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Yoshikawa Kanpō

Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages) Research Committee members Yoshikawa Kanpō (left) and Ema [Ema Tsutomu, 1884-1979] (right) on October 22, 1954. Collection of Hanazono University Historical Museum, Kyoto (photo)

Yoshikawa Kanpō 吉川観方 (1894-1979)[1]

BIOGRAPHY

Sources: Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/bukko/9588.html [accessed 5-1-2024]; Strong Women, Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Laura J. Mueller, Toledo Museum of Art, 2005, p. 59; Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 178; Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Carol M. Putney, et. al., Toledo Museum of Art, 2014; Wikipedia Japan entry for the artist https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%89%E5%B7%9D%E8%A6%B3%E6%96%B9 [accessed 5-1-24]

Artist, collector, historian of ukiyo-e, kabuki and folk customs, stage designer and writer, Yoshikawa Kanpō was born in Higashiyama, Kyoto with the given name Kenjirō (賢次郎) and was the second of four brothers. In 1900 at the age of six his studies began with the calligrapher Okasaka Tetsuzan 岡阪鐵山 and the following year he began his study of Japanese painting under the Shijō school painter Nishinori Tōsui 西堀刀水 (dates unknown). As a teenager he would also wood begin his lifelong study of ukiyo-e. After graduating from the Kyoto Specialist School of Painting in 1918, he would go on to study with the famous Maruyama-Shijō school Kyoto artist Takeuchi Seihō 竹内栖鳳 (1864-1942).

Exhibiting his paintings at the government Bunten starting with the work "Behind the Stage" (舞台のかげ Butai no kage) in 1917, by 1925 he would cease publically exhibiting his paintings, limiting his work to special commissions.

From a picture postcard of "Behind the Stage" by Yoshikawa Kanpo, a multi-panel painting exhibited at the 11th Bunten Exhibition in 1917

第11回文部省美術展覧会舞台のかげ吉川観方

Creating what are believed to be his first woodblock print designs around 1913, small size designs of kabuki actors of the Kansai (Kyoto and Osaka region) stage, he would go on to create his best known works in a two year period, between 1922 and 1924, for the Kyoto-based publisher Satō Shōtarō 佐藤章太郎 (1895-1931). These shin hanga style prints (see examples below) "represent the first shin hanga kabuki actor portraits (yakusha-e) produced in the Kamigata region of Kyoto and Osaka."[2] In addition to these yakusha-e, he also designed prints of beautiful women (bijin-ga) and landscapes (fukei-ga). After his work with Satō, there are no known woodblock prints designed by Kanpō.

After 1925, Kanpō would focus more on his other interests, including playing the biwa (a type of lute) and kokyū (a stringed instrument played with a bow), authoring books on ukiyo-e, kabuki, Japanese dolls, Japanese folkways and customs, and on one of his favorite subjects yōkai (Japanese supernatural beings). Throughout his adult life, he would amass a collection of over 30,000 items. "With a keen eye for detail and an appreciation for traditional craftsmanship, Kanpō meticulously gathered objects that showcased the intricacies of daily life, from clothing and accessories to household items and folk art."[3]

His many talents and interests led him to work at various times in his career as an adviser to the film and theater company Shōchiku gomei kaisha (松竹合名会社) and with the director/actor Kinugasa Teinosuke 衣笠貞之助 (1896-1982), conducting historical research and designing costumes. He founded the Kojitsu Kenkyūkai (Customs Research Society) in 1923 and in 1945 co-founded the Japan Art and Craft Exchange Association (日本美術工芸交驩協会 Nihon Bijutsu Kōgei Kōkan Kyōkai).

Two of his more notable awards that came his way later in life were the Kyoto Shimbun Cultural Award in 1966 and the Kyoto City Cultural Merit Award in 1968

Yoshikawa died on April 16 at a hospital in Kyoto from heart failure. He was 84 years old.

[1] Kanpō's name is also seen romanized, incorrectly, as Kampō.

[2] Strong Women, Beautiful Men: Japanese Portrait Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art, Laura J. Mueller, Toledo Museum of Art, 2005, p. 59.

[3] Translated from the 2002 Annual Report of The Cultural Museum of Kyoto 京都文化博物館, p. 18. https://www.bunpaku.or.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/annual2002.pdf [accessed 5-2-24]

Kanpō's Yōkai - Two Examples

吉川観方《朝露・夕霧》のうち「夕霧」

昭和23年

福岡市博物館蔵

The Morning Dew and the Evening Mist, Ghost of Oiwa and Okiku, 1948

Physical Dimensions: W43 x H113 cm（each painting）

Fukuoka City Museum

絵画に見えたる妖怪　正・続・続々編

Kaiga ni Mietaru Yōkai, 1936 (orig. 1925)

[this edition contains the original two volumes, the first volume issued in 1925 and a continuation volume (zoku) issued in 1926, into a single volume.]

Four Prints from Kanpō’s Creative Prints, First Series

(Kanpō Sōsaku Hanga-shū 観方創作版画集)

(for reference only - not part of this collection)

His actor prints were noted for their subtle colors and for the stylized features of his subjects, in keeping with the refined style of the Kabuki theater in the Kyoto and Osaka regions.

- Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Carol M. Putney,

et. al., Toledo Museum of Art, 2014 , p. 318.

