It’s Snowing!

Hand warmer

Wood and metal

ca. 1840-1900, late Edo or early Meiji period

8.25” H x 14.75” W

Gift of Frances Breitweiser, 2007.024.012

A brazier smaller than the typical hibachi, suggesting it is for guests to warm their hands. In the late 1800s, hibachi were primarily used as heating devices in Japan, often used to warm hands or heat water. While cooking wasn’t the primary purpose, by this time, it is believed they may have also been used to grill traditional Japanese treats. Hibachi ranged from simple, small pots to more elaborate wooden tables. The bamboo tube is for emptying out tobacco pipes. Other utensils can be stored in the drawers.

Foot warmer

Ceramic with cork stopper

ca. 1900-1910, Meiji period

4” H x 8” L

Gift of Nancy Duffy and Frances Ogasawara, 2008.003.013

Hot water bottles have a rich history in Japan dating back to the Muromachi period (1336-1573) when they were introduced from China. They became a popular method for staying warm, especially during the cold months. Originally made of earthenware, particularly from kilns in Shigaraki, the shapes and motifs have evolved over time.

Hot water bottle

Metal wrapped in velvet fabric

ca 1920-1930, late Taishō or early Shōwa period

9.5” H x 4.75” Di.

Gift of Nancy Duffy and Frances Ogasawara, 2008.003.014

This metal canister is covered in velvet fabric. It can be filled with hot water and placed between bedding to keep you warm at night. This style is typical of the 1920 and 1930s.

Fur lined sandal covers

Wood, rattan, lacquer, silk and fur

ca. 1950s, Shōwa period

2.5” H x 3.5” W x 3” D – sandal overall

Museum purchase, 1983.002.027a-d

These sandal covers date back to the American Occupation era (1945-1952). Covers similar in shape to a ballet toe shoe are tied onto the front of the sandal to keep your toes dry and warm. This particular pair is lined with rabbit fur for extra protection.

Kid’s snow boots

Straw and cotton fabric

ca. 1950s, Shōwa period

4” H x 2.5” W

Museum purchase, 1983.002.026

These boots are from the Tōhoku region in the northern section of the main island of Japan. The ancient Japanese straw craft, or wara-zaiku in Japanese, is particularly popular in the Tōhoku region, especially in areas like Aomori where they receive a lot of snow. It involves creating various utilitarian items, as well as decorations, and is closely tied to agricultural practices and Shintō beliefs. The fabric on the inside of the boots is made using the kasuri technique (threads are dyed before being woven) and traditional indigo dye.

Kid’s kimono with padding

Cotton; kasuri technique (threads are dyed before being woven)

late Taishō or early Shōwa period

42.5” H x 46” W

Gift of Eisha Nakano, 1996.030.079

This is a special kimono for children between the ages of 4 and 12. It is made by cutting a regular width bolt of cloth into a length that is four times the child’s height. This way the length and width can be adjusted at the shoulders and waist as the child grows. This dyeing technique used is called kasuri; meaning the threads are dyed before they are woven. Additional padding is added to keep the child warm.

Banner advertising a hot meal

Rayon fabric

ca. 1990s, Heisei period

69.75” H x 22.5”W

Gift of Thomas Winant, 2007.031.063

The banner features a popular hot dish called, yo-sen-be, in front of a frozen mountainside. A variety of fresh ingredients including beef, tofu, seafood and vegetables can be used for this meal. Everything is added to a single pot with dashi broth and placed over the fire at the center of a table as a communal dish. This kind of banner would usually fly outside a restaurant to draw in customers. The text reads, “Lunch time service”.

Jacket lining depicting Takebayashi Tadashichi in snow

ca. 1912-1950, Taishō or early Shōwa period

Silk

Museum purchase through the Barbara Harrison bequest, 1999.024.091

Takebayashi Tadashichi (1672-1703) was one of the famous 47 master-less samurai (rōnin) who served Asano Naganori. After their master was sentenced to death, they avenged him by attacking another lord’s estate. Snow is heavily associated with the winter-time night attack on the fortress of their enemy.

Landscape in the Manner of Ni Zan

by NUKINA Kaioku (1778-1863)

1825, Edo period

Ink on paper, mounted on silk

80.75” H x 24.25” W

Gift of Kurt A. Gitter, M.D., 1996.042.001a-d

Nukina was born the second son of a middle-ranking samurai family on the island of Awa in Shikoku prefecture. In 1775, at the age of 17, he joined a famous Buddhist temple on Mt. Kōya. In 1799, he attended the Osaka Confucian Academy. Around 1811 he moved to Kyoto to teach painting and calligraphy. His calligraphy was in high demand at this time. He was a literati artist, sometimes called scholar-amateurs; interested in painting for the experience, not as a profession.

