**Our New Arrival of Kiyochika: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0917
There were so many ukiyoe prints listed for the bid. My boss and I
had the same strategy, so we won the bid for Kiyochika's work.
I would like to talk about Kiyochika in this news letter.
Kobayashi Kiyochika was born in Edo in 1847. He studied photographs
under Shimooka Renjyo, oil paintings under British artist, Charles
Wirgman and Japanese paintings under Kawanabe Kyosai and Shibara
Zeshin. However, he was basically a self-taught painter. He pursued
his own artistic expressions after occasionally studying under
great artists.
He gained his fame when he created a new genre of western style
woodblock paints called “Kousen-ga” which employs introducing
western perspectives and shading to express moving light and shade.
To say it briefly, he tried to depict landscape or objects in
western style with the method of woodblock printing.
Even though you do not know about Kiyochika, many of you probably
know about artworks of Impressionist artists. If you imagine if
someone were to create woodblock prints of such artworks, you may
think it is impossible. However, Kiyochika did his best to follow
the style of Impressionist artists. He captured visual features of
the light and shade and changing light and colors in details, and
introduced new techniques to skillfully depict texture of the
objects in his artworks.
If you take a close look at Kiyochika’s artworks, they would look
as if they were the wood block prints created by Impressionist
artists who were good at depicting natural lights, change of colors
and contrast between light and shade in details. It is an
interesting fact that the French Impressionists’ Exhibition held
in France in 1876 coincided with the time Kiyochika showed his
Kousen-ga for the first time to the public in Japan.
When Japanese-Sino War began in 1894, the ukiyoe prints, which were
losing popularity, became popular again as one type of mass media.
Then many war prints were created by wood block artists and
Kiyochika was one of them. He created many war prints in 1894 and
1895.
Kiyochika’s war prints were not just print media to disseminate
news on the war. But also great artworks that evoke viewers’ deep
feelings and sorrow like what people feel when they see the
historical paintings. No other artists expressed people’s emotions
better than Kiyochika in the war prints.
He did a great job to depict details of the battle scene. To give a
few example:moving shadow of soldiers fighting in the sunset,
texture of the burning fire, very lively comprehensive composition
and fireballs flying in the sky. In particular, each fireball was
depicted so skillfully!! You will be surprised to see his techniques
when looking at such a print.
Please look at such detail of his work.
**More photo: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list3/108003980/
I still clearly remember the day when I first saw Kiyochika’s
Kosen-ga at Shukado. Delicate gradation of light was so wonderfully
depicted by his printing techniques that I could not believe it was
possible with the wood block prints. It was a touching moment for
me.
It was a very special print being full of sentiments and I was
curious about who will buy this special artwork. One day an
overseas customer who dropped in our gallery in Ginza saw this
Kiyochika’s print and he was so amazed by his wonderful skills in
expressing light. Although this customer did not even know his name,
he bought this print and today he became a big fan of Kiyochika.
**Shukado Kiyochika's collection: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/sp/list.php?spid=S4759120b1fe83
Thank you for taking the time to read our news letter.
The beginning of the month we have many art market here in Tokyo.
Our chairman and director are trying to get new items almost every
day.
We will be very happy if you keep visit our site and enjoy shopping
with us.
We are looking forward to hearing from YOU.
Have a great week!!
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Shukado Newsletter No.19 "Byobu"
Hello everyone from Tokyo!!This is Ikuko, sending Shukado Newsletter vol.19
Tokyo, oh Tokyo, my delightful city!
Yes, I definitely love living and working here.
Have you ever been to Tokyo?
Today when I took a break for lunch I saw many overseas tourists
here in Ginza, Tokyo. Ginza is one of the wealthiest town in Japan.
The name “Ginza” is even a kind of brand name for Japanese
people. This area is also famous for numerous number of fine art
galleries in the vicinity of Shukado.
Please feel free to visit our gallery in Ginza when you get the chance
to come to Tokyo.
WE WELCOME YOU!!
*************
Shukado map:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/aboutus.htm#map
*************
In this newsletter, I would like to talk about Byobu screen.
***********************
Sukado Byobu collection: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list/38/
If you don't know what Byobu is, please check it out!!
***********************
Many foreign customers have visited us and asked to purchase "BYOBU".
So, most of our Byobu items are usually sold abroad.
I don't know exactly why they always ask us the same thing“I would like
to display Byobu on the wall!! ”
We, Japanese never display Byobu on the wall in the house.
In fact, I never see Byobu on the wall in Japanese houses. I of course know
we show Byobu on the wall of museums or international Art Fair for
international customers.
However when I see photos of displaying Byobu on the wall sent to
us by foreign custmers, I am so excited. It is a PRECIOUS thing to
see a spectacular wall decorated with Byobu in western houses.
Photos from our custmer → http://www.syukado.jp/jp/voice/index.html
Byobu is a screen which consists of panels connected by paper hinges.
You can fold them as you like and they are light to carry; therefore,
they have been frequently used compared to before.
Some screens have 8 panels while some are not created as a pair.
The most popular byobu screens are “Ryokkyoku-Issou", a pair of
six-panel-screens. Most of the Byobu screens were created as a
pair of six-panel-screens. Each screen panel is counted "Sen" in
specialized terminology.
In the early ages, Byobu screens were used as a wind-wall to prevent
wind or cold air from coming into the room. They were sometimes
used as a divider as well. They used to be very practical items.
Byobu screens were used for various purposes. For example,
“Shira-e Byobu” which was painted with white pigments was used at
the time of baby delivery.The color white was considered very
auspicious so it was used for such an occasion.
"Sakasa Byobu" is used displayed Byobu upside down at someonen's death bed.
"Byobu for Summer" Some Byobu screens were designed particular for
summer season. They have bamboo blind in the middle of the panels so
that the air can pass through them. Summer flowers, plants and water
streams were depicted on such screens as well in order to make
viewers feel a bit of coolness.
In Gion, Kyoto, the custom “Byobu matsuri” where owners of stores
display their byobu screens has been a long tradition. It is said,
an owner of a store displayed a lot of byobu screens in order to
hide messy rooms from guests at the time of the festival. This is
very similar to how we put things into a storage space or we try to
hide them with a big cloth when unexpected guests visit us.
Byobu screens used to be very practical items for our daily life.
They have become more decorative in the later years since people have began
to think that they look better with beautiful paintings.
When did we start to display them at the art exhibitions or at museums?
I think that it began in the Meiji era.
There are two reasons for this. First, the new place “exhibitions”
where fine arts including byobu are displayed to show to the public
became prevalent from the Meiji era.
From the Meiji era, Japan tried to introduce Byobu to Western cultures
including exhibitions. Until the Meiji era, there was no such a
place or an occasion to display and appreciate fine arts in Japan.
Between the end of Meiji era and the Taisho era, it was very
popular to show big pieces. As big screen media, artists could
create paintings with a big visual impact. Byobu screens were often
used by artists. A pair of six panel screens (each panel is sized
approximately one tatami mat (1.82ｍ×0.91ｍ)) must have given big
impact on viewers.
Second reason is the change of people's lifestyle. Until the Edo
era, byobu screens were used in the houses of every walk of people
in Japan including nobles, samurais, merchants, etc.
However, after the Meiji era, people's life became westernized and
traditional Japanese rooms with tatami mats and alcoves gradually
disappeared.
Therefore, Byobu screens which were used with practical daily life
items became art media to be displayed at the art exhibitions. Of
course, some people still use Byobu for their practical use but
main use of Byobu changed in the Meiji era.
If you have a chance to see Byobu screens, please take your time to
imagine how they were used in old times.
Thank you for reading our news letter until the end and we will get
back to you soon!
Oh, WAIT WAIT! I must to tell you about our recomended Byobu.
*******************
Recomend Byobu item : http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107007350/
*******************
We are going to display this Byobu screen at the autumn exhibition
held by the Tokyo Bijyutu Club.
*Tokyo Bijyutu Club (Tokyo Art Club) is dealers association which is
highly recognized all over Japan as well as overseas.
Shukado has a membership with this association.
If you plan to visit Japan in October, please come and visit
us in Ginza and come to our exbition!
We are looking forward to seeing you there.
We hope you are enjoying the end of your summer in your town!!
Big hello to you from all of us at Shukado.
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Tokyo, oh Tokyo, my delightful city!
Yes, I definitely love living and working here.
Have you ever been to Tokyo?
Today when I took a break for lunch I saw many overseas tourists
here in Ginza, Tokyo. Ginza is one of the wealthiest town in Japan.
The name “Ginza” is even a kind of brand name for Japanese
people. This area is also famous for numerous number of fine art
galleries in the vicinity of Shukado.
Please feel free to visit our gallery in Ginza when you get the chance
to come to Tokyo.
WE WELCOME YOU!!
*************
Shukado map:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/aboutus.htm#map
*************
In this newsletter, I would like to talk about Byobu screen.
***********************
Sukado Byobu collection: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list/38/
If you don't know what Byobu is, please check it out!!
***********************
Many foreign customers have visited us and asked to purchase "BYOBU".
So, most of our Byobu items are usually sold abroad.
I don't know exactly why they always ask us the same thing“I would like
to display Byobu on the wall!! ”
We, Japanese never display Byobu on the wall in the house.
In fact, I never see Byobu on the wall in Japanese houses. I of course know
we show Byobu on the wall of museums or international Art Fair for
international customers.
However when I see photos of displaying Byobu on the wall sent to
us by foreign custmers, I am so excited. It is a PRECIOUS thing to
see a spectacular wall decorated with Byobu in western houses.
Photos from our custmer → http://www.syukado.jp/jp/voice/index.html
Byobu is a screen which consists of panels connected by paper hinges.
You can fold them as you like and they are light to carry; therefore,
they have been frequently used compared to before.
Some screens have 8 panels while some are not created as a pair.
The most popular byobu screens are “Ryokkyoku-Issou", a pair of
six-panel-screens. Most of the Byobu screens were created as a
pair of six-panel-screens. Each screen panel is counted "Sen" in
specialized terminology.
In the early ages, Byobu screens were used as a wind-wall to prevent
wind or cold air from coming into the room. They were sometimes
used as a divider as well. They used to be very practical items.
Byobu screens were used for various purposes. For example,
“Shira-e Byobu” which was painted with white pigments was used at
the time of baby delivery.The color white was considered very
auspicious so it was used for such an occasion.
"Sakasa Byobu" is used displayed Byobu upside down at someonen's death bed.
"Byobu for Summer" Some Byobu screens were designed particular for
summer season. They have bamboo blind in the middle of the panels so
that the air can pass through them. Summer flowers, plants and water
streams were depicted on such screens as well in order to make
viewers feel a bit of coolness.
In Gion, Kyoto, the custom “Byobu matsuri” where owners of stores
display their byobu screens has been a long tradition. It is said,
an owner of a store displayed a lot of byobu screens in order to
hide messy rooms from guests at the time of the festival. This is
very similar to how we put things into a storage space or we try to
hide them with a big cloth when unexpected guests visit us.
Byobu screens used to be very practical items for our daily life.
They have become more decorative in the later years since people have began
to think that they look better with beautiful paintings.
When did we start to display them at the art exhibitions or at museums?
I think that it began in the Meiji era.
There are two reasons for this. First, the new place “exhibitions”
where fine arts including byobu are displayed to show to the public
became prevalent from the Meiji era.
From the Meiji era, Japan tried to introduce Byobu to Western cultures
including exhibitions. Until the Meiji era, there was no such a
place or an occasion to display and appreciate fine arts in Japan.
Between the end of Meiji era and the Taisho era, it was very
popular to show big pieces. As big screen media, artists could
create paintings with a big visual impact. Byobu screens were often
used by artists. A pair of six panel screens (each panel is sized
approximately one tatami mat (1.82ｍ×0.91ｍ)) must have given big
impact on viewers.
Second reason is the change of people's lifestyle. Until the Edo
era, byobu screens were used in the houses of every walk of people
in Japan including nobles, samurais, merchants, etc.