Nakamura Ganjiro as Kamiya Jihei from the series Kanpō’s Creative Prints, First Series, 1922

Jitsukawa Enjaku as Igami no Gonta in the play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura from the series Kanpō’s Creative Prints, First Series, 1922

Ichikawa Sadanji II as Hishikawa Gengobei in the play Imayo Satsuma Uta from the series Kanpō’s Creative Prints, First Series, 1923

Kataoka Gado as Miyuki in the play Asagao Nikki from the series Kanpō’s Creative Prints, First Series, 1923

The Artist's Prints at the 1930 Toledo Museum

"A Special Exhibition of Modern Japanese Prints" (from the catalog)

FOREWORD

JAPANESE wood-block prints have been recognized since they first came to attention of the western world as the finest examples of this type of graphic art that the world has ever seen. A continued interest in them, therefore, is but natural. Since the time of Hiroshige and Hokusai, however, they have lost the prestige they once had, and interest in them has been correspondingly small. We are now introduced to a new era of Japanese wood-block block prints which may be called a period of Renaissance in this particular field. In any event, the last decade has seen a wonderful improvement in Japan in this phase of graphic arts. Several men have been responsible for this Renaissance and for raising the standard of Japanese prints. Among them are the ten represented in this exhibition.

327: Actor Nakamura Ganjiro as Kamiya Jihei in the play Kamiji

328: Jitsukawa Enjaku as Igami no Gonta in the play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura

329: Kataoka Gado as Miyuki in the play Asagao Nikki

330: Ichikawa Sadanji as Hishikawa Gengobei in the play Imayo Satsuma Uta

331: Hinazo, A Young Dancer

332: Maiko Admiring the Moon

333: Nakamura Ganjiro as Kamiya Jihei

334: Fair Weather After Snow at Yamato Bridge

335: Sanjo Bridge, Kyoto, in Morning Mist

336: Cherry Blossoms, Maruyama Park, Kyoto, at Night

Source: Scanned from "Modern Japanese Prints: The Toledo Art Museum," a reproduction catalog of the 1930 Special Exhibition of Modern Japanese Prints.

Exhbition - Yoshikawa Kanpo, an Artist and Collector

生誕125年・没後40年

吉川観方―日本文化へのまなざし

奈良県立美術館

2019年9月28日(土)～2019年11月17日(日)

Yoshikawa Kanpo, an Artist and Collector

"125th Birth Anniversary, 40th Memorial Anniversary - Yoshikawa Kanpo: Gaze into Japanese Culture"

Nara Prefectural Museum of Art

September 28, 2019 (Saturday) - November 17, 2019 (Sunday)

入相告ぐる頃 (nyūshō tsugeru koro),1918 吉川観方

"Time of the Evening Bell, End of Day" by Yoshikawa Kanpō

This exhibition commemorates the 125th birth anniversary and 40th death anniversary of Yoshikawa Kanpo (1894-1979), a painter, collector, and researcher of Japanese culture. The exhibition showcases Yoshikawa's own works, as well as his collection of approximately 30,000 items, including paintings, prints, textiles, and ceramics. The exhibits provide a glimpse into Yoshikawa's deep understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture.

Commentary on the Exhibition

Kanpo Yoshikawa, an Artist and Collector

September 28, 2019 to November 17, 2019

Source: International Network for Japanese Art https://injart.org/exhibition/kanpo-yoshikawa-an-artist-and-collector/ [accessed 5-2-24]

To celebrate the 300th exhibition held in the museum since the opening of 1973, this exhibition focuses on Yoshikawa Kanpō (1894-1979), a painter, a collector, and the initial donor, whose donation triggered the foundation of Nara Prefectural Museum.

Kanpō is known for collecting some 30,000 pieces of paintings, textiles, and other artistic handicrafts; his famous collection is now owned by several public organizations including Kyoto Prefecture (under the management of The Museum of Kyoto) and Fukuoka City Museum, and widely open to the public. As a successful painter himself, who created many outstanding works, and a scholar of manners and customs of Japan, Kanpō contributed magnificently to promote Japanese history and culture. This exhibition also commemorates the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 40th of his death, and introduces the footsteps and achievements of Kanpō.

Yoshikawa Kanpō was born as Yoshikawa Kenjirō in 1894. He aspired to be a painter and studied nihonga (traditional Japanese painting) at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting (present-day Kyoto City University of Arts). While still being a student, he was accepted to Bunten (art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education) and involved in the production of traditional woodblock prints. Gradually his interest shifted toward studying the history of manners and customs and collecting artworks, and he started devoting time to historical background research for movies, theatrical plays and festivals, as well as presentations of his collection in public. One of the examples of his activities was establishing Kojitsu Kenkyūkai, a study group for the usages and practices of the court or military household, which had influenced on the movement of the Japanese painting at that time; it had hosted sketching gatherings with the models put in its collection and invited the painters who wanted to study the manners of the time period.

In this exhibition, the relationship between Kanpō and Japanese painting, which have been rather neglected so far, is its focus, with the display of works of Kanpō and the painters who had interacted with him. Those well-known masterpieces from his collection, such as the portrait of a lady considered as Lady Yodo, are also on view. Hopefully this would be an opportunity to rediscover the attraction of Japanese culture that Kanpō had tried to preserve and pass on with a deep understanding and longing, by creating as a painter, selecting as a collector, and investigating as a scholar.