FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / 歌川 広重

 

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE  / 歌川 広重 (1797-1858)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft) 

Japan

 In One Hundred Famous Views of Edo #8/ Suruga-cho (9th month of 1856) 

Color woodblock print, 34.3 x 21.9 cm, 1856,  The Brooklyn Museum, New York

The mountain 

Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The artist
Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重), also know as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō  and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints.
Hiroshige produced over 8,000 works
He dominated landscape printmaking with his unique brand of intimate, almost small-scale works compared against the older traditions of landscape painting descended from Chinese landscape painters such as Sesshu. The travel prints generally depict travelers along famous routes experiencing the special attractions of various stops along the way. They travel in the rain, in snow, and during all of the seasons. In 1856, working with the publisher Uoya Eikichi, he created a series of luxury edition prints, made with the finest printing techniques including true gradation of color, the addition of mica to lend a unique iridescent effect, embossing, fabric printing, blind printing, and the use of glue printing (wherein ink is mixed with glue for a glittery effect).
For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints.

__________________________________________

2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 (2) BY HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博

 

HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博 (1876-1950)
Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)
Japan

In Fuji San from Yamanaka, Woodblock, 1937, Private Collection Japan

The mountain
Mount Fuji ( 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft) or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan. Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.


Hiroshi Yoshida (not to be confused with Toshi Yoshida) was born in 1876. He began his artistic training with his adoptive father in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Around the age of twenty, he left Kurume to study with Soritsu Tamura in Kyoto, subsequently moving to Tokyo and the tutelage of Shotaro Koyama. Yoshida studied Western-style painting, winning many exhibition prizes and making several trips to the United States, Europe and North Africa selling his watercolors and oil paintings. In 1902, he played a leading role in the organization of the Meiji Fine Arts Society into the Pacific Painting Association. His work was featured in the exhibitions of the state-sponsored Bunten and Teiten. While highly successful as an oil painter and watercolor artist, Yoshida turned to printmaking upon learning of the Western world’s infatuation with ukiyo-e.
Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Yoshida embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe, painting and selling his work. When he returned to Japan in 1925, he started his own workshop, specializing in landscapes inspired both by his native country and his travels abroad. Yoshida often worked through the entire process himself: designing the print, carving his own blocks, and printing his work. His career was temporarily interrupted by his sojourn as a war correspondent in Manchuria during the Pacific War. Although he designed his last print in 1946, Yoshida continued to paint with oils and watercolors up until his death in 1950.
Yoshida was widely traveled and knowledgeable of Western aesthetics, yet maintained an allegiance to traditional Japanese techniques and traditions. Attracted by the calmer moments of nature, his prints breathe coolness, invite meditation, and set a soft, peaceful mood. All of his lifetime prints are signed “Hiroshi Yoshida” in pencil and marked with a jizuri (self-printed) seal outside of the margin. Within the image, most prints are signed “Yoshida” with brush and ink beside a red “Hiroshi” seal.


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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOUNT OYAMA PAINTED UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / 歌川 広重

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE  / 歌川 広重  (1797-1858),

Mount Oyama  (1,252 m - 4,108 ft)

Japan

In  Mount Oyama from Series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces, 1853, woodblock, 

34.29 cm x 23.02 cm, The San Diego Museum of Art

About the series
Hiroshige started the series in the seventh month of Kaei 6 (Sept 1853) and completed it in the third month of Ansei 3 (May 1856). The first 42 prints were completed and published in 1853.

 Thereafter, Hiroshige slowed down the pace of publishing: Buzen Province, listed as the 61st print, was issued in 1854; another seventeen were published in the 9th month of 1855; and the final nine prints in the third to fifth months of 1856.
A contents page was also published in 1856 after the final prints; The ordering of the prints on the contents page differs slightly from the actual print publication ordering. The new ordering on the contents page grouped the prints according to the 8 travel routes in Old Japan.
Hiroshige based many of his designs on old Japanese guidebooks called meishō zue. In particular, at least 26 of the designs are believed to have been based on drawings from the 8 volume series of guidebooks called Sansui Kikan (Exceptional Mountain and Water Landscapes) written and illustrated by Fuchigami Kyokkō published from 1800-1802. As well as several from drawings in the early volumes of the Hokusai Manga series. 

