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

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/

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/