However, after the Meiji era, people's life became westernized and
traditional Japanese rooms with tatami mats and alcoves gradually
disappeared.
Therefore, Byobu screens which were used with practical daily life
items became art media to be displayed at the art exhibitions. Of
course, some people still use Byobu for their practical use but
main use of Byobu changed in the Meiji era.
If you have a chance to see Byobu screens, please take your time to
imagine how they were used in old times.
Thank you for reading our news letter until the end and we will get
back to you soon!
Oh, WAIT WAIT! I must to tell you about our recomended Byobu.
*******************
Recomend Byobu item : http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107007350/
*******************
We are going to display this Byobu screen at the autumn exhibition
held by the Tokyo Bijyutu Club.
*Tokyo Bijyutu Club (Tokyo Art Club) is dealers association which is
highly recognized all over Japan as well as overseas.
Shukado has a membership with this association.
If you plan to visit Japan in October, please come and visit
us in Ginza and come to our exbition!
We are looking forward to seeing you there.
We hope you are enjoying the end of your summer in your town!!
Big hello to you from all of us at Shukado.
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Friday, August 8, 2008
Shukado Newsletter No.18 Hanabi!
Dear Customers & Friends
Hello!! ...from Ginza Tokyo.
This is Sachiko, sending Shukado Newsletter vol.18.
It has been extremely hot in Japan these days and we sometimes have thunder storms in the evening. My 5-year-old son is so scared of lightening and says "Kaminari-sama (god of thunder) is angry! "
Let me introduce our latest recommended items. Those prints are reasonably priced for their quality and we hope that you will find your favorites among the new arrivals!
*******************
New Arrivals
*******************
Ukiyo-e Prints
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0806
We are featuring Toshikata and Chikanobu in the above link.
In the Meiji period, Japan went under the drastic westernization so the ukiyoe or woodblock prints became less popular than lithographs or photographs. But Chikanobu took effort to depict the lives of women in Meiji era. When we take a look at his prints, we even now can feel powerful and lively atmosphere of the Meiji era
Although "Bijinga" or genre pictures of beauties was major theme of Ukiyo-e in the Edo-era, for example, Harunobu, Utamaro.�@Ukiyo-e legend or legacy was almost dying in the middle of Meiji era.
In that period, TOSHIKATA Mizuno tried to preserve Bijinga tradition and to hand it down to the next generation. One of the pupils of Toshikata is Kaburagi Kiyokata, the most prominent Bijinga painter in the Japanese art history. Chikanobu is famous for painting rather than woodblock prints, so Chikanobu and Toshikata are the artists who connected the traditional Japanese art and the Japanese modern art. Toshikata was the first artist who revived the big Bijinga wave again in the Japanese art world.
Don't forget to check our latest arrivals!
***********************************************
Hanabi :Big Summer Event in Japan "Tamaya!"
***********************************************
By the way, if you hear "summer" and "Tamaya! Kagiya!" what would you think of? Japanese people would answer "Hanabi" or fireworks. The Japanese word for fireworks, "hanabi" is made up of two kanji characters; "hana" for flower and "bi" for fire. Every summer Japan prepares for its numerous fireworks festivals held throughout the nation. When I was in England, I felt a bit strange to see a lot of firework displays held in WINTER! A friend mine Koichiro Noguchi san took a nice picture of firework display held in Gifu.
Gunpowder the material of fireworks was invented in the Tang dynasty China. Then it was spread in Muslim countries then in Italy and other European countries.
It is said that first firework display in Japan was held in 1613 in order to entertain Tokugawa Ieyasu. During the peaceful Tokugawa shogunate reign, fireworks spread all over Japan and they were developed into various types.
Among of all, RYOGOKU firework display is the most famous and many ukiyo-e based on this event were created in the Edo era. Many of you may have seen Hiroshige's "Fireworks in Ryogoku".
I found an interesting print depicting Hanabi and beauties created by Hiroshige II and Toyokuni III.
Unfortunately, we do not have those prints in our stock right now but we will post them at our website as soon as we get them. Please keep checking our website!
Many of fireworks (even today) have been manufactured by the same families who began making them generations ago. Tamaya and Kagiya were two major firework manufacturers in the Edo period that made fireworks for the Ryogoku firework display.
Thank you for reading our news letter until the end!
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Shukado Newsletter#17
Dear Customers & Friends
Hello! Bonjour! Guten Tag! Goedemiddag! Konnichiwa! from Ginza Tokyo.
This is Ikuko, sending Shukado Newsletter vol.17.
July is already over and the hot weather has arrived in Tokyo.
In this week, we Shukado published our NEW catalog "SHUKADO vol.15"!!
If you want to receive our catalog please click here!
We are waiting for your requests and order!
************
NEW CATALOG :http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/100000012/
************
Today, I would like to introduce you to the artist who pursued the
beauty of color-on-paper artworks: KOSUGI HOUAN. In addition, we
talk about how attractive art works are on paper.
**********************
Kosugi Hoan "A Witch": http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000420/
**********************
There are two major kinds of Japanese style paintings: color-on-paper
and color-on-silk.
Although most of Japanese style painters paint on paper these days,
color-on-paper artworks became popular only recently. It used to be
considered that color-on-silk artworks were ranked at the top and
they are still very expensive. On the other hand, color-on-paper
artworks are less valued than color-on-silk artworks.
However, color-on-paper artworks have their own attractiveness.
Sumi ink(Indian ink) can spread smoothly on paper and pale tone colors
stand out there. Moreover, the beauty of running ink can only be
made on paper.
Now I will talk about Kosugi Houan. He (1881-1964) was born in
Niigata prefecture, and he first became a western style painter then
later switched over to be a Japanese style painter.
Around 1935, he began to use custom-ordered paper called "Houan
Paper", which was invented by paper artisan in Imadate, Echizen
(currently Fukui Prefecture) solely for Houan. Imadate is very
famous for high quality handmade WASHI (Japanese paper).
While the most widely used fiber plant for Washi is the paper
mulberry (kozo); this paper and the mitsumata and gampi plants
account for almost all traditional Japanese paper. Hemp is mixed
into those fiber plants to create Houan paper. As a result of this,
the surface of the Houan paper is rough and ink or colors easily run
on this paper; therefore, it is extremely difficult to control
painting effect with this paper.
Despite these difficulties, Houan skillfully controlled ink and
colors on this paper by using a dry brush. He gracefully and
competently used the effect of running colors and ink to create
forms. As a result of this, he mastered painting sold, and firm
shapes and creating a natural feeling even though it was extremely
difficult.
Therefore Houan's artworks have some kind of "lightness" or
attractiveness. I sometimes find some of his works on Houan paper
too blury but the ink and colors are part of their charms. He was
able to create an effect called "kegaki" which means fine, thin
bush-strokes employed to depict animal fur or human hair,
especially sideburns, beard, or eyebrows. If you are someone who
enjoys this kind of accidental effects, you will be able to find a
joy of appreciating his artworks.
The advantages of color on paper artworks are fascinating
effects of ink and color pigments and direct reflection of the
artist's personality and techniques. I believe comparing
color-on-silk artworks to color-on-paper artworks reveals the
artist's true self. I recommend you to see your favorite artist's
color-on-paper artworks.
In addition, you can not appreciate even half of the delicate
details of the color-on-paper artworks without seeing the original
with your naked eyes. Therefore, if you encounter the actual
color-on-paper artworks of your favorite artist, you will be filled
with indescribable happiness.
Please look at such detail of his work on paper.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list3/108000420/
Thank you for reading our news letter until the end! Today we will list
some ukiyo-e of Chikanobu and hanging scroll of Uda Tekison. We are
very happy if you could find your favorite new arrivals among them!
************
NEW ARRIVALS: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0725
************
We will join a ukiyo-e market next week, I have a hunch that we can
purchase some interesting items there, so please DON'T FORGET
to browse our site again!!
SMILES to you from all of us at Shukado.
Have a wonderful and amazing day!
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Hello! Bonjour! Guten Tag! Goedemiddag! Konnichiwa! from Ginza Tokyo.
This is Ikuko, sending Shukado Newsletter vol.17.
July is already over and the hot weather has arrived in Tokyo.
In this week, we Shukado published our NEW catalog "SHUKADO vol.15"!!
If you want to receive our catalog please click here!
We are waiting for your requests and order!
************
NEW CATALOG :http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/100000012/
************
Today, I would like to introduce you to the artist who pursued the
beauty of color-on-paper artworks: KOSUGI HOUAN. In addition, we
talk about how attractive art works are on paper.
**********************
Kosugi Hoan "A Witch": http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000420/
**********************
There are two major kinds of Japanese style paintings: color-on-paper
and color-on-silk.
Although most of Japanese style painters paint on paper these days,
color-on-paper artworks became popular only recently. It used to be
considered that color-on-silk artworks were ranked at the top and
they are still very expensive. On the other hand, color-on-paper
artworks are less valued than color-on-silk artworks.
However, color-on-paper artworks have their own attractiveness.
Sumi ink(Indian ink) can spread smoothly on paper and pale tone colors
stand out there. Moreover, the beauty of running ink can only be
made on paper.
Now I will talk about Kosugi Houan. He (1881-1964) was born in
Niigata prefecture, and he first became a western style painter then
later switched over to be a Japanese style painter.
Around 1935, he began to use custom-ordered paper called "Houan
Paper", which was invented by paper artisan in Imadate, Echizen
(currently Fukui Prefecture) solely for Houan. Imadate is very
famous for high quality handmade WASHI (Japanese paper).
While the most widely used fiber plant for Washi is the paper
mulberry (kozo); this paper and the mitsumata and gampi plants
account for almost all traditional Japanese paper. Hemp is mixed
into those fiber plants to create Houan paper. As a result of this,
the surface of the Houan paper is rough and ink or colors easily run
on this paper; therefore, it is extremely difficult to control
painting effect with this paper.
Despite these difficulties, Houan skillfully controlled ink and
colors on this paper by using a dry brush. He gracefully and
competently used the effect of running colors and ink to create
forms. As a result of this, he mastered painting sold, and firm
shapes and creating a natural feeling even though it was extremely
difficult.
Therefore Houan's artworks have some kind of "lightness" or
attractiveness. I sometimes find some of his works on Houan paper
too blury but the ink and colors are part of their charms. He was
able to create an effect called "kegaki" which means fine, thin
bush-strokes employed to depict animal fur or human hair,
especially sideburns, beard, or eyebrows. If you are someone who
enjoys this kind of accidental effects, you will be able to find a
joy of appreciating his artworks.
The advantages of color on paper artworks are fascinating
effects of ink and color pigments and direct reflection of the
artist's personality and techniques. I believe comparing
color-on-silk artworks to color-on-paper artworks reveals the
artist's true self. I recommend you to see your favorite artist's
color-on-paper artworks.
In addition, you can not appreciate even half of the delicate
details of the color-on-paper artworks without seeing the original
with your naked eyes. Therefore, if you encounter the actual
color-on-paper artworks of your favorite artist, you will be filled
with indescribable happiness.
Please look at such detail of his work on paper.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list3/108000420/
Thank you for reading our news letter until the end! Today we will list
some ukiyo-e of Chikanobu and hanging scroll of Uda Tekison. We are
very happy if you could find your favorite new arrivals among them!
************
NEW ARRIVALS: http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0725
************
We will join a ukiyo-e market next week, I have a hunch that we can
purchase some interesting items there, so please DON'T FORGET
to browse our site again!!
SMILES to you from all of us at Shukado.
Have a wonderful and amazing day!
Ikuko Kuwata-Kelly
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
hukado Newsletter Vol.16 My First Trip to Moscow #2
***** Shukado Newsletter Vol.16 My First Trip to Moscow #2*****
***** http://wwww.japanese-finearts.com/ July 2nd,2008 *****
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello! This is Chiaki sending Shukado Newsletter vol.16. Let me continue the story on the Moscow Art Fair.
