Page 190 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

98 Kazan created this work and Silk
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841) Weauing under Moonlight (cat. 99) as
Count Yu Raising the Gate part of a series on moral lessons dur-
ing his house arrest from 1840 to 1842.
c. 1841 He had been sentenced to permanent
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
158 x 51 (62 Ys x 20) confinement for his criticism of the
government's
seclusion policy and
Private Collection, Tokyo for his promotion of western studies.
Important Cultural Property
But he was forced to commit suicide
in 1842 for disregarding the terms of
• The story of Count Yu, from the his arrest by selling paintings to sup-
Chinese compendium History of the port himself. A letter to his student
Former or Western Han Dynasty (Honshu), Tsubaki Chinzan (1801-1854) regard- 189
describes a paragon of virtue, a fair
ing Count Yu Raising the Gate gives
judge revered for quietly doing good its true date of 1841, though to sell
works. When the gate to his village this and other paintings, Kazan had
collapsed, Count Yu paid to rebuild a
larger gate, having faith that his vir- written dates on the works that pre-
ceded his arrest.
tuous actions would bring good for-
tune to his descendants. Watanabe A preparatory drawing for this work
Kazan used a Chinese literati style of shows the artist's fully realized
painting to tell the story. From a composition for the foreground and
raised viewpoint we look down on the middle distance. Details of the back-
foreground scene of construction ground were polished in the final
workers. Western-style perspective version. HG
and indications of mass for the build-
ing are combined with the Chinese
painting manner. Kazan shifts the
point of view in the middle distance
to bring boats transporting building
materials into clear view and thus
causes them to appear unnaturally
close. The zigzag composition pro-
gresses across a large open space at
the top, through an equivalent area
at the center that defines a triangular
void above, to further open ground
and scattered activity in the lower
third of the painting. The focus, effec-
tuated by sharp, clear brushwork, is
even throughout.

98