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:
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Katsushika Hokusai's Ukiyo-e Book "Bansho Zukou " #108000730
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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/
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Yoshida Hiroshi's Woodblock Print: Omuro in 1940 #107001930
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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/
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Abuna-e or Risque Scene by Eisen #108000770 and by Eizan #108000780
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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/
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Shukado News Letter No.8
Dear Customers & Friends
Kon-nichi-wa, hello from Ginza!
This is Chiaki Tanaka from Shukado,and this is vol.8 Shukado Newsletter.
For these 2-3 of years, it is said that Japan has been seeing the "Spiritual boom".
As a matter of the fact, a spiritual counselor, Hiroyuki Ehara and his TV program called "Oura-no Izumi" or "the Fountain of Aura" are creating this boom.
In this program, famous TV personalities and actors or actresses are invited as guests and their deep worries and traumatic experiences are revealed through his mediumship and he suggests the guests some clues to solve their problems.
At the time of his mediumship performance, Ehara talks about the personal details, which only the guest knows such as details of his/her room. This is the trick to make the viewers believe that he has some kind of special abilities. Moreover, he tells the guest about his/her previous life, numen and the color of the aura and explains that the current life is connected to the previous life. In the end, he mediates the words of the dead parent or relatives to give some advice to the guest and the guest finds the direction of his/her future.
The program seems to be very persuasive and famous actors or actresses appear in this program, therefore, the viewers are drawn into the program.
My younger sister is very quick to catch on a trend. We call this kind of person as "Mee-her". She is watching this program every week. I think that it is typical of her, but the program is quite interesting so I would not blame her for being a blind follower.
There are some people who criticize this program as a "made-up". Such people say that Ehara could know the private secrets from advance investigations and there are some rumors that he caused some violent incidents with the staff of the program. They point out that the previous lives of the guests are usually staged in Japan or Europe not in Africa and they find this very strange.
Some other people even give warnings for the danger of peoples' crazes for something unbelievable or extraordinary while saying that the Aum Shinri-kyo terrorist attack revealed that danger of desire or passion for such things.
The other day, one junior high school student who was refused to join in the group committed suicide saying "I want to re-born to seek better life". After this incident, Ehara was accused for his influence through the media.
Although I initially thought that he was a bit dubious, after reading his book, I could understand his thoughts of "inevitable fate" in his life. To be brief, he was not intending to be a professional spiritual counselor even though he had a special ability to see ghosts and people's aura since his childhood. However, his father died at his young age and his mother too when he was a teenager, then he came to think deeply about "What is the purpose of my life?" and "Why is my life so unusually difficult?" After a while, he came to a conclusion that people live to brush up his/her own soul, which is connected to his/her previous life.
His story telling someone's previous and present life seems to be a little bit inconsistent but it captures and touches people's mind or even makes people cry or appreciate their own lucky life. It is easy to say that that is a cheap trick for tears but simply fake stories cannot move people. Probably, his powerful speech backed by his heavily agonizing past or his fate touches people's mind.
Although I do not believe in "previous life" or "people's aura" at all and I think that some of his remarks are a bit doubtful, I agree with his comment "People live to brush up his/her own soul. I may have a little bit of spiritual way of thinking because I cannot explain theoretically about it, however, I believe that even when people face a lot of difficulties, if they believe that there is a fate created by God or something similar to God, people can be very strong in their lives.
The another reason why this kind of people can be popular and famous in Japan while some people point out the danger of craze for supernatural or extraordinary things is the lack of strong base of religions in Japan. Japan is categorized as a Buddhists country, there are numerous small Buddhist sects and 100 thousands of temples (the total number is similar to that of convenience stores) in Japan. However, as a matter of fact, Japanese people see them as the organization to run the funerals or take care of cemeteries. Not many people ask Buddhist monks for their advice. We of course need someone to explain why people experience unreasonable difficulties; therefore here comes the cult religions. "Millionaire wannabe" boom can be said as one of this kind of cult religions.
It is not a religion, but the love for the birthplace or the patriotism which were serving drives for Japanese people after the Meiji era when the existence of God became faint or fear for the invasion from other nation or the self-confidence as a reflection of such fear were all smashed away by the defeat in the WWII. Japanese people may be suffering from the emptiness in their mind while enjoying economic growth.
Looking at this from different perspective, new thoughts, religion and ideas which may serve good for the people in the world may spring from this place where the freedom of religious activities and speech is guaranteed and people are open minded about religions. Although such a situation may be unique to Japan, the negative effects of rapid modernization may be causing such a trend of spiritual boom.
What is the situation like in your country with regard to the issue of psychological problems and spirituality?
Before ending my news letter, I would like to introduce new items; the artworks of Utagawa Kunisada.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/sp/list.php?spid=S474bd5a96dea4
We recently added a lot of Yakusya-e prints (Actors' portraits) created by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) at our website.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0228
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0229
They look cool, don't they? Kunisada's yakusha-e's impression is very distinctive and brilliant. High level of printing technique with detailed touch is used for those prints. While Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro are globally well-known ukiyo-e artists, Kunisada was the most popular ukiyo-e artist in the late Edo era and probably was most prolific.
Ukiyo-e has been studied extensively overseas rather than in Japan. However, overseas scholars' focus of their intellectual curiosity had not been placed in Kunisada's artworks until recent times. There are some scholars who are now reevaluating his works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunisada
Please take a look at the life history of Kunisada who created the foundation of ukiyo-e.