The word "gorgeous" says it all for the Moscow Art Fair. Every thing was so gorgeous including its entrance, booths and visitors there. The booths were very big comparing to those at Art Fairs in Japan and they even had proper pillars, walls and the ceiling. They looked more extravagant than those of the Asian Art Fair in NY. There were so many people in the expensive clothes and I heard that a princess from somewhere and a Russian billionaire paid a visit there.
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/shukado/MoscowArtFair2008Public
You can easily spend a couple of hours by just looking at beautiful Russian ladies passing by. All of them looked like fashion models with long legs and beautiful looking wearing the latest fashion items. After seeing them, I could understand why so many men leave the wife to whom he has been married for years and go after young Russian ladies.
At the Art Fair, there were not so many booths selling contemporary arts while a lot of antiques and modern fine arts were exhibited. My relative and friends participated in this Art Fair from Japan. They were exhibiting modern paintings, paintings of active artists and antiques including Byobu screen and their booths were drawing people's attention.
It is rare for the Japanese art dealers to participate in the international art fair abroad, in particular in Russia. It was their first time participation in the Russian art fair. They have not decided whether they continue participating in this art fair in the following years. May be some years later, Shukado may have a chance to participate in such an overseas international art fair in Moscow, NY, London or somewhere. If such things happen, we are looking forward to seeing you there!
In the basement floor of the art fair, there were booths exhibiting jewelries. This floor was full of dazzling glitter. Although the atmosphere was full of flamboyance, I was a little bit scared of the uncontrollable desire of human beings and the probable connection to the underworld.
On the second day, I went to the "gorgeous" supermarket before the Art Fair began. (see the image at the president's blog) Although I could not find cans of real caviar, I enjoyed tasty dairy products. (I heard that only high-ranking government officials have access to this expensive delicacy via a little bit dodgy connections.)
While nouveau riche oligarkhi people are enjoying the rich lifestyle, I wondered how ordinary people's life has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When I walked around in Moscow, I found that people are quite friendly though they do not smile do often. I thought that they are good at building trusts with other people in a short period of time. I also heard that even commoners have their summer cottages called Dacha and they grow vegetables there. I think that Japanese people should cast away their negative image for Russian people.
I asked the taxi driver how things have changed from 15 years ago and he replied to me that people in Moscow enjoying freedom in many ways but he is fed up with prevalent mammonism. He added that people were more laid back and some people may have been happier at the Soviet time.
Over all my impressions of Moscow was very positive. I think that if I can speak Russian, I would be able to integrate more into the local society.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*******************
New Arrivals
*******************
Beauties! Beauties! Beauties!
Ito Shinsui's Japanese Beauty
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108002000/
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) was the pseudonym of a Nihonga painter and ukiyo-e woodblock print artist in Taisho and Showa period Japan. He led the shin hanga art movement which revitalized the traditional art after it began to decline with the advent of photography in the early 20th century.
Behind a bamboo blind, a modern woman who had a perm is depicted in the image of cooling herself in the evening.
For her hair, vague painting style is used and this seems like Shinsui's consideration not to loudly show modern elements.
More beauties:
Ogawa Uko, Maisen/ A Graceful Japanese Beauty Dancing with a Fan
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001600/
Komura Settai, Tsukuba, A Fan Print of a Cool Beauty
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108002590/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Chiaki Tanaka, President, Shukado Co., Ltd.
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
***** http://wwww.japanese-finearts.com/ July 2nd,2008 *****
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello! This is Chiaki sending Shukado Newsletter vol.16. Let me continue the story on the Moscow Art Fair.
The word "gorgeous" says it all for the Moscow Art Fair. Every thing was so gorgeous including its entrance, booths and visitors there. The booths were very big comparing to those at Art Fairs in Japan and they even had proper pillars, walls and the ceiling. They looked more extravagant than those of the Asian Art Fair in NY. There were so many people in the expensive clothes and I heard that a princess from somewhere and a Russian billionaire paid a visit there.
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/shukado/MoscowArtFair2008Public
You can easily spend a couple of hours by just looking at beautiful Russian ladies passing by. All of them looked like fashion models with long legs and beautiful looking wearing the latest fashion items. After seeing them, I could understand why so many men leave the wife to whom he has been married for years and go after young Russian ladies.
At the Art Fair, there were not so many booths selling contemporary arts while a lot of antiques and modern fine arts were exhibited. My relative and friends participated in this Art Fair from Japan. They were exhibiting modern paintings, paintings of active artists and antiques including Byobu screen and their booths were drawing people's attention.
It is rare for the Japanese art dealers to participate in the international art fair abroad, in particular in Russia. It was their first time participation in the Russian art fair. They have not decided whether they continue participating in this art fair in the following years. May be some years later, Shukado may have a chance to participate in such an overseas international art fair in Moscow, NY, London or somewhere. If such things happen, we are looking forward to seeing you there!
In the basement floor of the art fair, there were booths exhibiting jewelries. This floor was full of dazzling glitter. Although the atmosphere was full of flamboyance, I was a little bit scared of the uncontrollable desire of human beings and the probable connection to the underworld.
On the second day, I went to the "gorgeous" supermarket before the Art Fair began. (see the image at the president's blog) Although I could not find cans of real caviar, I enjoyed tasty dairy products. (I heard that only high-ranking government officials have access to this expensive delicacy via a little bit dodgy connections.)
While nouveau riche oligarkhi people are enjoying the rich lifestyle, I wondered how ordinary people's life has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When I walked around in Moscow, I found that people are quite friendly though they do not smile do often. I thought that they are good at building trusts with other people in a short period of time. I also heard that even commoners have their summer cottages called Dacha and they grow vegetables there. I think that Japanese people should cast away their negative image for Russian people.
I asked the taxi driver how things have changed from 15 years ago and he replied to me that people in Moscow enjoying freedom in many ways but he is fed up with prevalent mammonism. He added that people were more laid back and some people may have been happier at the Soviet time.
Over all my impressions of Moscow was very positive. I think that if I can speak Russian, I would be able to integrate more into the local society.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*******************
New Arrivals
*******************
Beauties! Beauties! Beauties!
Ito Shinsui's Japanese Beauty
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108002000/
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) was the pseudonym of a Nihonga painter and ukiyo-e woodblock print artist in Taisho and Showa period Japan. He led the shin hanga art movement which revitalized the traditional art after it began to decline with the advent of photography in the early 20th century.
Behind a bamboo blind, a modern woman who had a perm is depicted in the image of cooling herself in the evening.
For her hair, vague painting style is used and this seems like Shinsui's consideration not to loudly show modern elements.
More beauties:
Ogawa Uko, Maisen/ A Graceful Japanese Beauty Dancing with a Fan
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001600/
Komura Settai, Tsukuba, A Fan Print of a Cool Beauty
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108002590/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Chiaki Tanaka, President, Shukado Co., Ltd.
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Shukado News Letter No.15 Moscow#1
***** Shukado Newsletter Vol.15 My First Trip to Moscow *****
***** http://wwww.japanese-finearts.com/ June 25th,2008 *****
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello! This is Chiaki sending Shukado Newsletter vol.15. I was away from office earlier to see the Moscow Art Fair.
After the Soviet Union collapsed about 15 years ago, Russia went under the political and economic turmoil then recently it is enjoying rapid economic growth.
Among the inbound overseas tourists in Japan, Russians and Chinese tourists are dramatically increasing and now we cannot ignore their economic impact.
I had been longing for visiting there to see what is going on in Russia where once people suffered from the food shortage after the collapse of its economy but now they are enjoying glorious economic growth.
As our staff Ikuko-san had been in Russia for many years in the past and I heard about my relative's company, Shibunkaku's participation in the Moscow Art Fair, I decided to see the fair with my own eyes.
On 31st May, I arrived at the Sheremetyevo II airport in the evening and my adventurous trip began with a lot of surprises.
I had heard Sheremetyevo II is one of the worst airport in the world. ...That was exactly truth. Genarally, most international airports are very modern and well designed for the natinal pride, but this airport is rather a kind of prison...dirty and unfriendly. But that was expected from the first, so I did not be surprised. Fortunately quickly finished the passport control,passed away unlicensed taxi drivers surrounding the passengers,we quickly walked and got on a taxi which we reserved through a travel agency.
Let me start with my trivial surprises I experienced in Moscow. Those things are so trivial that they would not be taken up by media but I found that they are very impressive.
My Trivial Surprise 1: Snow in Moscow in June?
When I saw white things piled up on the ground, I thought it snowed in Moscow even in June. But they were not snow! They were fluff of Poplars. Many of Muscovities are allergic to them. They can be seen in early summer.
My Trivial Surprise 2: The Speed of Escalators
I was surprised by the speed of the escalators in Moscow. They were so fast that my feet were nearly carried off by the step of the escalator. I have never seen such fact escalators in other countries I have visited.
Guessing from this, I believe that Moscovities must be the most impetuous in
the world.
My Trivial Surprise 3: Everything is so BIG!
Everything in Russia is so big. The buildings are enormous and ceiling and a door are so high. When I stayed in a hotel there, I was impressed by the height of the ceiling and the gigantic door. Although I did not measure their sizes with a scale, I guess the ceiling seemed to be nearly 4 meters high and the door 3 meters high.
Before I went to Russia, I was wondering why Russian billionaires always want to have extremely large rooms and use helicopters. After my visit to Moscow, I found that such acts are coming from their surrounding environment.
My Trivial Surprise 4: Unlicensed taxis
Unlicensed taxis is very general in Moscow. People in Moscow could go everywhere by lifting a hand by the road to stop a car drived by a non-professinal driver. Then they negotiate him where to go and how much.
I heard this fact from my staff Ikuko, and it was felt very convenient for us and we could go to many places in Moscow by this way.
After encountering such surprises, I realized that I will not able to understand things without seeing with my naked eyes.
I would like to write details of the Moscow Art Fair in the next newsletter.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*******************
New Arrivals
*******************
Tanomura Chokunyu, Hana-jyu-shi/Flowes, Beautiful Nanping School Painting Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000660/
Tanomura Chokunyu (1814-1907) was born in Oita, southern Japan. He is one of the representative Nanga painters. Nanga is a painting style adopting some Chinese flavors.
He initially used the name Kotora then named himself Chokunyu. He was taught by his uncle of the Kano school, Okamoto Baisetsu and Tanomura Chukuden. Chikuden found his talent and he succeeded family name of Tanomura. Chokunyu made a great contribution to the foundation of the modern Nanga paintings.
This is a flower painting of the Nanpin school style, which is famous for beautiful shades and colors. This artwork is not a typical painting of Chokunyu's. He is the founder of modern Nanga and well-known for Indian ink paintings.
He created this artwork when he was 36. Details of flower petals are skillfully drawn with fine lines and the details of the flowers are decoratively and neatly painted. This artwork evokes viewers of the feelings of his passion for pursuit of different painting skills.
And More:
Kosugi Hoan "A Witch", Framed Painting
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000420/
Watanabe Seitei "Autumn Plants", Kakejiku Hanging Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001740/
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Genji-ko no zu Shii-ga-moto, The Tale of Genji, Ukiyo-e Print
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2.php?number=1080026104&spid=S4859fa81ea2c0
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Chiaki Tanaka, President, Shukado Co., Ltd.
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
***** http://wwww.japanese-finearts.com/ June 25th,2008 *****
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello! This is Chiaki sending Shukado Newsletter vol.15. I was away from office earlier to see the Moscow Art Fair.
After the Soviet Union collapsed about 15 years ago, Russia went under the political and economic turmoil then recently it is enjoying rapid economic growth.
Among the inbound overseas tourists in Japan, Russians and Chinese tourists are dramatically increasing and now we cannot ignore their economic impact.
I had been longing for visiting there to see what is going on in Russia where once people suffered from the food shortage after the collapse of its economy but now they are enjoying glorious economic growth.
As our staff Ikuko-san had been in Russia for many years in the past and I heard about my relative's company, Shibunkaku's participation in the Moscow Art Fair, I decided to see the fair with my own eyes.
On 31st May, I arrived at the Sheremetyevo II airport in the evening and my adventurous trip began with a lot of surprises.