The mountain
Mount Ōyama  also Mount Afuri  or Mount Kunimi (1,252 - 4,108 ft) mountain situated on the border of Isehara, Hadano and Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Together with Mount Tanzawa and other mountains in the Tanzawa Mountains it forms the Tanzawa-Ōyama Quasi-National Park. Mount Ōyama is a popular sightseeing spot in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Mount Ōyama has long been regarded as a holy mountain and object of worship.  Religiously motivated mountain climbing has been practiced since the Hōreki era (1751–1764) and the various paths leading there were called Ōyama Kaidō . Today this name survives as the pseudonym of Route 246.
At the top of the mountain is the head office of the Ōyama-Afuri Shrine . Lower down the mountain is the lower shrine and the Ōyama-dera. Afuri refers to the high amount of rain and clouds associated with the mountain. Farmers pray at Ōyama-Afuri Shrine to the rain god.
The mountain is also known as the Guardian of the Land (Kunimi-yama).

The artist
Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重), also know as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (see above) and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints.
Hiroshige produced over 8,000 works
He dominated landscape printmaking with his unique brand of intimate, almost small-scale works compared against the older traditions of landscape painting descended from Chinese landscape painters such as Sesshu. The travel prints generally depict travelers along famous routes experiencing the special attractions of various stops along the way. They travel in the rain, in snow, and during all of the seasons. In 1856, working with the publisher Uoya Eikichi, he created a series of luxury edition prints, made with the finest printing techniques including true gradation of color, the addition of mica to lend a unique iridescent effect, embossing, fabric printing, blind printing, and the use of glue printing (wherein ink is mixed with glue for a glittery effect).
For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints.

__________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

TATEYAMA / 立山 BY KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAÏ

 

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAÏ (1760-1849)

Tateyama / 立山 / Mount Tate (3,015 m - 9,892 ft)

Japan

In Tateyama, wood block print

The mountain
Tateyama / 立山 /  Mount Tate  (3,015 m  - 9,892 ft) commonly referred to as simply Tateyama, is a mountain located in the southeastern area of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the tallest mountains in the Hida Mountains and along with Mount Fuji and Mount Haku, it is one of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains" (三霊山 Sanreizan). Tateyama is a term for the mountain consisting of three peaks: Ōnanjiyama (大汝山, 3,015m), Oyama (雄山, 3,003m), and Fuji-no-Oritateyama, (富士ノ折立, 2,999m)  which run along a ridge. Public transportation will take climbers and tourists as far as the Murodo Plateau Station at an elevation of 2,450 m (8,038 ft), from where individuals may climb to the peak on foot. These are the only glaciers identified in Japan so far.
It was first climbed by Saeki no Ariyori during Japan's Asuka period. The area was designated the Chūbu-Sangaku National Park on December 4, 1934.

The artist
Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 c. 1831) which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.
Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji " both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. In this series, Mt Fuji is painted on different meteorological conditions, in different hours of the days, in different seasons and from different places.
More about Katsushika Hokusai... 

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT FUJI / 富士山 BY T. ENAMI / 江南 信國

T. ENAMI NOBUKUNI /  江南 信國  (1859 -1929)

Mount Fuji  (3,776 m  - 12,389 ft)

Japan

In Mount Fuji, colorized gelatine print, 1880

The mountain 
Mount Fuji or Fujiyama  / 富士山 It is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft).
 Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san".  The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji,  have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The photographer
T. Enami / 江南 信國 or  Enami Nobukuni  was the trade name of a Meiji period Japanese photographer. The T. of his trade name is thought to have stood for Toshi, though he never spelled it out on any personal or business document.
Born in Edo (now Tokyo) during the Bakumatsu era, Enami was first a student of, and then an assistant to the well known photographer and collotypist, Ogawa Kazumasa. Enami relocated to Yokohama, and opened a studio on Benten-dōri (Benten Street) in 1892. Just a few doors away from him was the studio of the already well known Tamamura Kōzaburō. He and Enami would work together on at least three related projects over the years.
Enami became quietly unique as the only photographer of that period known to work in all popular formats, including the production of large-format photographs compiled into what are commonly called "Yokohama Albums". Enami went on to become Japan's most prolific photographer of small-format images such as the stereoview and glass lantern-slides. The best of these were delicately hand-tinted. His images in all formats eventually appeared in books and periodicals having press-runs in the millions. The Japanese stereoview lines of at least three major American publishers were made up entirely of T. Enami images.
Enami survived the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, and rebuilt his studio which had been destroyed by the quake and subsequent fire. After his death at age 70 in 1929, his first son Tamotsu took over the studio until it was once again demolished in 1945 by the Allied bombing of Yokohama during World War II.
Because Tamotsu shared the initial "T" with his father, photo-historians later confused attribution of the father's photographs with those produced by his son. Terry Bennett, in his book Photography in Japan 1853–1912 offered interesting commentary concerning the "father or son" attribution problem. The Enami family in Yokohama later resolved the mystery: Tamotsu was not a photographer, and T. Enami never stood for Tamotsu Enami. Rather, the son maintained the studio, and continued the production and sale of his father's old photographs. Fortunately, due to sharing the same first-name initial with his father, he didn't have to change the letterheads or labels of the company ephemera. These revelations, and other biographical data appeared in an essay and stereoview index entry written by Okinawa-based photo researcher Rob Oechsle, and published in Bennett's follow-up volume, Old Japanese Photographs – Collectors' Data Guide.
Philbert Ono of Photo Guide Japan has also speculated on the possibility that T. Enami intentionally named his son with a leading T in the hope that he would someday take over the studio.
Perhaps the greatest posthumous honor conferred on Enami was the selection of one of his images to be the sole inset-photograph appearing on the first-edition cover of the monumental Odyssey, The Art of Photography at National Geographic. Early in their history, Enami had been a contributing photographer to the magazine.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT FUJI / 富士山 BY KAMISAKA SEKKA / 神坂 雪佳