I hope that the readers of this newsletter will know more about old and new Japan through our newsletter.
See you next week!
**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/
Kon-nichi-wa, hello from Ginza!
This is Chiaki Tanaka from Shukado,and this is vol.8 Shukado Newsletter.
For these 2-3 of years, it is said that Japan has been seeing the "Spiritual boom".
As a matter of the fact, a spiritual counselor, Hiroyuki Ehara and his TV program called "Oura-no Izumi" or "the Fountain of Aura" are creating this boom.
In this program, famous TV personalities and actors or actresses are invited as guests and their deep worries and traumatic experiences are revealed through his mediumship and he suggests the guests some clues to solve their problems.
At the time of his mediumship performance, Ehara talks about the personal details, which only the guest knows such as details of his/her room. This is the trick to make the viewers believe that he has some kind of special abilities. Moreover, he tells the guest about his/her previous life, numen and the color of the aura and explains that the current life is connected to the previous life. In the end, he mediates the words of the dead parent or relatives to give some advice to the guest and the guest finds the direction of his/her future.
The program seems to be very persuasive and famous actors or actresses appear in this program, therefore, the viewers are drawn into the program.
My younger sister is very quick to catch on a trend. We call this kind of person as "Mee-her". She is watching this program every week. I think that it is typical of her, but the program is quite interesting so I would not blame her for being a blind follower.
There are some people who criticize this program as a "made-up". Such people say that Ehara could know the private secrets from advance investigations and there are some rumors that he caused some violent incidents with the staff of the program. They point out that the previous lives of the guests are usually staged in Japan or Europe not in Africa and they find this very strange.
Some other people even give warnings for the danger of peoples' crazes for something unbelievable or extraordinary while saying that the Aum Shinri-kyo terrorist attack revealed that danger of desire or passion for such things.
The other day, one junior high school student who was refused to join in the group committed suicide saying "I want to re-born to seek better life". After this incident, Ehara was accused for his influence through the media.
Although I initially thought that he was a bit dubious, after reading his book, I could understand his thoughts of "inevitable fate" in his life. To be brief, he was not intending to be a professional spiritual counselor even though he had a special ability to see ghosts and people's aura since his childhood. However, his father died at his young age and his mother too when he was a teenager, then he came to think deeply about "What is the purpose of my life?" and "Why is my life so unusually difficult?" After a while, he came to a conclusion that people live to brush up his/her own soul, which is connected to his/her previous life.
His story telling someone's previous and present life seems to be a little bit inconsistent but it captures and touches people's mind or even makes people cry or appreciate their own lucky life. It is easy to say that that is a cheap trick for tears but simply fake stories cannot move people. Probably, his powerful speech backed by his heavily agonizing past or his fate touches people's mind.
Although I do not believe in "previous life" or "people's aura" at all and I think that some of his remarks are a bit doubtful, I agree with his comment "People live to brush up his/her own soul. I may have a little bit of spiritual way of thinking because I cannot explain theoretically about it, however, I believe that even when people face a lot of difficulties, if they believe that there is a fate created by God or something similar to God, people can be very strong in their lives.
The another reason why this kind of people can be popular and famous in Japan while some people point out the danger of craze for supernatural or extraordinary things is the lack of strong base of religions in Japan. Japan is categorized as a Buddhists country, there are numerous small Buddhist sects and 100 thousands of temples (the total number is similar to that of convenience stores) in Japan. However, as a matter of fact, Japanese people see them as the organization to run the funerals or take care of cemeteries. Not many people ask Buddhist monks for their advice. We of course need someone to explain why people experience unreasonable difficulties; therefore here comes the cult religions. "Millionaire wannabe" boom can be said as one of this kind of cult religions.
It is not a religion, but the love for the birthplace or the patriotism which were serving drives for Japanese people after the Meiji era when the existence of God became faint or fear for the invasion from other nation or the self-confidence as a reflection of such fear were all smashed away by the defeat in the WWII. Japanese people may be suffering from the emptiness in their mind while enjoying economic growth.
Looking at this from different perspective, new thoughts, religion and ideas which may serve good for the people in the world may spring from this place where the freedom of religious activities and speech is guaranteed and people are open minded about religions. Although such a situation may be unique to Japan, the negative effects of rapid modernization may be causing such a trend of spiritual boom.
What is the situation like in your country with regard to the issue of psychological problems and spirituality?
Before ending my news letter, I would like to introduce new items; the artworks of Utagawa Kunisada.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/sp/list.php?spid=S474bd5a96dea4
We recently added a lot of Yakusya-e prints (Actors' portraits) created by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) at our website.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0228
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/search.php?md=0229
They look cool, don't they? Kunisada's yakusha-e's impression is very distinctive and brilliant. High level of printing technique with detailed touch is used for those prints. While Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro are globally well-known ukiyo-e artists, Kunisada was the most popular ukiyo-e artist in the late Edo era and probably was most prolific.
Ukiyo-e has been studied extensively overseas rather than in Japan. However, overseas scholars' focus of their intellectual curiosity had not been placed in Kunisada's artworks until recent times. There are some scholars who are now reevaluating his works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunisada
Please take a look at the life history of Kunisada who created the foundation of ukiyo-e.
I hope that the readers of this newsletter will know more about old and new Japan through our newsletter.
See you next week!
**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/
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