I had heard Sheremetyevo II is one of the worst airport in the world. ...That was exactly truth. Genarally, most international airports are very modern and well designed for the natinal pride, but this airport is rather a kind of prison...dirty and unfriendly. But that was expected from the first, so I did not be surprised. Fortunately quickly finished the passport control,passed away unlicensed taxi drivers surrounding the passengers,we quickly walked and got on a taxi which we reserved through a travel agency.
Let me start with my trivial surprises I experienced in Moscow. Those things are so trivial that they would not be taken up by media but I found that they are very impressive.
My Trivial Surprise 1: Snow in Moscow in June?
When I saw white things piled up on the ground, I thought it snowed in Moscow even in June. But they were not snow! They were fluff of Poplars. Many of Muscovities are allergic to them. They can be seen in early summer.
My Trivial Surprise 2: The Speed of Escalators
I was surprised by the speed of the escalators in Moscow. They were so fast that my feet were nearly carried off by the step of the escalator. I have never seen such fact escalators in other countries I have visited.
Guessing from this, I believe that Moscovities must be the most impetuous in
the world.
My Trivial Surprise 3: Everything is so BIG!
Everything in Russia is so big. The buildings are enormous and ceiling and a door are so high. When I stayed in a hotel there, I was impressed by the height of the ceiling and the gigantic door. Although I did not measure their sizes with a scale, I guess the ceiling seemed to be nearly 4 meters high and the door 3 meters high.
Before I went to Russia, I was wondering why Russian billionaires always want to have extremely large rooms and use helicopters. After my visit to Moscow, I found that such acts are coming from their surrounding environment.
My Trivial Surprise 4: Unlicensed taxis
Unlicensed taxis is very general in Moscow. People in Moscow could go everywhere by lifting a hand by the road to stop a car drived by a non-professinal driver. Then they negotiate him where to go and how much.
I heard this fact from my staff Ikuko, and it was felt very convenient for us and we could go to many places in Moscow by this way.
After encountering such surprises, I realized that I will not able to understand things without seeing with my naked eyes.
I would like to write details of the Moscow Art Fair in the next newsletter.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*******************
New Arrivals
*******************
Tanomura Chokunyu, Hana-jyu-shi/Flowes, Beautiful Nanping School Painting Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000660/
Tanomura Chokunyu (1814-1907) was born in Oita, southern Japan. He is one of the representative Nanga painters. Nanga is a painting style adopting some Chinese flavors.
He initially used the name Kotora then named himself Chokunyu. He was taught by his uncle of the Kano school, Okamoto Baisetsu and Tanomura Chukuden. Chikuden found his talent and he succeeded family name of Tanomura. Chokunyu made a great contribution to the foundation of the modern Nanga paintings.
This is a flower painting of the Nanpin school style, which is famous for beautiful shades and colors. This artwork is not a typical painting of Chokunyu's. He is the founder of modern Nanga and well-known for Indian ink paintings.
He created this artwork when he was 36. Details of flower petals are skillfully drawn with fine lines and the details of the flowers are decoratively and neatly painted. This artwork evokes viewers of the feelings of his passion for pursuit of different painting skills.
And More:
Kosugi Hoan "A Witch", Framed Painting
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000420/
Watanabe Seitei "Autumn Plants", Kakejiku Hanging Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001740/
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Genji-ko no zu Shii-ga-moto, The Tale of Genji, Ukiyo-e Print
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2.php?number=1080026104&spid=S4859fa81ea2c0
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Chiaki Tanaka, President, Shukado Co., Ltd.
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Monday, June 9, 2008
Shukado Newsletter vol.14. Westernization of Ukiyo-e and Megane-e
Hello! This is Sachiko sending Shukado Newsletter vol.14.
Rainy season has just started in Japan. Rainy days make us feel a little bit down but colorful hydrangea lifts up our spirit. (see the photos of them at the president's blog)
Let me continue the story of ukiyo-e from the newsletter vol.12.
It is said that the massive flows of Japanese fine arts happened twice in the past: at the time between the end of the Edo Era and the Meiji era and just after the WWII.
Some people say (in particular Japanese people) that it is very pity to see so many great works of ukiyo-e prints can only be seen overseas. However, the bright side of the big flow of Japanese fine arts is that such wonderful pieces gave a big influence on the overseas artists and made the people overseas more interested in Japanese culture thus the recognition of Japan as a nation was enhanced through the Japonism boom.
Japonism boom gave a strong impact on artists such as Claude Mone, Van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Henri Riviere created "Les 36 vues de la Tour Eiffle" (36 Views of Eiffle Tour) as an homage to Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji.
Why ukiyo-e which was not valued so much could gain such popularity in other countries?
There seems to be two reasons for this.
First, the quality of ukiyo-e prints for their prices. People in Europe were surprised by the printing quality of ukiyo-e. The great team work among an ukiyo-e artist, hori-shi (wood-block carver) and suiri-shi (printer). If one of the three lacks in skills, great work of ukiyo-e can not be created. Despite their quality, ukiyo-e served as an entertainment for commoners in the Edo era; therefore their prices were set at a low range. Tokugawa shogunate also tried to restrict on their prices.
Second, it was due to "westernization of ukiyo-e". Ukiyo-e artists had already introduced western techniques of perspective in the 18th century. Although western style paintings were imported to Japan together with missionaries in the 16th century, only a few artists were influenced by them and Japanese artists did not absorb western techniques at that time. In contract with the boom of Nan-ga (Chinese style painting), Japanese people did not show much interest in western style paintings.
However, Megane-e boom changed this situation. Megane-e, a painting designed to be viewed through an apparatus, which further heightens an illusion of depth created became very popular among Japanese people. The earliest apparatus used in Japan is thought to have arrived in Nagasaki via China from Holland in 1718. Influenced by the megane-e, ukiyo-e artist Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) created uki-e (floating picture) or kubomi-e using Western techniques of perspectives and shading. This was long before Maruyama Oukyo created his version of megane-e paintings. Masanobu's prints gave a big impact on the upcoming ukiyo-e artists including Hokusai, Hiroshige and others. Hokusai tried to re-create effects of shading and perspectives in his Hiragana Rakkan Series where rakkan is written in hiragana and placed with 90-degree turn to make them look like alphabets. (see the image of Hokusai's Kudan Ushigafuchi at the president's blog)
An ukiyo-e scholar Tadashi Kobayashi wrote in his book that this introduction of western techniques into ukiyo-e made a foundation of Japonism to happen in Europe. Kobayashi also mentioned that German resident physician and scientist Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (he disguised himself as Dutch) who stayed in Dejima, Nagasaki, commissioned Hokusai to create paintings depicting people in Edo because Hokusai used a lot of western techniques of perspectives and his paintings would be easy to be accepted by western audience.
For those two reasons, many ukiyo-e prints were exported to Europe and the US and accelerated by Japonism boom and the financial problems of the daimyo lords after the collapse of Tokugawa shogunate, big flow of ukiyo-e prints occurred in the Meiji era.
Yasumasa Oka wrote in his book titled "Megane-e Shin-kou" that while Ukiyo-e artists introduced western perspectives and shading to some extent (mainly liner-perspectives), they did not introduce modeling techniques and maintained flat two dimensional painting styles; therefore people in Europe found ukiyo-e prints very exotic but easy to absorb into their culture.
How interesting to know European culture and Japanese culture influenced each other despite geographical distance between them and ukiyo-e artists' and European artists' strong desire to introduce new things.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Takashima Hokkai, Summer and Winter Landscape (diptych)
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000600/
Takashima Hokkai (1850-1931) who used to be an influential geologist but later converted to a painter created this art work.
Hokkai introduced Japanese-style paintings in Nancy, France when he studied there and he also strongly supported Art Nouveau movement enough to receive the order of educational merit from French government in 1887.
Later as a painter, he flourished in center of Japanese painting circles while he studied in the United States as a scholar.
Although his water ink landscape is similar to Hashimoto Gaho, clear shading he used suggests modernity and uniqueness.
And more:
Imao Keinen, A Parakeet on a Pine Tree
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000610/
Otani Kubutsu's (Koen) Hanging Scrolls, Cock, Japanese Plum and Calligraphic Work
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000083/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000092/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000093/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp/
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Rainy season has just started in Japan. Rainy days make us feel a little bit down but colorful hydrangea lifts up our spirit. (see the photos of them at the president's blog)
Let me continue the story of ukiyo-e from the newsletter vol.12.
It is said that the massive flows of Japanese fine arts happened twice in the past: at the time between the end of the Edo Era and the Meiji era and just after the WWII.
Some people say (in particular Japanese people) that it is very pity to see so many great works of ukiyo-e prints can only be seen overseas. However, the bright side of the big flow of Japanese fine arts is that such wonderful pieces gave a big influence on the overseas artists and made the people overseas more interested in Japanese culture thus the recognition of Japan as a nation was enhanced through the Japonism boom.
Japonism boom gave a strong impact on artists such as Claude Mone, Van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Henri Riviere created "Les 36 vues de la Tour Eiffle" (36 Views of Eiffle Tour) as an homage to Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji.
Why ukiyo-e which was not valued so much could gain such popularity in other countries?
There seems to be two reasons for this.
First, the quality of ukiyo-e prints for their prices. People in Europe were surprised by the printing quality of ukiyo-e. The great team work among an ukiyo-e artist, hori-shi (wood-block carver) and suiri-shi (printer). If one of the three lacks in skills, great work of ukiyo-e can not be created. Despite their quality, ukiyo-e served as an entertainment for commoners in the Edo era; therefore their prices were set at a low range. Tokugawa shogunate also tried to restrict on their prices.
Second, it was due to "westernization of ukiyo-e". Ukiyo-e artists had already introduced western techniques of perspective in the 18th century. Although western style paintings were imported to Japan together with missionaries in the 16th century, only a few artists were influenced by them and Japanese artists did not absorb western techniques at that time. In contract with the boom of Nan-ga (Chinese style painting), Japanese people did not show much interest in western style paintings.
However, Megane-e boom changed this situation. Megane-e, a painting designed to be viewed through an apparatus, which further heightens an illusion of depth created became very popular among Japanese people. The earliest apparatus used in Japan is thought to have arrived in Nagasaki via China from Holland in 1718. Influenced by the megane-e, ukiyo-e artist Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) created uki-e (floating picture) or kubomi-e using Western techniques of perspectives and shading. This was long before Maruyama Oukyo created his version of megane-e paintings. Masanobu's prints gave a big impact on the upcoming ukiyo-e artists including Hokusai, Hiroshige and others. Hokusai tried to re-create effects of shading and perspectives in his Hiragana Rakkan Series where rakkan is written in hiragana and placed with 90-degree turn to make them look like alphabets. (see the image of Hokusai's Kudan Ushigafuchi at the president's blog)
An ukiyo-e scholar Tadashi Kobayashi wrote in his book that this introduction of western techniques into ukiyo-e made a foundation of Japonism to happen in Europe. Kobayashi also mentioned that German resident physician and scientist Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (he disguised himself as Dutch) who stayed in Dejima, Nagasaki, commissioned Hokusai to create paintings depicting people in Edo because Hokusai used a lot of western techniques of perspectives and his paintings would be easy to be accepted by western audience.
For those two reasons, many ukiyo-e prints were exported to Europe and the US and accelerated by Japonism boom and the financial problems of the daimyo lords after the collapse of Tokugawa shogunate, big flow of ukiyo-e prints occurred in the Meiji era.
Yasumasa Oka wrote in his book titled "Megane-e Shin-kou" that while Ukiyo-e artists introduced western perspectives and shading to some extent (mainly liner-perspectives), they did not introduce modeling techniques and maintained flat two dimensional painting styles; therefore people in Europe found ukiyo-e prints very exotic but easy to absorb into their culture.
How interesting to know European culture and Japanese culture influenced each other despite geographical distance between them and ukiyo-e artists' and European artists' strong desire to introduce new things.
