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CHIKANOBU
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| "Picture
drawn by Nobu" (延画筆) |
Yoshu
Chikanobu (楊洲周延) |
Yoshu
Chikanobu Hitzu (楊洲周延筆) |
Yoshu
Chikanobu and red Otoshidama Seal |
Artist – Toyohara
CHIKANOBU (豊原周延) (1838–1912), was born as Hashimoto Naoyoshi (橋本直義) (his
"real name" or 本名,
"honmyō", as it was corectly
published in his obituary). He was known
to his contemporaries as Yōshū CHIKANOBU (楊洲周延), and was a
prolific woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period (1868 -
1912).
CHIKANOBU was a student of Toyohara Kunichika ("Toyohara (Ichiōsai) Chikanobu"), different from the Kunichika Toyohara (Yasohachi Oshima), living from 1835-1900.
CHIKANOBU's original name was Hashimoto. He achieved his artist's name by taking both the last name ("Toyohara") and the second part "Chika" of his master's first nameas to follow an old tradition of the way an artist's name was inherited from master to student.
Military career
Chikanobu was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada domain in Echigo province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno. He joined Tokugawa loyalists in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, where he fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryōkaku star fort. He served under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and Otori Keisuke; and he achieved fame for his bravery. Following the Shōgitai’s surrender, he was remanded along with others to the authorities in the Takada domain, and was imprisoned for about 50 days.
Artist's career
In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo, and found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun-Newspaper. In addition, he produced nishiki-e artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting, but his interest was drawn to ukiyo-e. He studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen and then he joined the school of Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi. During this period, he called himself Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi’s death, he studied with Kunisada. He also referred to himself as Yōshū. Like many ukiyo-e artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well known for his impressions of the mie (mise en scène) of kabuki productions.
Chikanobu was known as a master of bijinga (images of beautiful women), and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keiō era, 1865-1867. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity, the artistic chaos of the Meiji period exemplifying the concept of "furumekashii / imamekashii".
Chikanobu is a recognizable Meiji period artist, but his subjects were sometimes drawn from earlier historical eras. For example, one print illustrates an incident during the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake. The early Meiji period was marked by clashes between disputing samurai forces with differing views about ending Japan's self-imposed isolation and about the changing relationship between the Imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate. He created a range of impressions and scenes of the Satsuma Rebellion and Saigō Takamori. Some of these prints illustrated the period of domestic unrest and other subjects of topical interest, including prints like the 1882 image of the Imo Incident, also known as the Jingo Incident (壬午事変 jingo jihen) at right.
The greatest number of Chikanobu's war prints (戦争絵, sensō-e) appeared in triptych format. These works documented the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. For example, the "Victory at Asan" was published with a contemporaneous account of the July 29, 1894 battle. Among those influenced by Chikanobu were Nobukazu (楊斎延一) Yōsai Nobukazu and Gyokuei (楊堂玉英) Yōdō Gyokuei.
CHIKANOBU was a student of Toyohara Kunichika ("Toyohara (Ichiōsai) Chikanobu"), different from the Kunichika Toyohara (Yasohachi Oshima), living from 1835-1900.
CHIKANOBU's original name was Hashimoto. He achieved his artist's name by taking both the last name ("Toyohara") and the second part "Chika" of his master's first nameas to follow an old tradition of the way an artist's name was inherited from master to student.
Military career
Chikanobu was a retainer of the Sakakibara clan of Takada domain in Echigo province. After the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate, he joined the Shōgitai and fought in the Battle of Ueno. He joined Tokugawa loyalists in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, where he fought in the Battle of Hakodate at the Goryōkaku star fort. He served under the leadership of Enomoto Takeaki and Otori Keisuke; and he achieved fame for his bravery. Following the Shōgitai’s surrender, he was remanded along with others to the authorities in the Takada domain, and was imprisoned for about 50 days.
Artist's career
In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo, and found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun-Newspaper. In addition, he produced nishiki-e artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting, but his interest was drawn to ukiyo-e. He studied with a disciple of Keisai Eisen and then he joined the school of Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi. During this period, he called himself Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi’s death, he studied with Kunisada. He also referred to himself as Yōshū. Like many ukiyo-e artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well known for his impressions of the mie (mise en scène) of kabuki productions.
Chikanobu was known as a master of bijinga (images of beautiful women), and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keiō era, 1865-1867. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity, the artistic chaos of the Meiji period exemplifying the concept of "furumekashii / imamekashii".
Chikanobu is a recognizable Meiji period artist, but his subjects were sometimes drawn from earlier historical eras. For example, one print illustrates an incident during the 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake. The early Meiji period was marked by clashes between disputing samurai forces with differing views about ending Japan's self-imposed isolation and about the changing relationship between the Imperial court and the Tokugawa shogunate. He created a range of impressions and scenes of the Satsuma Rebellion and Saigō Takamori. Some of these prints illustrated the period of domestic unrest and other subjects of topical interest, including prints like the 1882 image of the Imo Incident, also known as the Jingo Incident (壬午事変 jingo jihen) at right.
The greatest number of Chikanobu's war prints (戦争絵, sensō-e) appeared in triptych format. These works documented the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. For example, the "Victory at Asan" was published with a contemporaneous account of the July 29, 1894 battle. Among those influenced by Chikanobu were Nobukazu (楊斎延一) Yōsai Nobukazu and Gyokuei (楊堂玉英) Yōdō Gyokuei.
Personal
life - He was born in 1838 as the eldest son to the
lower Samurai HASHIMOTO Wataru in present day Niigata Joetsu
City. He was infected with smallpox in his early childhood,
and with his pockmarked face hated to be photographed. In 1868
during the naval battle of Miyako Bay in March, he had been
badly injured, with wounds, that still did not heal for a long
time. In 1907 he retired as a well known artist to Shimo-Ōsaki
at the foot of Goten-yama, and led an elegant life away from
the world, but suffered from stomach cancer. He finally died
on the night of September 28th in 1912 at the age of
seventy-five.
Aliases - His art names include Yōshū, Yōshū CHIKANOBU, Toyohara CHIKANOBU (not used as artist's name), Yoshitsuru and Isshunsai CHIKANOBU.
Aliases - His art names include Yōshū, Yōshū CHIKANOBU, Toyohara CHIKANOBU (not used as artist's name), Yoshitsuru and Isshunsai CHIKANOBU.
Disciples - Among his disciples were
Nobukazu (楊斎延一 Yōsai Nobukazu) and Gyokuei (楊堂玉英 Yōdō Gyokuei)
as a painter of images on fans (uchiwa-e), and several other
less known ones.
Copyright 2008 ff: Hans P. Boehme