KAMISAKA SEKKA / 神坂 雪佳 (1866 - 1942)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

 Japan 

In  Fuji - From Momoyogusa (A World of Things), 1909-1910   

The  New York Public Library Digital Collections 

The artist

Kamisaka Sekka / 神坂 雪佳,was an important artistic figure in early twentieth-century Japan. 

Born in Kyoto to a Samurai family, his talents for art and design were recognized early. He eventually allied himself with the traditional Rinpa school of art. He is considered the last great proponent of this artistic tradition. Sekka also worked in lacquer and in a variety of other media.

As traditional Japanese styles became unfashionable (such as Rimpa style), Japan implemented policies to promote the country's unique artistic style by upgrading the status of traditional artists who infused their craft with a dose of modernism. 

In 1901, Sekka was sent by the Japanese government to Glasgow where he was heavily influenced by Art Nouveau. He sought to learn more about the Western attraction to Japonism, and which elements or facets of Japanese art would be more attractive to the West. Returning to Japan, he taught at the newly opened Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, experimented with Western tastes, styles, and methods, and incorporated them into his otherwise traditional Japanese-style works. While he sticks to traditional Japanese subject matter, and some elements of Rimpa painting, the overall effect is very Western and modern. He uses bright colors in large swaths, his images seeming on the verge of being patterns rather than proper pictures of a subject; the colors and patterns seem almost to "pop", giving the paintings an almost three-dimensional quality. 

His vision of MountFuji  (above) is quite in this style.

The mountain
The legendary Mount Fuji (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it:   "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama" or simply "Fuji."
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. 

Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

SAKURAJIMA / 桜島 BY TOSHIRO MAEDA / 前田敏郎

TOSHIRO MAEDA / 前田敏郎  (1904-1990)

Sakurajima / 桜島 (1, 117 m - 3,665 ft)

Japan 

In  Sakurajima in the morning light,  Kageshima, Kyushu, v. 1935-1942. print

The volcano
Sakurajima / 桜島 (1, 117 m - 3,665 ft) which means "Cherry blossom Island" is an active composite volcano and a former island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. Sakurajima is a stratovolcano with 3 peaks : Kita-dake (northern peak), Naka-dake (central peak) and Minami-dake (southern peak) which is active now. Kita-dake is Sakurajima's highest peak.
The mountain is located in a part of Kagoshima Bay known as Kinkō-wan. The former island is part of the city of Kagoshima. The surface of this volcanic peninsula is about 77 km2 (30 sq mi).
The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Osumi Peninsula.
The volcanic activity still continues nowadays, dropping volcanic ash on the surroundings, making of this volcanoes one of the most active in the world with, at least, a daily minor eruption. Earlier eruptions built the white sands highlands in the region. On September 13, 2016 a team of experts from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre in Japan suggested that the volcano could have a major eruption within 25 years.

The artist 
Toshiro Maeda / 前田敏郎 was born in 1904 in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. In 1927 he graduated from Kobe School of Commerce. His first job was as a commercial illustrator in Osaka, working in the advertising section of a Department Store. While working for the department store company, he began to pursue his own artistic career as a self-taught artist. He taught himself linocut and later woodlock printmaking from a book written by the sosaku hanga artist and teacher Unichi Hiratsuka, Hanga no giho (Wood-block Printmaking Techniques). After he had finished his service in the army, Maeda Toshiro joined a number of artist groups in Osaka where he lived.
In 1929 he exhibited with the sosaku hanga group Shunyo-kai. In 1932 he became a member of the Japanese Print Association. In 1940, Maeda Toshiro contributed to the series One Hundred New Views to Japan.
After the end of the Pacific war, the Japanese artists opened themselves rapidly towards the international art scene with worldwide exhibitions, but also by venturing into Western printmaking techniques. Maeda Toshiro did both. He exhibited in Paris and Mexico. After 1950 he was an internationally established artist. Also his style changed. He began to integrate abstract and cubist elements into his artworks. Toshiro Maeda participated in the International Print Biennales in 1957, 1960 and 1962.
Maeda Toshiro died in 1990 in Osaka.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