Well, let me introduce our latest recommended items before I wrap up this newsletter.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Takashima Hokkai, Summer and Winter Landscape (diptych)
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000600/
Takashima Hokkai (1850-1931) who used to be an influential geologist but later converted to a painter created this art work.
Hokkai introduced Japanese-style paintings in Nancy, France when he studied there and he also strongly supported Art Nouveau movement enough to receive the order of educational merit from French government in 1887.
Later as a painter, he flourished in center of Japanese painting circles while he studied in the United States as a scholar.
Although his water ink landscape is similar to Hashimoto Gaho, clear shading he used suggests modernity and uniqueness.
And more:
Imao Keinen, A Parakeet on a Pine Tree
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000610/
Otani Kubutsu's (Koen) Hanging Scrolls, Cock, Japanese Plum and Calligraphic Work
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000083/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000092/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000093/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your precious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp/
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Shukado Newletter No.13 Saito Shinichi Exb.
Hello! This is Sachiko sending Shukado Newsletter vol.13.
We are enjoying beautiful flower season in Japan!
Although I was thinking about writing the continuation of the previous newsletter on ukiyo-e, we have an important announcement for you regardin
g "Shinichi Saito Exhibition" which will be held at our gallery in Ginza.
Before I write about the Shinichi Saito Exhibition, I would like to touch upon some interesting comments from our Japanese newsletter written by Ikuko-san who is in charge of customer relations with overseas customers at Shukado. She wrote: -------------------All of staffs at Shukado are very busy with preparation for the Saito Shinichi Exhibition and publication of the catalog. I recalled about one year ago when we were very busy with catalog publication around this time.
One year has passed since I joined Shukado. Although I am still very "green" in this art dealing business comparing to our chairman who has an extensive experience of 40 years in this business, I gradually learned about the correlation between the quality of the item and the customer. After one year experience of handling inquiries from customers regarding valuation of the customer's items, I have noticed that there is a correlation between the customer and the quality of the items.
In short, the customer who do not give his/her name, who often give complaints or who is in a hurry to have his/her items evaluated, usually do not have valuable items. (I do not mean that it is not good to make complaints or claims. Your comments are always welcome.)If I get very negative impression from the customer, the item of the customer is usually found out to be a fake item.
I do not know why it is so but this is usually the case.
(End of her comment)
---------------------------------
Ummm… It is very interesting.
Let me get back to the track here.
****** Shinichi Saito Exhibition ******
Shukado gallery is now in the dark.Mysterious atmosphere is created by the paintings depicting Goze (blind female performers), courtesans and a woman weeping with big tears. You may hear the sound of Tsugaru Shamisen (three stringed Japanese instrument) there. Pocket-size catalog adds a flavor to the exhibition.
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html#saito
What is this about?
"Shinichi Saito Exhibition" is being held from Monday, May 26 to Saturday, May 31. The title of this exhibition is "Shinichi Saito --- His Wander of Sorrow ---". Shinichi Saito came to know about wandering Goze for the first time on his trip to Tsugaru, northern Japan. He was captivated by Goze's attractiveness and often visited Echigo (Niigata prefecture) where they came from. He even traveled in the mountains to see them. Saito himself wandered to chase wandering Goze and continued to create paintings depicting them like a strolling story teller. We introduce selected 12 items of Shinichi Saito's artworks including rare items from 50's, Goze Diary series, Yoshiwara Saiken-ki series and his manuscripts.
Through Saito's artworks and his world view, I hope that the visitors will see sorrow and melancholy of life, pain and joy, love and illusion and meanings of life.Complimentary copies of the exhibition catalog are available at the venue.
If you are in Tokyo during this period, please visit our exhibition.Detailed information on the exhibition available here
→http://www.syukado.jp/jp/gallery/2008saito_shinichi.html (Japanese Only)
And you can request the pocket-size catalog of Saito Shinichi Exhibition. https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html#saito (For Free!)
*******************************************
Profile: Shinichi Saito (1922-1994)
Shinichi Saito is a famous western style painter. He graduated from Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1984. He traveled around Europe on a motorcycle in 1959 and studied in France then met with Tsuguharu Fujita (Leonard Fujita).
In 1971, his artwork "Elegy of Misao Goze --- Echigo Goze Diary" was awarded honorable mention of the 14th Yasui Award. In 1973, his essay depicting Goze and his unique view of spiritual world was awarded Japan Essayist Club Award. Through his award winning painting and essay brought Goze women, who played shami-sen musical instrument in deep-snowed Tusgaru region, into a spot light.
His novel "Yoshiwara Enjyo (Yoshiwara on Fire)" was often used for the theater plays and films.
*********************************************
Well, I would like to wrap up my news letter here by introducing you our recommended items.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Mio Goseki's Tiger in the Snow
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001410/
Mio Goseki (1885-1946) was born in Tokyo. His real name is Hidetarou. He was taught by a famous Shijyo school painter Oohashi Suiseki who was well known for his excellent paintings depicting tigers. Goseki is also well known for his paintings of tigers.
The contrast between soft white snow and ferocious tiger is very distinctive. Sharp and neatly depicted tiger's fur and its muscular body look outstanding. This painting will give the viewers a sense of overwhelming presence of the tiger. The vividly painted tiger looks like to roar at any moment.
And more:Tsubaki Chinzan's Flower Scroll and Mori Kansai's Deer in the Mountain
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000620/http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000970/
Otani Kubutsu's White Robed Kannon Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000082/
That is all for this week.
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
We are enjoying beautiful flower season in Japan!
Although I was thinking about writing the continuation of the previous newsletter on ukiyo-e, we have an important announcement for you regardin
g "Shinichi Saito Exhibition" which will be held at our gallery in Ginza.Before I write about the Shinichi Saito Exhibition, I would like to touch upon some interesting comments from our Japanese newsletter written by Ikuko-san who is in charge of customer relations with overseas customers at Shukado. She wrote: -------------------All of staffs at Shukado are very busy with preparation for the Saito Shinichi Exhibition and publication of the catalog. I recalled about one year ago when we were very busy with catalog publication around this time.
One year has passed since I joined Shukado. Although I am still very "green" in this art dealing business comparing to our chairman who has an extensive experience of 40 years in this business, I gradually learned about the correlation between the quality of the item and the customer. After one year experience of handling inquiries from customers regarding valuation of the customer's items, I have noticed that there is a correlation between the customer and the quality of the items.
In short, the customer who do not give his/her name, who often give complaints or who is in a hurry to have his/her items evaluated, usually do not have valuable items. (I do not mean that it is not good to make complaints or claims. Your comments are always welcome.)If I get very negative impression from the customer, the item of the customer is usually found out to be a fake item.
I do not know why it is so but this is usually the case.
(End of her comment)
---------------------------------
Ummm… It is very interesting.
Let me get back to the track here.
****** Shinichi Saito Exhibition ******
Shukado gallery is now in the dark.Mysterious atmosphere is created by the paintings depicting Goze (blind female performers), courtesans and a woman weeping with big tears. You may hear the sound of Tsugaru Shamisen (three stringed Japanese instrument) there. Pocket-size catalog adds a flavor to the exhibition.
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html#saito
What is this about?
"Shinichi Saito Exhibition" is being held from Monday, May 26 to Saturday, May 31. The title of this exhibition is "Shinichi Saito --- His Wander of Sorrow ---". Shinichi Saito came to know about wandering Goze for the first time on his trip to Tsugaru, northern Japan. He was captivated by Goze's attractiveness and often visited Echigo (Niigata prefecture) where they came from. He even traveled in the mountains to see them. Saito himself wandered to chase wandering Goze and continued to create paintings depicting them like a strolling story teller. We introduce selected 12 items of Shinichi Saito's artworks including rare items from 50's, Goze Diary series, Yoshiwara Saiken-ki series and his manuscripts.
Through Saito's artworks and his world view, I hope that the visitors will see sorrow and melancholy of life, pain and joy, love and illusion and meanings of life.Complimentary copies of the exhibition catalog are available at the venue.
If you are in Tokyo during this period, please visit our exhibition.Detailed information on the exhibition available here
→http://www.syukado.jp/jp/gallery/2008saito_shinichi.html (Japanese Only)
And you can request the pocket-size catalog of Saito Shinichi Exhibition. https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html#saito (For Free!)
*******************************************
Profile: Shinichi Saito (1922-1994)
Shinichi Saito is a famous western style painter. He graduated from Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1984. He traveled around Europe on a motorcycle in 1959 and studied in France then met with Tsuguharu Fujita (Leonard Fujita).
In 1971, his artwork "Elegy of Misao Goze --- Echigo Goze Diary" was awarded honorable mention of the 14th Yasui Award. In 1973, his essay depicting Goze and his unique view of spiritual world was awarded Japan Essayist Club Award. Through his award winning painting and essay brought Goze women, who played shami-sen musical instrument in deep-snowed Tusgaru region, into a spot light.
His novel "Yoshiwara Enjyo (Yoshiwara on Fire)" was often used for the theater plays and films.
*********************************************
Well, I would like to wrap up my news letter here by introducing you our recommended items.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Mio Goseki's Tiger in the Snow
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001410/
Mio Goseki (1885-1946) was born in Tokyo. His real name is Hidetarou. He was taught by a famous Shijyo school painter Oohashi Suiseki who was well known for his excellent paintings depicting tigers. Goseki is also well known for his paintings of tigers.
The contrast between soft white snow and ferocious tiger is very distinctive. Sharp and neatly depicted tiger's fur and its muscular body look outstanding. This painting will give the viewers a sense of overwhelming presence of the tiger. The vividly painted tiger looks like to roar at any moment.
And more:Tsubaki Chinzan's Flower Scroll and Mori Kansai's Deer in the Mountain
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000620/http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000970/
Otani Kubutsu's White Robed Kannon Scroll
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000082/
That is all for this week.
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
Monday, May 19, 2008
Shukado News Letter No.12 Who opened Japan
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello! This is Sachiko sending Shukado Newsletter vol.12.
We are enjoying lovely early summer weather in Tokyo now. Fresh green and flowers are so beautiful.
Do you know who first opened Tokugawa shogunate Japan in the 19th Century?
Commodore Mathew Perry and Townsend Harris, the first US Consul General to Japan are very famous historic figures in Japan, who came to Japan in the black ship to open the country. They appear in every history textbook from elementary to high school level in Japan. I am not sure if the school history textbooks outside of Japan mention about their visit to Japan.
The biggest reason that the United States sent Matthew Perry to Japan was to use it as a "coaling base" or a base where steamships, which used coal, could restock their coal supply. Japan was a perfect location for this because it was at almost the same latitude as San Francisco. The United States Navy already used Hawaii as a port for coaling, but they needed another port for steamships in the east. Other big reasons were improvement of shipwrecked sailors' treatment in Japan and trade.
The other day, I had a chance to visit Tokyo Edo Museum
(http://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/english/) to see the "The Perry and Harris Exhibition --- The Dawn of US-Japan Relations---". Perry and Harris contributed to concluding the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858, which opened major ports of Japan to the US vessels. This treaty increased the volume of export from Japan and finally triggered the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The US Deputy Secretary Negroponte enjoyed a visit to this exhibition during his visit to Japan a couple of weeks ago. Why don't you visit there if you are in Japan? This special exhibition opens until June 22.
Some pictures taken there can be seen at the President's blog. (I didn't see the Deputy Secretary when I visited there.)
At the exhibition, it was very interesting to see ukiyo-e portraits of Perry and Harris. All of ukiyo-e prints of their portraits look so different. Some of them are totally based on ukiyo-e artist's imagination and one of them even looked like a famous Chinese warrior.
Although some of those ukiyo-e portraits were far away from their actual images, those ukiyo-e prints were distributed all over Japan after their arrival and spread the information on them such as their height, appearance, the distance between Japan and Washington. It was also very interesting to find
that Perry was depicted like a Kabuki actor while William Heine, a painter came to Japan with Perry, depicted Japanese people in Western style. (e.g. slightly bigger nose and bigger eyes)
In the Edo era, ukiyo-e prints were spread from children to adult and from commoners to samurai.
