Yui Honjin Park and the Shizuoka City Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art both reach their twentieth anniversary in September this year.
To commemorate this special year, we are holding an exhibition that features a number of pieces of Makuzu-yaki (Makuzu Ware) from the collection of Tetsuhito Tanabe, as well as the Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō and the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Hoeidō Edition), some of the finest works in our collection. Ukiyo-e prints which have been loved by artists and avid collectors overseas, and Makuzu-yaki, considered a lost ceramic style, was exported to other countries and has been experiencing renewed interest in recent years.
We hope you will enjoy the duet of these masterpieces that stunned the world.
In September 2014, the Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art will celebrate its twentieth anniversary.
Throughout this time, the museum has been supported by local residents and many admirers of Ukiyo-e, while spreading knowledge of various cultural and artistic objects to the public.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to everyone involved with us over these years, and hope that you will continue supporting us as we strive to develop even further as a repository of culture and art in Shizuoka City.
"If it's something you're sure about, you buy it whatever the cost…"
This phrase was from a report back in the early Meiji period, when Japan was opening up its ports. After centuries of being sealed off from the outside world, Japanese culture, as expressed in the “Japonisme” movement, became a part of global culture, with Makuzu Kōzan revered as one of its leading practitioners. However, Makuzu-ware at the time was not to be found in Japan, but spread around the world by way of overseas exhibitions. It has taken forty years and a lot of effort to bring around 1,500 Makuzu-ware items back to Japan.
Now, thanks to the collaboration between the Hiroshige Museum of Art here in Yui and Councilor Toshiaki Mochizuki, the former mayor of the town, we can all view some of these works, and for this I would like to offer my thanks.
Tetsuhito Tanabe (1942- )
Born in Yui, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka City; Mr. Tanabe is a researcher and avid collector of modern ceramics. As the founder of sports chanbara, he was honored for his achievements in promoting sports over many years by being awarded the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon in the Spring Honors List for 2014.
Kisokaidō is another name for the road Nakasendō; so called because it passes through the steep mountain pass named Kiso-ji. Keisai Eisen and Utagawa Hiroshige drew the road’s landscape for the Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō. In contrast to the bright style of painting in the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, many of its works present a subdued moonlit scenery.
Utagawa Hiroshige
Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō “Seba”
Utagawa Hiroshige
Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō “Nakatsugawa”
Keisai Eisen
Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō “Shiojiri”
The breakthrough work, Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō earned Hiroshige the title of “Master Landscape Artist”. Made when Hiroshige was 37 years old, the popular series showed the variations of seasons and weather and was praised for its depictions of the road & post landscape. It consisted of 55 works including the 53 stations of the Tōkaidō plus the starting point of Nihonbashi and finishing point of Kyoto.
Utagawa Hiroshige
Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō “Hara (Mt.Fuji in the Morning)”
Utagawa Hiroshige
Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō “Kanbara (Evening Snow) ”
Utagawa Hiroshige
Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō “Yui (Satta Pass)”
Makuzu-yaki is a style of ceramics first developed by the Kyoto potter Miyagawa Kōzan I (1842-1916) in Yokohama, shortly after the port was opened to foreign ships. Kōzan later became an Artist to the Imperial Household and a leader of the ceramics world in the Meiji period. With a foundation of porcelain techniques used since the Edo period, Makuzu-yaki absorbed Western cultural styles to present a new type of art, and gained worldwide popularity at the Philadelphia World’s Fair. Later, the technique of Makuzu-yaki was passed down to Miyagawa Kōzan II, III, and IV, but the kiln was heavily damaged during the firebombing of Yokohama in WW2 and never rebuilt, thus making Makuzu-yaki a lost style.
This exhibition features sixteen items, with a focus on high relief with its wonderful decorations, from the collection of Mr. Tetsuhito Tanabe.
Miyagawa Kōzan I
Footed Bowl with Applied Crabs and Brown Glaze
Collection of Tetsuhito Tanabe (Maintained by Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
Miyagawa Kōzan I
Lidded Jar with High-relief of Peonies and Cat
Collection of Tetsuhito Tanabe (Maintained by Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
Miyagawa Kōzan I
Vase with High relief of Flying Doves
Collection of Tetsuhito Tanabe (Maintained by Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
Demonstrations and workshops by the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints who continue the Edo-period techniques of woodcut printing. All ages are welcome to participate.
Meeting place is the entrance hall of the museum. No pre-registration needed; unlimited enrollment.
September 13 (Sat.) will be held Yui Honjin Park Twentieth Anniversary ceremony.
* Changes may be made to the content and the exhibition works.
Shizuoka City Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art is located at the Honjin site of the old Tōkaidō’s 16th post town Yui-shuku. It is the first art museum in Japan to focus on the works of Edo Ukiyo-e Artist, Utagawa Hiroshige. There are approximately 1400 landscape woodblock prints and other works within the Hiroshige collection, including Hiroshige’s masterpieces Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Hoeidō Edition), Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaidō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. We aim to promote a new culture of Ukiyo-e through curated exhibitions connecting Ukiyo-e with contemporary works. Visitors can enjoy the magnificence of internationally loved Ukiyo-e works from Edo to the present.
He became a pupil of Toyohiro Utagawa when he was about 15. Later he came to use the artist name of Hiroshige (広重) by combining the character of “Hiro (広)” from Toyohiro’s name and “Shige (重)” from his real name. His work Fifty Three Station of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Hoeidō Edition) which caused a great sensation, was published by Hoeidō when he was around 37. After that he continued to create Ukiyo-e prints about the Tōkaidō and the landscape of Edo and became famous as landscape artist. While he was working on what is considered his late-life masterpiece, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Hiroshige fell ill and passed away at the age of 62. Hiroshige's bold composition and lyrical style is loved by all and his works continue to influence artists all over the world.
Take the JR Tokaido Line and get off at Yui Station.
It is a 25-minute walk or 5-minute taxi ride from there.
(Yui Honjin Park Parking)