DAISETSU-SANKEI / 大雪山系 BY KIHACHIRO SHIMOZAWA

KIHACHIRO SHIMOZAWA  (1910-1986) 

Daisetsu-sankei /大雪山系  ( 2,290 m- 7,510ft)

Japan

In Daisetsu Mountain /1938. blockprint

The group of volcanoes
Daisetsu-sankei /大雪山系 ( 2,290 m- 7,510ft) also called Taisetsu-zan, is a volcanic group of peaks arranged around the 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide Ohachi-Daira (御鉢平) caldera in Hokkaidō, Japan. In the Ainu language it is known as Nutapukaushipe or Nutaku Kamushupe.
These peaks are the highest in Hokkaidō. The group lends its name to the Daisetsuzan National Park in which the volcanic group is located.
The volcanic group lies at the north end of the Daisetsu-Tokachi graben on the Kurile arc of the Ring of Fire. The volcanic zone makes itself known through a number of fumaroles and natural hot springs.Daisetsu-sankei volcanic group is made of 20 peaks, which are :
the stratovolcano Asahi-dake / 旭岳 (2,290 m- 7,510 ft); the lava dome Hokuchin-dake /北鎮岳 (2,244 m -7,362 ft); the lava dome Hakuun-dake / 白雲岳 (2,230.m- 7,316.3 ft); the stratovolcano Kuma-ga-dake/ 熊ヶ岳 ( 2,210 m - 7,250 ft); the volcanic peak Pippu-dake/ 比布岳 (2,197 m- 7,208 ft); the caldera rim Mamiya-dake/ 間宮岳 (2,185 m- 7,169 ft); the stratovolcano Koizumi-dake/ 小泉岳 (2,158 m- 7,080 ft); the caldera rim Hokkai-dake/ 北海岳 (2,149 m- 7,051 ft); the volcanic peak Nokogiri-dake/ 鋸岳 (2,142 m- 7,028 ft); the caldera rim Matsuda-dake/ 松田岳 (2,136 m- 7,008 ft); the lava dome Ryōun-dake/ 凌雲岳 ( 2,125 m- 6,972 ft) ; the caldera rim Naka-dake/中岳 ) 2,113 m- 6,932 ft; the volcanic peak Aibetsu-dake/ 愛別岳 ( 2,112.7 m- 6,931 ft); the stratovolcano 赤岳 /Aka-dake ( 2,078.5 m- 6,819 ft); the stratovolcano 烏帽子岳 / Eboshi-dake (2,072 m- 6,798 ft) and 五色岳 Goshiki-dake (2,038m- 6,686 ft); 緑岳 Midori-dake (2,019 m-6,627 ft), the lava dome 黒岳 Kuro-dake (1,984.3 m- 6,510 ft); the stratovolcano 水山岳 Nagayama-dake (1,978 m6,490 ft) ans the lava dome 桂月岳 /Keigetsu-dake (1,938 m- 6,358 ft) .

The painter 

 Kihachiro Shimozawa was an active Sosaku Hanga artist in the circle of Unichi Hiratsuka, Ishii Hakutei and others. He was a member in several Sosaku Hanga artist associations. After World War II the artist exhibited in the first Tokyo Print Biennale of 1957 organized with strong support by another artist - Fumio Kitaoka. Kihachiro Shimozawa was born in Aomori prefecture like Shiko Munakata with whom he was on friendly relations.

FUJIYAMA FROM ISAWA / 富士山 BY KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI / 葛飾 北斎

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI / 葛飾 北斎 (1760 - 1849)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft) 

Japan 

In  Fuji seen from Isawa, Kai Province at daybreak rising out of the mists.