Ukiyo-e always reflected the latest social trend and news and sometimes served as news media, educational material and pure entertainment. Therefore, the news of the visit of Perry and Harris spread all over Japan in a short period of time.
Different from paintings, ukiyo-e prints were not so highly valued at that time. The low price of ukiyo-e made them accessible even for children. Small sized yakusha-e (actor's portrait) priced around 8 mon (current value of 150 yen or 1.5 dollars considering the fact one bowl of hot soba noodles with no topping priced around 16 mon (presently 300 yen) at that time ).
Although there were high quality nishiki-e prints sold at around 100 mon, the Tokugawa shogunate tried to set the limit of their price in order to restrict commoners' extravagance.
They were mentioned in the book titled "Edo Ukiyo-e o Yomu" written by Tadashi Kobayashi who is a famous scholar of ukiyo-e and Edo culture.
After the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce was concluded, ukiyo-e was used as packing material for ceramic ware to export overseas. Many people appreciated this "packing material" and some people were even eager to collect them.
Then after the Paris Expo in 1859, Japanese art dealer such as Hayashi Trading and Samurai Trading began to sell ukiyo-e which were not so highly valued in Japan but very popular among people overseas.
The collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 caused financial difficulties for many of the feudal lords and had to sell off their collection and bigger volume of Japanese fine arts were exported overseas. Then exporting Japanese fine arts became a big business later on in the Meiji era.
In the next newsletter, I would like to touch upon the reasons why ukiyo-e prints could become so popular overseas and the influence of ukiyo-e on overseas artists.
Well, I would like to wrap up my news letter here by introducing you our recommended items.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Utagawa Kunisada "Azuma no utsushi-e" Ukiyo-e print
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000273/
This is a print created by Utagawa Kunisada between ca.1847 and 1852 and published by Sanoya Kihei.
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865) who was also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III(He called himself Toyokuni II) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan.
Fanciful "Rokaku" (multistoried building) where ocean and mountain are overlooked far away is depicted in this work. Men and women wearing florid kimono are friendly chatting, and the patterns of their kimono and furnishings in the room suggest that the theme of the tale of Genji is hidden in this artwork.
This kind of intellectual game is a part of ukiyo-e's appeal.
and more:
Beautiful landscape painting of Hashimoto Dokuzan, Visit to the Mountain Retreat
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107008360/
Fantacy san-sui-ga world of Yamada Kaido, Visit to the Retreat on the Water, Landscape with Chinese Poem
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001080/
Chinese style bird-and-flower painting of Nanpin-ha Anonymous Artist, Birds and Flowers, Edo Era
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000130/
Odake Kokkan's "Celestial Maden" and Kawabe Mitate's Kakejiku depicting misterious beauty (Hanging Scrolls)
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000200/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000190/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your prescious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
See you next week!
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Hello! This is Sachiko sending Shukado Newsletter vol.12.
We are enjoying lovely early summer weather in Tokyo now. Fresh green and flowers are so beautiful.
Do you know who first opened Tokugawa shogunate Japan in the 19th Century?
Commodore Mathew Perry and Townsend Harris, the first US Consul General to Japan are very famous historic figures in Japan, who came to Japan in the black ship to open the country. They appear in every history textbook from elementary to high school level in Japan. I am not sure if the school history textbooks outside of Japan mention about their visit to Japan.
The biggest reason that the United States sent Matthew Perry to Japan was to use it as a "coaling base" or a base where steamships, which used coal, could restock their coal supply. Japan was a perfect location for this because it was at almost the same latitude as San Francisco. The United States Navy already used Hawaii as a port for coaling, but they needed another port for steamships in the east. Other big reasons were improvement of shipwrecked sailors' treatment in Japan and trade.
The other day, I had a chance to visit Tokyo Edo Museum
(http://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/english/) to see the "The Perry and Harris Exhibition --- The Dawn of US-Japan Relations---". Perry and Harris contributed to concluding the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858, which opened major ports of Japan to the US vessels. This treaty increased the volume of export from Japan and finally triggered the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The US Deputy Secretary Negroponte enjoyed a visit to this exhibition during his visit to Japan a couple of weeks ago. Why don't you visit there if you are in Japan? This special exhibition opens until June 22.
Some pictures taken there can be seen at the President's blog. (I didn't see the Deputy Secretary when I visited there.)
At the exhibition, it was very interesting to see ukiyo-e portraits of Perry and Harris. All of ukiyo-e prints of their portraits look so different. Some of them are totally based on ukiyo-e artist's imagination and one of them even looked like a famous Chinese warrior.
Although some of those ukiyo-e portraits were far away from their actual images, those ukiyo-e prints were distributed all over Japan after their arrival and spread the information on them such as their height, appearance, the distance between Japan and Washington. It was also very interesting to find
that Perry was depicted like a Kabuki actor while William Heine, a painter came to Japan with Perry, depicted Japanese people in Western style. (e.g. slightly bigger nose and bigger eyes)
In the Edo era, ukiyo-e prints were spread from children to adult and from commoners to samurai.
Ukiyo-e always reflected the latest social trend and news and sometimes served as news media, educational material and pure entertainment. Therefore, the news of the visit of Perry and Harris spread all over Japan in a short period of time.
Different from paintings, ukiyo-e prints were not so highly valued at that time. The low price of ukiyo-e made them accessible even for children. Small sized yakusha-e (actor's portrait) priced around 8 mon (current value of 150 yen or 1.5 dollars considering the fact one bowl of hot soba noodles with no topping priced around 16 mon (presently 300 yen) at that time ).
Although there were high quality nishiki-e prints sold at around 100 mon, the Tokugawa shogunate tried to set the limit of their price in order to restrict commoners' extravagance.
They were mentioned in the book titled "Edo Ukiyo-e o Yomu" written by Tadashi Kobayashi who is a famous scholar of ukiyo-e and Edo culture.
After the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce was concluded, ukiyo-e was used as packing material for ceramic ware to export overseas. Many people appreciated this "packing material" and some people were even eager to collect them.
Then after the Paris Expo in 1859, Japanese art dealer such as Hayashi Trading and Samurai Trading began to sell ukiyo-e which were not so highly valued in Japan but very popular among people overseas.
The collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 caused financial difficulties for many of the feudal lords and had to sell off their collection and bigger volume of Japanese fine arts were exported overseas. Then exporting Japanese fine arts became a big business later on in the Meiji era.
In the next newsletter, I would like to touch upon the reasons why ukiyo-e prints could become so popular overseas and the influence of ukiyo-e on overseas artists.
Well, I would like to wrap up my news letter here by introducing you our recommended items.
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
*********************************************************
Utagawa Kunisada "Azuma no utsushi-e" Ukiyo-e print
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000273/
This is a print created by Utagawa Kunisada between ca.1847 and 1852 and published by Sanoya Kihei.
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865) who was also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III(He called himself Toyokuni II) was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan.
Fanciful "Rokaku" (multistoried building) where ocean and mountain are overlooked far away is depicted in this work. Men and women wearing florid kimono are friendly chatting, and the patterns of their kimono and furnishings in the room suggest that the theme of the tale of Genji is hidden in this artwork.
This kind of intellectual game is a part of ukiyo-e's appeal.
and more:
Beautiful landscape painting of Hashimoto Dokuzan, Visit to the Mountain Retreat
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107008360/
Fantacy san-sui-ga world of Yamada Kaido, Visit to the Retreat on the Water, Landscape with Chinese Poem
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108001080/
Chinese style bird-and-flower painting of Nanpin-ha Anonymous Artist, Birds and Flowers, Edo Era
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000130/
Odake Kokkan's "Celestial Maden" and Kawabe Mitate's Kakejiku depicting misterious beauty (Hanging Scrolls)
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000200/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000190/
That is all for this week.
Thank you for taking your prescious time for reading this newsletter to the end.
See you next week!
Have a wonderful week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Shukado News Letter No.11
Dear Customers & Friends,
Hello. Hajime Mashite. Dozo yoroshiku onegai-shimasu.
This is Sachiko Stone, Shukado sending vol.11 Shukado Newsletter.
It is the first time for you to see my name in this newsletter. Let me briefly introduce myself.
I work at Shukado. I am translating the contents of the Japanese Fine-arts.com with other bilingual staff. I live in an old town area of Tokyo called shita-machi in Japanese.
Tanaka shacho has been extremely busy these days so I am writing this newsletter on his behalf.
Making a change from previous newsletters, I would like to write about a beautiful scenic spot in Tokyo.
Although the Somei-yoshino cherry blossoms have already gone, Japanese gardens are full of seasonal flowers from spring to early summer. There are many Japanese gardens and parks you can visit in central Tokyo. When you have a chance to visit Tokyo on your business trip or for pleasure, it would be a good idea to visit such gardens and parks.
The word "niwa" as used today means "garden", although it first indicated a purified place for the worship of native Shinto spirits. Besides providing spiritual settings, Japanese gardens are designed specially to evoke emotional responses to the viewers. Audrey Yoshiko Seo writes: "(Japanese) Gardens reflect the attempt to commune and collaborate with the natural power and beauty of the divine. ---- The empathy the Japanese people feel for the forces of nature enables them to appreciate the fleeting quality of beauty or mono-no-aware, an acute and often melancholy sensitivity to things." She also commented: "In the Tale of Genji, Prince Genji builds a villa whose quarters correspond to the four directions associated with the four seasons. In each quarter of the villa he housed one of this favorite consorts and the garden of each woman's residence specifically designed to evoke the particular beauty and emotional qualities of that season."
This week, I visited "Kiyosumi Teien" in Kiyosumi Shirakawa, which is close to the districts of Ryogoku and Kinshi-cho in eastern Tokyo.
(http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_04.html#kiyosumi)
This park is a typical "Kaiyuu (circuit) style" Daimyo (Japanese feudal lord) garden created in the Edo period. The garden features sen-sui (garden pond or lake), tsuki-yama (hill garden) and kare-sansui (dry landscape garden) and is famous for beautiful cherry blossoms and other seasonal flowers including azalea, hydrangea and Japanese iris. Part of the parkland is believed to have been the house of Mr. Bunzaemon Kinokuniya, a famous merchant in the Edo period. In 1878, Mr. Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of the Mitsubishi group, bought this premise and built a garden for his employees and also for inviting important business guests. In 1932, the Mitsubishi group contributed this garden to Tokyo City, and after some repair work it was opened to the public.
It was very warm when I visited Kiyosumi Teien. When I entered the garden, I first saw the fresh green trees and the big pond. Although I could see skyscrapers in the distance, I felt very peaceful there. As I walked along the little walking path, I found so many turtles enjoying sunbathing on little stones. I also saw many beautiful birds, gigantic carp and pretty flowers. I also walked on the stepping stones paying my utmost attention not to fall into the pond. Uniquely shaped stones which were formed by the natural power were located along the path. Those stones were brought from all over Japan. There were little stone Buddha statues standing lonely in a dead end corner.
At the very end of the garden, I was struck by a lovely surprise. When I entered the space called Jiyuu HIroba, beautiful pink yaezakura blossoms came into my eyes! Yaezakura has more than five petals and blooms later than the Somei Yoshino cherry blossom. They were very gorgeous. In that square, there is a stone tablet inscribed with a haiku poem by Matsuo Basho "Furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizuno oto (A frog jump/ Amplifies/ The pond's antiquity/ With its water sound)." Matuso Basho started his trip of "Okuno Hosomichi (The narrow road to the deep north)" from here.
You can see the beautiful pictures I took in the Kiyosumi-teien at the President's blog http://picasaweb.google.com/shukado/KiyosumiGarden
After this wonderful walk, I felt a little bit hungry.
In the vicinity of the Kiyosumi Garden, there are some other nice spots where you can have a rest. You may have heard of the Japanese proverb "Hana-yori-dango", which literally means "Dumplings rather than flowers". This actually refers to the practical being preferred over the aesthetic.
Iseya (http://mpn.cjn.or.jp/mpn/contents/00002090/shop.html) is one of the best places to enjoy dango after a visit to the Kiyosumi Garden. Iseya started its business 100 years ago in this area.