Chinese style landscape

attb. to KANŌ Yasunobu (1767-1798)

late 18th c., Edo period

Ink on paper, mounted on silk

71” H x 22.25” W

Museum purchase, 2003.022.032a-b

Originally called Toshinobu, the artist was a Kanō painter. He was the eldest son of Kanō Eitoku Takanobu. Yasunobu became the 13^th generation head of the Nakabashi branch of the Kanō school. He served the shogunate as oku eshi and received the title of hōgen, which is used here as his signature in the lower, left corner. He is best known as a painter of birds and flowers.

An Early Morning Winter

by YAMADA Baske (1869-1934)

ca. 1920-1925, late Taishō

Watercolors on paper

30.25” H x 37.75” W

Gift of Lisa Scharak in memory of Joseph and Betty Scharak, 2015.017.001

The painting depicts Mt. Fuji in winter. Typical of works by this impressionistic artist, the elements of the composition are only vaguely discernable. Distant houses appear to the right on the far side of a dry or frozen watercourse that is barely visible. More concrete structures are placed nearer the observer on the left. Beyond them lights appear in the windows of otherwise invisible buildings lost in the distant gloom. Oddly, for the time of year, Mt. Fuji is shown with no snow on top.

Yamada Baske was born in Japan but spent many years of his life in America. He worked and exhibited in New York, Boston and Philadelphia–where he was a pupil of William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His work features a marvelous ability to have poetic appeal to both the Western and Eastern viewers.

Winter Landscape with Farmhouse Blanketed in Snow

by KAWAGUCHI Gosen (1879-1958)

1948, Shōwa period

Ink and mineral pigments on paper

77.25” H x 16.25” W

Museum purchase funded by the J.A. & H.G. Woodruff Jr. Charitable Trust in honor of Pearl Epstein, 2008.011.008a-b

Kawaguchi was born in Ise, Japan and initially studied with Isobe Hyakurin, an artist also based there. Later, he moved to Kyoto and became a pupil of Takeuchi Seihō, a prominent artist known for his Japanese-style painting, which blended Eastern and Western artistic traditions. Takeuchi Seihō is associated with Kōgen-ji, which is a prominent Zen Buddhist temple. The temple’s ceiling features paintings of the four seasons, illustrating that seasonal themes were appropriate even in a religious context.

Winter scene

by INAGAKI Tomoo (1902-1980)

20^th c., late Taishō or early Shōwa period

Pastels on paper

13” H x 9” W

Gift of Mr. & Mrs. William Stein, 2003.029.042

Inagaki is best known as a Japanese print artist who portrays playful cats in abstract compositions. He was a self-taught artist who began making sōsaku hanga, or creative prints, in 1924. Traditionally, Japanese artisans created woodblock prints in a studio system involving several artists and a publisher to produce one piece. By the early 20th century, there was a new movement of individual artists making their own prints from design concept, to cutting the woodblocks, inking the woodblocks, printing and distribution of the final product. This piece is a drawing from his early artistic studies.

Kazuragi from the series 100 Noh Dramas

by TSUKIOKA Kōgyo (1869-1927)

ca. 1922-1927, late Taishō or early Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

14.5” H x 9.8” W

Museum purchase through the Barbara Harrison bequest, 2003.009.007

Kazuragi is a Noh play featuring a character associated with Kazuragi Mountain in Japan, often depicted as a female mountain deity and a symbol of the region. The play focuses on themes of divine power, reverence for nature and the local legends related to Kazuragi Mountain. The performance involves the use of elaborate costumes, masks and stylized movement characteristic of Noh theater.

Snowfall at Shiba Park

by KAWASE Hasui (1883-1957)

January 1931, Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

10.25” H x 15.5” W

Donated by Roy and Sis Dye, 1995.003.006

Regarded as a major Japanese landscape artist of the 20th century, Kawase Hasui’s prints are characterized by their serenity of mood and flawless composition. Born Kawase Bunjiro in Tokyo, he was the son of a silk braid merchant. He began his artistic career studying Japanese-style painting then he turned his attention to woodblock printing in 1919. Watanabe Shozaburo was the first to recognize his artistic genius and Kawase soon became the most popular artist working for this prestigious publisher. Though Watanabe published the majority of Kawase’s prints, others published some of his designs as well.