Woodblock print-  Ashmolean Museum. Oxford University 

The mountain 

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan. Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707-08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The artist
Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He was influenced by such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting. Born in Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽三十六景 c. 1831) which includes the internationally recognized print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.
Hokusai created the "Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji " both as a response to a domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. In this series, Mt Fuji is painted on different meteorological conditions, in different hours of the days, in different seasons and from different places.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 AND TSUKUBA SAN / 筑波山 BY SUZUKI KIITSZU / 鈴木其

SUZUKI KIITSZU / 鈴木其 (1796 -1858)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Mount Tsukuba / 筑波山 ( 877 m - 2,877 ft)

Japan 

 In Mt. Fuji and Mt. Tsukuba (Left Screen), color and gold-leaf on paper, Private collection 

The mountains
Mount Tsukuba / 筑波山 (877 m- 2,877 ft) , located near Tsukuba  is one of the most famous mountains in Japan, particularly well known for its double peaks, Nyotai-san (女体山, female body (877 m -2,877 ft) and Nantai-san (男体山,  male body (871 m-2,858 ft). 

Many people climb the so-called "purple mountain" every year for the panoramic view of the Kantō plain from the summit. On clear days the Tōkyō skyline, Lake Kasumigaura and even Mount Fuji are visible from the summit. Japanese mountains are mostly volcanic, but Mount Tsukuba is non-volcanic granite and gabbroin origin. Renowned beautiful granites are produced in the northern quarries even today. As legend has it, thousands of years ago, a deity descended from the heavens and asked two mountains for a place to spend the night. With its great summit and almost perfect cone, Mt. Fuji refused, believing with pride and arrogance that it does not need the deity's blessings. Mt. Tsukuba, on the other hand, humbly welcomed the honored guest, even offering food and water. Today, Mt. Fuji is a cold, lonely, and barren mountain, while Mt. Tsukuba bursts with vegetation and is filled with colors as the seasons change.
Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan.  Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707-08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The painter
Suzuki Kiitsu / 鈴木其 (1796 – 1858) was a Japanese painter of the Rinpa school. A student of the famous painter Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828), he was for a long time considered a minor member of Rinpa school of Japanese painting. In recent years his work has been reevaluated and gained recognition, leading to a series of major exhibitions of his art in 2016-2017 in Tokyo, Hyogo and Kyoto.
Kiitsu is best known for his byōbu folding screens, often a reinterpretation of screens by other Rinpa artists, such as his massive Wind God and Thunder God following Tawaraya Sōtatsu (c. 1570 – c. 1640), Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) and Hoitsu. But he has been most acclaimed for his original screens, including his famed Morning Glories and Mountain Stream in Summer and Autumn.
He was also a notable master with many pupils. Although he was not the official successor of Hoitsu's school, he trained himself many of the Edo Rinpa artists. This has sometimes been labeled as the Kiitsu school of Edo Rinpa.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY WADA EISAKU / 和田 英作

WADA EISAKU / 和田 英作 (1874-1959) 

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft) 

Japan

In Fuji in winter, oil on canvas, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art

The mountain
Mount Fuji (3,776.24 m -12,389 ft) or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan . Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The painter
Wada Eisaku (和田 英作) was a yôga painter of the Meiji through Shôwa periods, and director of the Tokyo bijutsu gakkô ("Tokyo Art School," today the Tokyo University of the Arts). Born in Kagoshima prefecture in 1874, he began studying under Kuroda Seiki in 1894, at the age of 20. By age 29, in 1903, he was working as a teacher at the Tokyo Art School. Wada became head of the school in 1932, at the age of 58. In 1943, he was awarded the Order of Culture.

__________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

FUJIYAMA PAINTED BY LILLA CABOT PERRY

LILLA CABOT PERRY (1848 - 1933) 

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan

In Fuji from the Canal Iwabuchi, oil on canvas, private collection  

About the painting 

For Lilla Cabot Perry, Mount Fuji became the subject of 35 or more paintings and she made a total of more than 80 paintings while in Japan.

The painter
Lilla Cabot Perry was an American artist who worked in the American Impressionist style, rendering portraits and landscapes in the free form manner of her mentor, Claude Monet. Perry was an early advocate of the French Impressionist style and contributed to its reception in the United States. Perry's early work was shaped by her exposure to the Boston School of artists and her travels in Europe and Japan. She was also greatly influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophies and her friendship with Camille Pissarro. Although it was not until the age of thirty-six that Perry received formal training, her work with artists of the Impressionist, Realist, Symbolist, and German Social Realist movements greatly affected the style of her oeuvre.
A new inspiration entered her life in 1897 when her husband received a teaching position in Japan as an English professor at the Keiogijku University. Lilla Perry met Okakura Kakuzō, one of the Imperial Art School co-founders. For three years Perry resided in Japan and took full advantage of its unique artistic community. In October 1898 Perry exhibited her work in Tokyo, with the assistance of Kakuzo, and became an honorary member of the Nippon Bijutsu-In Art Association. Perry's involvement with the Asian art world greatly influenced her work and made it possible for her to develop a unique style that brought together western and eastern aesthetic traditions. Her Meditation, Child in a Kimono and Young Girl with an Orange vibrantly illustrates the distinct changes that occurred in Perry's work during her stay in Japan. Unlike her earlier works, both compositions draw on uniquely eastern subject matter and show a strong influence of the clean lines from Japanese prints. The result of this blending of east and west is striking with Impressionist portraits flowing seamlessly with the well-organized, balanced compositions that the eastern art world was known for at this time.
Hirschl and Adler Galleries held a retrospective of her work in 1969 and the Boston Athenæum exhibited her works in March 1982. Her blending of eastern and western aesthetics and her sensitive visions of the feminine and natural worlds offered significant stylistic contributions to both the American and French Impressionist schools.
Her vocal advocacy for the Impressionist movement helped to make it possible for other American Impressionists like Mary Cassatt to gain the exposure and acceptance they needed in the states. She furthered the American careers of her close friends Claude Monet and John Breck by lecturing stateside on their talents and showcasing their works. She also worked closely with Camille Pissarro to assist him in his dire financial situation by selling his work to friends and family in America.