There are cafes such as Sacra Cafe （http://sacracafe.com/sacra/index.html）and Jolly Job Dog Cafe (http://www.jolly-job.com/) within 5 minutes walk from the garden. You can enjoy beautiful organic food, sweets and coffee at Sacra Cafe and delicious Italian food at Jolly Job where you can enjoy your lunch or dinner with your dog.
Ummm... My visit to the Kiyosumi Garden ended up with "Hana-yori-dango".
I hope you will enjoy the nice pictures of Kiyosumi Garden on the president's blog.
I would like to wrap up my newsletter by introducing to you this week's recommended items:
---------------------------------------
Ukiyo-e Catalog just published !
---------------------------------------
We announce you Ukiyo-e catalog again;
Shukado Japanese Art Catalog Ukiyo-e special edition vol.1.
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
We just started distribution of the catalogs.
Total 183 artworks are posted in this beautiful full color catalog of 44 pages with
detailed comments. It costs you ONLY 10 dollars . (via paypal : This is shipping fee)
Already we have accepted about more than 50 sets of subscription and more than 20 items of order.
Do not hesitate to subscribe:
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
If we post the catalog to the address in Japan, shipping cost will be free.
In that case,you can subscribe here: (Japanese page)
https://www.syukado.jp/jp/support/catalog/index.html or
Please order the catalog via e-mail: info@syukado.jp
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:
*********************************************************
Kikuchi Keigetsu's modern woodblock prints
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000351/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000352/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000353/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000354/
We proudly introduce very precious beauties of Kikuchi Keigetsu.
Kikuchi Keigetsu (1879-1955) was born in Nagano prefecture. His favorite subjects were images of beautiful women and historical character.
His lines of drawings represented very sensitive and noble spirit. His core job was just a real painter, but also produced rather small lot of woodblock prints.
Okay,that's it.
See you next week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Hello. Hajime Mashite. Dozo yoroshiku onegai-shimasu.
This is Sachiko Stone, Shukado sending vol.11 Shukado Newsletter.
It is the first time for you to see my name in this newsletter. Let me briefly introduce myself.
I work at Shukado. I am translating the contents of the Japanese Fine-arts.com with other bilingual staff. I live in an old town area of Tokyo called shita-machi in Japanese.
Tanaka shacho has been extremely busy these days so I am writing this newsletter on his behalf.
Making a change from previous newsletters, I would like to write about a beautiful scenic spot in Tokyo.
Although the Somei-yoshino cherry blossoms have already gone, Japanese gardens are full of seasonal flowers from spring to early summer. There are many Japanese gardens and parks you can visit in central Tokyo. When you have a chance to visit Tokyo on your business trip or for pleasure, it would be a good idea to visit such gardens and parks.
The word "niwa" as used today means "garden", although it first indicated a purified place for the worship of native Shinto spirits. Besides providing spiritual settings, Japanese gardens are designed specially to evoke emotional responses to the viewers. Audrey Yoshiko Seo writes: "(Japanese) Gardens reflect the attempt to commune and collaborate with the natural power and beauty of the divine. ---- The empathy the Japanese people feel for the forces of nature enables them to appreciate the fleeting quality of beauty or mono-no-aware, an acute and often melancholy sensitivity to things." She also commented: "In the Tale of Genji, Prince Genji builds a villa whose quarters correspond to the four directions associated with the four seasons. In each quarter of the villa he housed one of this favorite consorts and the garden of each woman's residence specifically designed to evoke the particular beauty and emotional qualities of that season."
This week, I visited "Kiyosumi Teien" in Kiyosumi Shirakawa, which is close to the districts of Ryogoku and Kinshi-cho in eastern Tokyo.
(http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_04.html#kiyosumi)
This park is a typical "Kaiyuu (circuit) style" Daimyo (Japanese feudal lord) garden created in the Edo period. The garden features sen-sui (garden pond or lake), tsuki-yama (hill garden) and kare-sansui (dry landscape garden) and is famous for beautiful cherry blossoms and other seasonal flowers including azalea, hydrangea and Japanese iris. Part of the parkland is believed to have been the house of Mr. Bunzaemon Kinokuniya, a famous merchant in the Edo period. In 1878, Mr. Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of the Mitsubishi group, bought this premise and built a garden for his employees and also for inviting important business guests. In 1932, the Mitsubishi group contributed this garden to Tokyo City, and after some repair work it was opened to the public.
It was very warm when I visited Kiyosumi Teien. When I entered the garden, I first saw the fresh green trees and the big pond. Although I could see skyscrapers in the distance, I felt very peaceful there. As I walked along the little walking path, I found so many turtles enjoying sunbathing on little stones. I also saw many beautiful birds, gigantic carp and pretty flowers. I also walked on the stepping stones paying my utmost attention not to fall into the pond. Uniquely shaped stones which were formed by the natural power were located along the path. Those stones were brought from all over Japan. There were little stone Buddha statues standing lonely in a dead end corner.
At the very end of the garden, I was struck by a lovely surprise. When I entered the space called Jiyuu HIroba, beautiful pink yaezakura blossoms came into my eyes! Yaezakura has more than five petals and blooms later than the Somei Yoshino cherry blossom. They were very gorgeous. In that square, there is a stone tablet inscribed with a haiku poem by Matsuo Basho "Furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizuno oto (A frog jump/ Amplifies/ The pond's antiquity/ With its water sound)." Matuso Basho started his trip of "Okuno Hosomichi (The narrow road to the deep north)" from here.
You can see the beautiful pictures I took in the Kiyosumi-teien at the President's blog http://picasaweb.google.com/shukado/KiyosumiGarden
 |
| Kiyosumi Garden |
After this wonderful walk, I felt a little bit hungry.
In the vicinity of the Kiyosumi Garden, there are some other nice spots where you can have a rest. You may have heard of the Japanese proverb "Hana-yori-dango", which literally means "Dumplings rather than flowers". This actually refers to the practical being preferred over the aesthetic.
Iseya (http://mpn.cjn.or.jp/mpn/contents/00002090/shop.html) is one of the best places to enjoy dango after a visit to the Kiyosumi Garden. Iseya started its business 100 years ago in this area.
There are cafes such as Sacra Cafe （http://sacracafe.com/sacra/index.html）and Jolly Job Dog Cafe (http://www.jolly-job.com/) within 5 minutes walk from the garden. You can enjoy beautiful organic food, sweets and coffee at Sacra Cafe and delicious Italian food at Jolly Job where you can enjoy your lunch or dinner with your dog.
Ummm... My visit to the Kiyosumi Garden ended up with "Hana-yori-dango".
I hope you will enjoy the nice pictures of Kiyosumi Garden on the president's blog.
I would like to wrap up my newsletter by introducing to you this week's recommended items:
---------------------------------------
Ukiyo-e Catalog just published !
---------------------------------------
We announce you Ukiyo-e catalog again;
Shukado Japanese Art Catalog Ukiyo-e special edition vol.1.
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
We just started distribution of the catalogs.
Total 183 artworks are posted in this beautiful full color catalog of 44 pages with
detailed comments. It costs you ONLY 10 dollars . (via paypal : This is shipping fee)
Already we have accepted about more than 50 sets of subscription and more than 20 items of order.
Do not hesitate to subscribe:
https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
If we post the catalog to the address in Japan, shipping cost will be free.
In that case,you can subscribe here: (Japanese page)
https://www.syukado.jp/jp/support/catalog/index.html or
Please order the catalog via e-mail: info@syukado.jp
*********************************************************
New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:
*********************************************************
Kikuchi Keigetsu's modern woodblock prints
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000351/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000352/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000353/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107000354/
We proudly introduce very precious beauties of Kikuchi Keigetsu.
Kikuchi Keigetsu (1879-1955) was born in Nagano prefecture. His favorite subjects were images of beautiful women and historical character.
His lines of drawings represented very sensitive and noble spirit. His core job was just a real painter, but also produced rather small lot of woodblock prints.
Okay,that's it.
See you next week!
Sachiko & Chiaki
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Friday, April 18, 2008
Shukado Newsletter No.10, Masayoshi #2
Shukado Newsletter No.10 from Japanese-FineArts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
Masayoshi # 2
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello. This is Chiaki from Ginza, Tokyo. This is our 10th Shukado newsletter.
It has been five months since we opened our website
Japanese-finearts.com and we have received several complements for our
sales at e-Bay. Please check the link as below:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=shukado&ftab=AllFeedback
We have also received a surprisingly positive comment from our
customer: "Words can't describe how pleased I am with book and
incredible service -Thanks!" by Mr. and Ms. Hauntmaster
We are very glad to receive such words of complement from our
customers. I believe that this is a result of extensive efforts made
by Ms. Kuwata who is in charge of customer relations and Ms. Kondo who
is in charge of shipping. I would like to seek our customers'continued
patronage.
By the way, let me continue the story of Nakamura Masayoshi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Masayoshi left Nitten which is one of the representative art
organizations in Japan and was created as a result of the First
Ministry of Education Art Exhibition, he created a series of paintings
which challenged the existing concept of Japanese style paintings. For
example, he used fluorescent colors, which no other artists (not
limited to the artists of Japanese style painting) used for their
artworks, for his artwork titled "Rose" (this is one of our gallery
collections) and he sometimes painted people in a grotesque style.
Masayoshi created his own artistic style as if he were walking in the
wilderness.
This may be due to the effect of the sudden transition from
Impressionism to Fauvisme happening in the art history at that time.
However, there is another factor which is unique to Japanese art
circles.
First of all, "art" in Japanese writes "Bi-jyutsu" (literally means
technique of beauty). While art in English simply means to "express
something", art (Bi-jyutsu) in Japanese refers to the technique to
create "something considered to be beautiful ". In other words, people
in the Japanese art world were obsessed with the concept of "beauty".
Therefore, this trend was accelerated by the conservativeness of the
famous art organizations and nipped the buds of new ideas and talents
that grab the hearts of people.
This situation may have led Masayoshi to voice "Creativity means
ugliness". Since he believed that the art means to express people's
inner self, he had to challenge the existing value of "beauty" and
"art" in the Japanese art circles at that time in order to show
concrete examples through his artworks.
He even dared to say "You should not be too skillful." Even when
someone asked him "What should I do if my painting skill gets too
good?" he answered "If your skill is getting too good, you should quit
painting."
His passion for his revolt to the existing value of "beauty" and
devotion to express his inner self may have come from the fact that he
spent most of his life for fighting against his disease. He expressed
himself in his artworks after his extensive consideration of what was
essential for his limited time left for his life.
The other thing that Masayoshi made his best effort was to teach
children at his own art school. He may probably have found the true
"art" in children's artworks rather than in those of mediocre
professional artists.
One of his artworks we can introduce is here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107007120/
Here, the vivid colors are liberally used and it gave lively impression to this work.
Japanese Artists never have used poster paint, but with which he
challenged to create new style . That means he became a destroyer of
"Nihonga" or "Japanese Style".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Utamaro II, "Shiduka of Tamaya"from Yukun Jihitu-gaku Hinagata
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107008310/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
>From the lettering above her head her name Shizuka and the store name
Tamaya are figured out. Her beautifully layered kimono and her delicate
hand on the collar are lovely. Next to Shizuka, her prentice accompanied
by her is depicted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Very Good condition Triptych, Night Viewing of Cherry Blossoms by Sadahide
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000790/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Against back of the figures, cherry blossom trees are depicted here. To
the woman's kimono on the left " Genjiko no zu (diagram)" is studded
showing this is one scene of the Tale of Genji. For, "Genjiko" was a
game to choose a scent out of fifty four based on fifty four tales of
Genji and players guessed and answered the scent in reference to "
Genjiko no zu (diagram)".
Hope you have great week!
Sincerely yours,
Chiaki Tanaka of Shukado
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
Masayoshi # 2
Dear Customers and Friends,
Hello. This is Chiaki from Ginza, Tokyo. This is our 10th Shukado newsletter.