These Japanese landscape prints are based on small, quick sketches and watercolors taken from nature. Unfortunately, during the earthquake of 1923, all of his woodblocks and over 200 sketches were destroyed. Undaunted, he continued to produce his landscape prints. In 1956, the Japanese government’s Committee for the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage designated this print of Kawase’s featuring Zojo Temple in snow and the documentation of its production as an Intangible Cultural Treasure – the greatest artistic honor in postwar Japan. All of his artistic prints are signed “Hasui” usually with a variety of red seals.

The spacious park-like setting around the temple, known as Shiba Park, was made into an actual park during the Meiji period (1868-1912), after the restoration of the emperor. Today the original temple sits near Tokyo Tower–a replica of the Eiffel Tower and a popular tourist spot.

Snowfall at Hie Shrine

by KAWASE Hasui (1883-1957)

1931, Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

15.5” H x 10.5” W

Gift of Natalie Schenck, 1955.032.001

Dated to New Year’s Day 1931, this scene shows two beauties moving forward into a delightful new year, full of joy and potential. Hie Shrine is the site of the very important Sannō festival, one of the three famous festivals in Tokyo. The large festival occurs every odd-numbered year in June. Here the shrine is depicted at the start of winter surrounded in quietude, rather than the popular and lively summer festival.

Boatman in the Snow

by KAWASE Hasui (1883-1957)

1932, Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

15.25” H x 7.5” W

Gift of Julius and Shirley Gilman, 1999.002.002

Kawase is known as a ‘new print’ artist, or in Japanes shin-hanga. The shin-hanga movement sought to revitalize the printing industry by blending it with modern sensibilities and techniques, often in collaboration with existing carvers, inkers, printers and publishers. Kawase was a prominent figure in the revival of traditional woodblock print-making introducing several of these modern additions, such as atmospheric effects (rain and snow) as well as Western principals of realism.

White Herons in the Snow

by IDE Gakusui (1899-1982)

1950, Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

15.75” H x 10.5” W

Gift of Jeanne K. Marquis, 1988.005.003

Ide Gakusui’s woodblock print designs were published by Watanabe Shozaburo in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. Born in Yamanashi in 1899, Ide studied Japanese-style painting with Yamanouchi Tamon and Araki Kanpo. He moved to China in 1929 and lived there until after World War II. He is best known for his prints of large cranes and herons.

Maikō in Winter

by HASEGAWA Sadanobu III (1881-1963)

ca. 1950s, Shōwa period

Ink and dyes on paper

15.5” H x 10.5” W

Gift of Paulina C. Cayia, 2003.002.026

Maikō are geisha (literally, ‘artistic person’) in training. This young woman is gazing out at the famous Kinkaku-ji, also called the Golden Pavilion. This is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. The deity of compassion, Kannon, is enshrined there. Notice the frozen lake between her and the temple.

Winter in Sagano from the series 100 Views of Kyoto

by IDO Masao (1945-2016)

1984, Shōwa period

12.5” H x 17” W

Ink and dyes on paper

Gift of Ross and Charlotte Miller, 2013.013.008

“Although Japan’s land and people suffered greatly during World War II, with everyone beset by great poverty, it was also the beginning of a period of hope when the whole nation put energy into reconstruction. The history of post-war Japan overlaps with that of mine, since I was born in the year the war ended.” – Ido.

Mr. Ido started to dye fabric for kimono at the age of 20. By 25, he had been introduced to woodblock printing. He visited carvers’ and printers’ workshops whenever he found time, in order to see a variety of wonderful techniques and fully understand the long history of Japanese woodblock prints.

Lady Mieko of Winter

by OTSUKA Hisashi (b. 1948)

1986, Shōwa period

Mixed media print

38.5” H x 27.125” W

Gift of Bruce and Susan Arbeiter, 2019.012.026

Mr. Otsuka’s work today is a powerful balance of ancient Eastern techniques and modern Western ideas. Like a concert musician with perfect pitch, he has perfect color memory and sense. His time-honored poets and warriors, kabuki figures, beautiful women and elegant calligraphy are steeped in the classical past. Yet in color and composition, his work achieves a vigorous, contemporary composition. Monumental in scope and meticulous in detail, it offers a total aesthetic of heroic and subtle impact at once. Otsuka moved to Hawaii in 1979. Until that time his painting had been historical in subject and theme. But now his work has merged traditional subject with innovating techniques and new cultural perspectives.