The mountain   (reminder) 
Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located....

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 PAINTED BY FRITZ MELBYE

FRITZ MELBYE (1826-1869)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan 

In Marine Painting with Shipping off the Fujijama, Japan, in early Morning Light, oil on canvas, 1869, Private collection 

The mountain
The legendary Mount Fuji (3,776 m - 12,389 ft) or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan. Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The painter
Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.
In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.
In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.
He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.
In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.
Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.
In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

__________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY TOSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 遠志

TOSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 遠志 (1911-1995)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan

In Mount Fuji from Ohito, Autumn1983, Woodblock print 

The mountain 

The legendary Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.

It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The artist 

Tōshi Yoshida (吉田 遠志), was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the sōsaku-hanga movement, and son of famous shin-hanga artist Hiroshi Yoshida. One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend school, he enjoyed watching animals and his father's printmaking workshop. Encouraged by his grandmother Rui Yoshida, Tōshi often sketched animals. Yoshida's artistic career was a long struggle between fidelity to his father's legacy and freedom from it. Hiroshi Yoshida, a shin-hanga landscape artist, dictated Tōshi's early artistic development. In 1926, Tōshi chose animals as his primary subjects to distinguish himself from his father, who was a landscape printmaker. However, in the 1930s, Tōshi started making landscape paintings and prints similar to his father's works. Father and son traveled together and even painted side by side. From 1930 to 1931, Hiroshi and Tōshi traveled to India, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Calcutta, and Burma.

- More about Toshi Yoshida

____________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY KUSAKABE KINBEI / 日下部 金兵衛

KUSAKABE KINBEI / 日下部 金兵衛  (1841-1934)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

 Japan 

In  Fujiyama from Kawaibashi at Tokaido, 1880, albumin print, Lainger Library, Georgetown University collection 

The mountain 

This is the legendary Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山).

It is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it:  "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san".  The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji,  have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.

It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The artist 
Kusakabe Kimbei (日下部 金兵衛) (1841–1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his family name.
Kusakabe Kimbei worked with Felice Beato and Baron Raimund von Stillfried as a photographic colourist and assistant. In 1881, Kimbei opened his own workshop in Yokohama, in the Benten-dōri quarter. From 1889, the studio operated in the Honmachi quarter.
By 1893, his was one of the leading Japanese studios supplying art to Western customers. Many of the photographs in the studio's catalogue featured depictions of Japanese women, which were popular with tourists of the time.  Kimbei preferred to portray female subjects in a traditional bijinga style, and hired geisha to pose for the photographs. Many of his albums are mounted in accordion fashion.
Around 1885, Kimbei acquired the negatives of Felice Beato and of Stillfried, as well as those of Uchida Kuichi. Kusakabe also acquired some of Ueno Hikoma's negatives of Nagasaki.
Kimbei retired as a photographer in 1914.
___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

SAKURAJIMA VOLCANO / 桜島 BY UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / 歌川 広重

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE  / 歌川 広重 (1797-1858)

Sakurajima volcano / 桜島 (1,117 m - 3,665 ft)

Japan (Kagoshima) 

About the painting

This work by the great artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重) shows the volcano at the beginning of XIXe century, before its major 1914 eruption. Nowadays, the shape of the volcano and of the all area is quite different. 