It has been five months since we opened our website
Japanese-finearts.com and we have received several complements for our
sales at e-Bay. Please check the link as below:
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=shukado&ftab=AllFeedback
We have also received a surprisingly positive comment from our
customer: "Words can't describe how pleased I am with book and
incredible service -Thanks!" by Mr. and Ms. Hauntmaster
We are very glad to receive such words of complement from our
customers. I believe that this is a result of extensive efforts made
by Ms. Kuwata who is in charge of customer relations and Ms. Kondo who
is in charge of shipping. I would like to seek our customers'continued
patronage.
By the way, let me continue the story of Nakamura Masayoshi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Masayoshi left Nitten which is one of the representative art
organizations in Japan and was created as a result of the First
Ministry of Education Art Exhibition, he created a series of paintings
which challenged the existing concept of Japanese style paintings. For
example, he used fluorescent colors, which no other artists (not
limited to the artists of Japanese style painting) used for their
artworks, for his artwork titled "Rose" (this is one of our gallery
collections) and he sometimes painted people in a grotesque style.
Masayoshi created his own artistic style as if he were walking in the
wilderness.
This may be due to the effect of the sudden transition from
Impressionism to Fauvisme happening in the art history at that time.
However, there is another factor which is unique to Japanese art
circles.
First of all, "art" in Japanese writes "Bi-jyutsu" (literally means
technique of beauty). While art in English simply means to "express
something", art (Bi-jyutsu) in Japanese refers to the technique to
create "something considered to be beautiful ". In other words, people
in the Japanese art world were obsessed with the concept of "beauty".
Therefore, this trend was accelerated by the conservativeness of the
famous art organizations and nipped the buds of new ideas and talents
that grab the hearts of people.
This situation may have led Masayoshi to voice "Creativity means
ugliness". Since he believed that the art means to express people's
inner self, he had to challenge the existing value of "beauty" and
"art" in the Japanese art circles at that time in order to show
concrete examples through his artworks.
He even dared to say "You should not be too skillful." Even when
someone asked him "What should I do if my painting skill gets too
good?" he answered "If your skill is getting too good, you should quit
painting."
His passion for his revolt to the existing value of "beauty" and
devotion to express his inner self may have come from the fact that he
spent most of his life for fighting against his disease. He expressed
himself in his artworks after his extensive consideration of what was
essential for his limited time left for his life.
The other thing that Masayoshi made his best effort was to teach
children at his own art school. He may probably have found the true
"art" in children's artworks rather than in those of mediocre
professional artists.
One of his artworks we can introduce is here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107007120/
Here, the vivid colors are liberally used and it gave lively impression to this work.
Japanese Artists never have used poster paint, but with which he
challenged to create new style . That means he became a destroyer of
"Nihonga" or "Japanese Style".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Utamaro II, "Shiduka of Tamaya"from Yukun Jihitu-gaku Hinagata
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107008310/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
>From the lettering above her head her name Shizuka and the store name
Tamaya are figured out. Her beautifully layered kimono and her delicate
hand on the collar are lovely. Next to Shizuka, her prentice accompanied
by her is depicted.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Very Good condition Triptych, Night Viewing of Cherry Blossoms by Sadahide
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000790/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Against back of the figures, cherry blossom trees are depicted here. To
the woman's kimono on the left " Genjiko no zu (diagram)" is studded
showing this is one scene of the Tale of Genji. For, "Genjiko" was a
game to choose a scent out of fifty four based on fifty four tales of
Genji and players guessed and answered the scent in reference to "
Genjiko no zu (diagram)".
Hope you have great week!
Sincerely yours,
Chiaki Tanaka of Shukado
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information of
new arrivals.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADO
Address: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621
email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger site
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya site
http://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Shukado News Letter No.9 Masayoshi#1
Dear Customers & Friends
Hello from Tokyo!This is Chiaki Tanaka, sending vol.9 Shukado Newsletter.
It has been really warm in Tokyo for these days. Although until a week ago, we had to wear winter coats in the morning and evening, it is so warm today at noon that I have some sweat even without a coat. I guess that it is getting warmer in other countries in northern hemisphere as well.
By the way, we are now preparing hard copies of our "English Catalog". We have issued 13 volumes of printed Japanese catalogs and they have artist names and titles in English. Our upcoming English catalog contains deeper description of the artworks and smaller details in English.
Our wish is that more and more people know more about Japanese fine arts in depth.
In the 19th century, the first "cultural ambassador" of Japan to Europe was the crumpled ukiyoe prints used as packing materials. Ukiyoe's witty and extraordinary refined composition caught on people's curiosity towards unknown country.
On the other hand, I feel pity that Japanese hand paintings created after the Meiji period are not well-known to the people overseas. There are a lot of outstanding artworks created during the modern and post-modern periods.
Unlike our website, this printed catalog can be enjoyed while leisurely lying on the bed or the sofa in the living room. You can carry it in your bag and take it on the train, airplane or to the restroom. Please give us a request for this catalog. The catalog will be ready for distribution in April.
We have made the request form on our website, so please click the link shown below.https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
*******************************************
Well, this week's featured artist is:
This artist said "Creativity means ugliness".
This phrase sounds like Damian Hirst's, doesn't it? This artist passed away in 1977. He was a Japanese artist who lived 30 years ago and died at the age 57.
For the people, who think that creativity means art and art means beauty, his words may sound quite shocking.
However, he was a very serious person, may be too serious. In the Japanese art world of these days, many artists place emphasis on the "shocking impact" of the artwork rather than the "pleasant beauty". In a sense, he challenged this approximately half a century ago and no body else dared to do this with their artworks. Artists in the modern time, who are taking this challenge seems to have some sort of calculation. On the contrary, he committed himself so much in the quest for creativity just for its sake.
His name is Nakamura Masayoshi (family name, first name).
Japan's fine art associations in the post-war Japan were very conservative and may be it is still the case for them. Although fine art association's most important mission is to facilitate new art movements, in reality, similar artworks are repeatedly created within this association.
Nakamura took his courage to challenge this trend. Although he won the prize at Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and he became the youngest judge for this exhibition, he announced to withdraw his membership from them only after one year of his membership. He is a short tempered person; therefore, he was fed up at once with the unfair judgments by the conservative Nitten based on their nepotism or favoritism.
At his early years as an artist, his artistic style was very typical one for Japanese paintings in the post-war Japan. He had to do so in order to win the prize from the biggest authority in the Japanese art world to be financially viable as a professional artist. His artworks at that time are:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbbb-aaa.html#girl
Hello from Tokyo!This is Chiaki Tanaka, sending vol.9 Shukado Newsletter.
It has been really warm in Tokyo for these days. Although until a week ago, we had to wear winter coats in the morning and evening, it is so warm today at noon that I have some sweat even without a coat. I guess that it is getting warmer in other countries in northern hemisphere as well.
By the way, we are now preparing hard copies of our "English Catalog". We have issued 13 volumes of printed Japanese catalogs and they have artist names and titles in English. Our upcoming English catalog contains deeper description of the artworks and smaller details in English.
Our wish is that more and more people know more about Japanese fine arts in depth.
In the 19th century, the first "cultural ambassador" of Japan to Europe was the crumpled ukiyoe prints used as packing materials. Ukiyoe's witty and extraordinary refined composition caught on people's curiosity towards unknown country.
On the other hand, I feel pity that Japanese hand paintings created after the Meiji period are not well-known to the people overseas. There are a lot of outstanding artworks created during the modern and post-modern periods.
Unlike our website, this printed catalog can be enjoyed while leisurely lying on the bed or the sofa in the living room. You can carry it in your bag and take it on the train, airplane or to the restroom. Please give us a request for this catalog. The catalog will be ready for distribution in April.
We have made the request form on our website, so please click the link shown below.https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html
*******************************************
Well, this week's featured artist is:
This artist said "Creativity means ugliness".
This phrase sounds like Damian Hirst's, doesn't it? This artist passed away in 1977. He was a Japanese artist who lived 30 years ago and died at the age 57.
For the people, who think that creativity means art and art means beauty, his words may sound quite shocking.
However, he was a very serious person, may be too serious. In the Japanese art world of these days, many artists place emphasis on the "shocking impact" of the artwork rather than the "pleasant beauty". In a sense, he challenged this approximately half a century ago and no body else dared to do this with their artworks. Artists in the modern time, who are taking this challenge seems to have some sort of calculation. On the contrary, he committed himself so much in the quest for creativity just for its sake.
His name is Nakamura Masayoshi (family name, first name).
Japan's fine art associations in the post-war Japan were very conservative and may be it is still the case for them. Although fine art association's most important mission is to facilitate new art movements, in reality, similar artworks are repeatedly created within this association.
Nakamura took his courage to challenge this trend. Although he won the prize at Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and he became the youngest judge for this exhibition, he announced to withdraw his membership from them only after one year of his membership. He is a short tempered person; therefore, he was fed up at once with the unfair judgments by the conservative Nitten based on their nepotism or favoritism.
At his early years as an artist, his artistic style was very typical one for Japanese paintings in the post-war Japan. He had to do so in order to win the prize from the biggest authority in the Japanese art world to be financially viable as a professional artist. His artworks at that time are:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbbb-aaa.html#girl
After his withdrawal from Nitten, his approach to his artworks dramatically changes. For example:http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbbb-aaa.html#maiko
He used to like calm colors in sepia tone and had extensive training as a Japanese painter. After a while, he challenged to break his old styles. In the traditional method of Japanese paining, pigments are mixed in animal glue called nikawa. Nakamura mixed artificial glue and fluorescent paint to use for Japanese paintings. Then he claimed that this is the true Japanese painting style.
It can be said that his artworks are not only objects for decoration but also the symbol of resistance against the existing authority or the declaration for the creation of new art.I would like to feature his life history in the following newsletter.
**************************************************
New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Katsushika Hokusai's Ukiyo-e Book "Bansho Zukou " #108000730
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Hokusai, as you know, was the strongest master of Ukiyo-e. His most well-known prints are "Fugaku 36 kei" or "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" which was created between 1826 and 1833. Since he initially led ukiyo-e world in the edo period, he published a lot of books of exemplary illustrations. This "Bansho Zukou" is one of his illustration books. Various kinds of people, animals and plants are vividly depicted in this book and every page is full of lively and spontaneous graphics.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000730/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yoshida Hiroshi's Woodblock Print: Omuro in 1940 #107001930
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yoshida Hiroshi(1876-1950) is one of the best shin-hanga (new woodcut print movement) artists in the middle 20th century. His prints are richly detailed landscapes and captivating art fans in all over the world. The motif of this work is the big gate of Omuro which is famous temple in Kyoto. Light colors are used for the gate of the temple and these subtle tones create not only beautiful piled up shades, but also depth in this work.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107001930/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abuna-e or Risque Scene by Eisen #108000770 and by Eizan #108000780
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Keisai Eisen(1791-1848) is a famous artist specialised in bijinga (woodcuts of beautiful women) . It is well-known that Vincent van Gogh reproduced Eisen's work in the work The Couresan(1887).Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1867) was an ukiyo-e painter and print artist, he worked at first for his father who was a Kano school artist.
Abuna-e captures glimpses of nude or partially nude females involved in everyday activities such as bathing, washing their hair, enjoying the cool of the evening, or putting on makeup. See the woks on the links below.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000770/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000780/
Did you enjoy our collections of Ukiyo-e? Hope you have great week!
Sincerely yours,Chiaki Tanaka of Shukado
**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information ofnew arrivals.If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
---------------------------------------------
Japanese Fine Arts.com by SHUKADOAddress: Sone Building 7F, Ginza 6-4-8, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061TEL:(international number)+81-3-3569-3620 FAX:+81-3-3569-3621email: info@japanese-finearts.com
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/
ONLINE GALLERY SYUKADO (Japanese)
http://www.syukado.jp
master@syukado.jp
Shukado President's Blog(including backnumber of Shukado News Letters)
*Blogger sitehttp://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
*Ichiroya sitehttp://www.ichiroya.com/blog/Chiaki/
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