The volcano
Sakurajima / 桜島 (1, 117 m - 3,665 ft)  which means "Cherry blossom Island" is an active composite volcano and a former island in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan.  Sakurajima is a stratovolcano with  3 peaks :  Kita-dake (northern peak), Naka-dake (central peak) and Minami-dake (southern peak) which is active now. Kita-dake is Sakurajima's highest peak.
The mountain is located in a part of Kagoshima Bay known as Kinkō-wan. The former island is part of the city of Kagoshima. The surface of this volcanic peninsula is about 77 km2 (30 sq mi).
The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Osumi Peninsula.
The volcanic activity still continues nowadays, dropping volcanic ash on the surroundings, making of this volcanoes one of the most active in the world with, at least,  a daily minor eruption.  Earlier eruptions built the white sands highlands in the region.  On September 13, 2016 a team of experts from Bristol University and the Sakurajima Volcano Research Centre in Japan suggested that the volcano could have a major eruption within 25 years.

The artist
Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重), also know as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (see above) and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints.
Hiroshige produced over 8,000 works
He dominated landscape printmaking with his unique brand of intimate, almost small-scale works compared against the older traditions of landscape painting descended from Chinese landscape painters such as Sesshu. The travel prints generally depict travelers along famous routes experiencing the special attractions of various stops along the way. They travel in the rain, in snow, and during all of the seasons. In 1856, working with the publisher Uoya Eikichi, he created a series of luxury edition prints, made with the finest printing techniques including true gradation of color, the addition of mica to lend a unique iridescent effect, embossing, fabric printing, blind printing, and the use of glue printing (wherein ink is mixed with glue for a glittery effect).
For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY TAKEUCHI SEIHO / 竹内 栖鳳

TAKEUCHI SEIHO / 竹内 栖鳳 (1864-1942)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan

In Mount Fuji from distant hills,  Private collection 

The mountain 

This is the legendary Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山).

It is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it:  "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san".  The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji,  have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.

It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality.... 

Full Wandering vertexes  entry 

The artist 
Takeuchi Seihō (竹 内 栖鳳) is the artist's name of a Japanese dowering painter of the nihonga genre who was active in the Meiji era in the Shōwa era. His work spans half a century and is considered one of the masters of the pre-war circle of Kyoto painters.
His real name is Takeuchi Tsunekichi.
Very young, Seihō, who was born in Kyoto, likes to draw and wants to become an artist. He is then a student of Shijō School of Traditional Painting.
In 1882, two of his paintings were awarded at Naikoku Kaiga Kyoshinkai, one of the first modern painting competitions in Japan, which launched his career.
During the Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, he traveled to Europe where he studied Western art. After returning to Japan, he created a unique style, combining the realistic techniques of traditional Japanese Shijō-Maruyama schools with Western forms of realism borrowed from Turner and Corot techniques. The result of this meeting becomes one of the main styles of modern ni-honga. His favorite subjects are animals, often in fun poses like a monkey riding a horse. He is also noted for his landscapes.
 In 1909, he became a teacher at the Kyoto Municipal Painting College and also founded his own private school, Chikujokai.
In 1913, Seihō was appointed court painter to the Imperial Agency and in 1919 to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts (Teikoku Bijutsuin). He is one of the first people to be awarded the Order of Culture when this distinction is made in 1937.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MIHARA-YAMA / 三原山 BY SHINSUI ITO / 新水伊藤

SHINSUI  ITO  / 新水伊藤 (1898-1972)

Mihara-yama / 三原山  (764 m - 2,507 ft) 

Japan 

In Mihara-yama in Summer, Block print,  1937, Private collection 

The volcano 

Mihara-yama / 三原山  (764 m - 2,507 ft)  is an active volcano on the Japanese isle of Izu Ōshima. Although the volcano is predominantly basaltic, major eruptions have occurred at intervals of 100–150 years. Mihara-yama's major eruption in 1986 saw lava fountains up to 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) high. The eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3, and involved a central vent eruption, radial fissure eruption, explosive eruption, lava flows, and a lava lake eruption. There was also a 16 km high subplinian plume. All of the island's 12,000 inhabitants were evacuated by dozens of vessels consisting of both the military and civilian volunteers.

In the novel Ring by Koji Suzuki and its subsequent film adaption, Shizuko Yamamura, the mother of Sadako, predicted that Mount Mihara would someday erupt using her psychic abilities. After a failed psychic demonstration which resulted in Sadako psychically murdering a reporter, Shizuko became depressed and ultimately insane and committed suicide by leaping into the crater of Mount Mihara.

From a vantage point near the top of the cone it was once possible to leap into the crater. As a result, the volcano became a popular venue for suicides. Beginning in the 1920s, several suicides occurred in the volcano every week; more than six hundred people jumped in 1936. Authorities eventually erected a fence around the base of the structure to curb the number of suicides.

The artist

Shinsui Itō / 伊東 深水 was the pseudonym of a Nihonga painter and ukiyo-e woodblock print artist in Taishō - and Shōwa-period Japan. He was one of the great names of 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. His real name was Itō Hajime (伊東 一).

Itō's early landscape series, Eight Views of Lake Biwa inspired Kawase Hasui.

In the post-war period Itō came to be regarded as one of the best known and respected personalities in Japanese society, and received several important honors during his lifetime. In 1952 the "Commission for the Protection of Cultural Properties" (Bunkazai Hōgō Iinkai) declared his woodblock designing talent to be of "intangible cultural properties" (mukei bunkazai) which was then the equivalent of being declared a Living National Treasure. In 1958, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy. In 1970, he received the Order of the Rising Sun.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

TSURUGI SAN / TOKUSHIMA / 剣山 BY HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博

HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博 (1876-1950),

Mount Tsurugi or Tokushima / 剣山  (1,954m - 6, 413ft)

Japan 

In Tsurugi san,  woodblock Print,  c. 1936 

The mountain
Mount Tsurugi   or Tokushima  (1,954m - 6, 413ft)  ( in japanese 剣山 Tsurugi-san), meaning sword, is a mountain on the border of Miyoshi, Mima and Naka in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. This mountain is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. Mount Tsurugi is the second highest mountain on the island of Shikoku, and also the second highest mountain west of Mount Haku, which is on the border of Ishikawa and Gifu prefectures in central Japan.
Mount Tsurugi is an important object of worship in this region and one of the centers of Shugendō, a sect of mixture of Shintoism and Buddhism. On the top of the mountain, there is a small shrine called ‘Tsurugi Jinja’. The area around Mount Tsurugi is a major part of Tsurugi Quasi-National Park.

The painter 

Hiroshi Yoshida / 吉田 博(not to be confused with Toshi Yoshida) was born in 1876. He began his artistic training with his adoptive father in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Around the age of twenty, he left Kurume to study with Soritsu Tamura in Kyoto, subsequently moving to Tokyo and the tutelage of Shotaro Koyama. Yoshida studied Western-style painting, winning many exhibition prizes and making several trips to the United States, Europe and North Africa selling his watercolors and oil paintings. In 1902, he played a leading role in the organization of the Meiji Fine Arts Society into the Pacific Painting Association. His work was featured in the exhibitions of the state-sponsored Bunten and Teiten. While highly successful as an oil painter and watercolor artist, Yoshida turned to printmaking upon learning of the Western world’s infatuation with ukiyo-e.

Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Yoshida embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe, painting and selling his work. When he returned to Japan in 1925, he started his own workshop, specializing in landscapes inspired both by his native country and his travels abroad. Yoshida often worked through the entire process himself: designing the print, carving his own blocks, and printing his work. His career was temporarily interrupted by his sojourn as a war correspondent in Manchuria during the Pacific War. Although he designed his last print in 1946, Yoshida continued to paint with oils and watercolors up until his death in 1950.

Yoshida was widely traveled and knowledgeable of Western aesthetics, yet maintained an allegiance to traditional Japanese techniques and traditions. Attracted by the calmer moments of nature, his prints breathe coolness, invite meditation, and set a soft, peaceful mood. All of his lifetime prints are signed “Hiroshi Yoshida” in pencil and marked with a jizuri (self-printed) seal outside of the margin. Within the image, most prints are signed “Yoshida” with brush and ink beside a red “Hiroshi” seal.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY TOSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 遠志

TOSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 遠志 (1911-1995)
Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)
Japan


In Mount Fuji from Ohito, 1962 Woodblock print

The mountain 

The legendary Mount Fuji or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan at 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft). Several names are attributed to it: "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san". The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji, have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.

Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.

It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The artist 

Tōshi Yoshida (吉田 遠志), was a Japanese printmaking artist associated with the sōsaku-hanga movement, and son of famous shin-hanga artist Hiroshi Yoshida. One of Yoshida's legs was paralysed during his early childhood. Not being able to attend school, he enjoyed watching animals and his father's printmaking workshop. Encouraged by his grandmother Rui Yoshida, Tōshi often sketched animals. Yoshida's artistic career was a long struggle between fidelity to his father's legacy and freedom from it. Hiroshi Yoshida, a shin-hanga landscape artist, dictated Tōshi's early artistic development. In 1926, Tōshi chose animals as his primary subjects to distinguish himself from his father, who was a landscape printmaker. However, in the 1930s, Tōshi started making landscape paintings and prints similar to his father's works. Father and son traveled together and even painted side by side. From 1930 to 1931, Hiroshi and Tōshi traveled to India, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Calcutta, and Burma.

- More about Toshi Yoshida

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau