modern art

Milky Way

This picture is drawn by HAGIWARA Hideo. He was born in the Yamanashi Prefecture. He learned Fine Arts in Tokyo then went to Oregon to teach what he had learned. He is known as drawing modern art and won the international competitions.

He chose rice paper to draw this piece. Rice paper is very thin than the usual paper. I do not know why he used this kind of paper but I guess he chose it because of the texture of the paper. But the condition of the paper was not so good because there was a folding line in the picture.  When I first saw the title of this picture, I thought that the drawing was about many stars which look like river. However, the picture was about the universe. It is said that the universe is getting bigger so the black part is outside the universe. As you can see, there is a blue dot in the cosmos. This is the earth. Earth sometimes described as ‘blue marble’.  Near the earth, there are other planets. In the middle, there are two big circles. One is black and the other is white. These two seems to be expressing the orbit. Also, these two are connected but the color is opposite so it seems to be saying the opposite thing. Black is representing evil and the white is representing innocence and something peace. Two opposite thing is existing together.

In this picture, the earth is drawn so small and human beings are smaller than the earth. This connotes that the world and the universe is so big than we are thinking and we human beings are so tiny.

Ukiyo-e

This print was made by Utagawa TOYOKUNI. He is one of the famous woodblock print artist and he was so popular among the people in the Edo period. Utagawa had a unique talent in drawing women and portraits of Kabuki performer and this picture is one of the Kabuki actors. His name is Onoe Matsuke II.

                Before talking about the details of this woodblock print, I would like to explain about the portraits of Kabuki actors. In Japanese, we call it ‘Yakusha-e’.  In this type of woodblock print, most of the artist drew about the portraits of Kabuki actors itself, but some people drew the stage, large props and other materials that they used in the Kabuki. Woodblock print is called ‘Ukiyo-e’ in Japanese. Ukiyo means ‘floating world’ so woodblock print is presenting everyday life picture. Therefore, some of the artists pictured the Kabuki actors’ everyday life.  

                However, in this picture there is a man who wears traditional Japanese clothes. The color is light pink and inside there is a pretty design. Obi has a flower pattern on it too. It seems like this man is in the middle class. He looks like he is getting angry at the mice. But first, I would like to start from the condition of the print. The paper was stained and it was hard to say that it was preserved in the good condition. Still, I thought that the quality of the printing was not bad. The lines were sharp and the man’s hair was so sharp and very beautiful. In addition, the color all fit in the lines, but in this picture Utagawa did not use many colors and the color was light.

                Next, let’s go into the detail of the picture. As I said above, in this picture there is a man and his name is Onoe Matsuke II. He is an actor and he contributed in the Edo-Kabuki. In this woodblock, he is standing in the middle and has an angry look on his face. His eyes are staring at the mice and his eye brows are expressing his anger. He also has a disheveled hair which indicates that he cannot bear the mice anymore.  The actor is pulling up the sleeves and he is ready to beat the mice. This pose is called ‘Mie’ in Kabuki. ‘Mie’ is a method to show the audience, when his feeling is running high, he stops his action and poses to the audience and stares for a moment. In this picture, he stares the mice which he is angry at.

                Why is he angry at the mice? In some places, mice are believed that they are representing evil and bringing infectious disease. In addition in western countries, mice were believed that they were dangerous because mice can attack animals that are bigger than themselves. Generally speaking, people do not want mice in their house. Also, in this picture, mice are drawn by black. Black has a meaning something evil, and negative. It does not give good impression to the others. There are nine mice, and seven of them are looking at the actor. One of the mouse’s neck is not natural and it gives us a weird feeling.

In this picture, Utagawa focused on the man and the mice staring each other. He did not paint the background of the picture. This makes the viewer confused because we do not know what kind of situation they are put in. Therefore I think that Utagawa really wanted to express the Onoe Matusuke’s feeling.

Analysis of Japanese Photograph

I chose this picture because it shows us how Japanese think and interact with the nature.

In this picture, I see collapsed houses and huge earth fissures. Almost nothing had stayed same before the earthquake. Now, people cannot live as they did before. Earth fissures are so deep that if you fall in accidently, people will be seriously injured. Many people are wearing helmets in case of the aftershock.

In this picture, there is a man in the middle who looks like a person from the government and he might be inspecting how this place was affected by the earthquake. There are also two boys sitting on the wreckage looking so helpless. The other boy is trying to climb up the wreckage, but most of the adults are gazing far away and feeling empty or being surprised what the earthquake has done to this land. In this picture, there are no women. I guess that they are working in the shelter getting foods for the family and so on.   

Next, let’s move on and see the entire picture. In this picture, it seems that the picture is focusing on the house and the trees look like they are surrounding it. It gives us the feelings that human are so little compared to the nature. People could not escape from the natural disaster and at the same time, they are helpless. In this era, people thought that these natural disasters are caused by the God. It was a punishment from the heaven. This picture really represents that the natural violence is so enormous and people are powerless.

Album

Picture 108

This is my friend’s garden and I got a chance to go there on my break. I am so glad that it was sunny on that day because sometimes it is chilly even the season is autuam. My friend is very rich as you can see by seeing the picture. She really has a large garden and in the garden, there are pond, trees, rocks and lantern. The pond is blue and you can see the floting leaves and trees that are reflecting on the water. Accoriding to my friend, this is a traditional Japanese garden that tried to express ‘nature’ in one place. Japanese tend to admire the nature and they think that the nature is very beautiful thing. She said that on her free time, she views this garden and have a green tea and be relaxed.

  Picture119

I took this picture while I was walking on the street. At first I thought this is so weird because fish is swimming in the sky! I asked the man who were passing by and he said that this is Japanese traditional event held in May 5^th. This event is called ‘Kodomo no hi’ (children’s day) in Japanese. In this event, people celebrate their children’s growth and health. This fish is called ‘koinobori’ and it symbolize strength and success in life. Chinese legends say that carp become dragons when they swim up whitewater rapids and Japanese represent this belief by konobori.

  Picture 238

Today, I went to girl’s high school in Tokyo. Some children are wearing kimono but some were wearing sailor-style school uniform. When I first saw this, I felt weird because Japanese style and western style is mixed up. However, in this period, Japan was already opening the country and absorbing western culture. The reason why Japanese started wearing this sailor-style is because it is easier to do sports. In addition, everyone is tying their hair just in case that their hair does not disturb them.  In this picture, they are taking turns to perform calisthenics.

Picture 219

Today, I went to my primary school were my friend’s daughter goes. They seemed that they were having lessons about etiquette. Teachers were wearing kimono and the students were wearing one-piece. One-piece is western way of clothing. I was so impressed that every student was sitting on their knees.  To me, I can’t believe it because I can’t stand up after sitting like this. On the back, there was Japanese calligraphy. The way it was written was so strong and I felt power in the words (although, I couldn’t understand what was written in it). In this school, it seems that everyone have to tie their hair up. In the middle of the picture, there is a girl sitting and waiting for the other girl to serve her foods. It seems that they were having a test or something because the teacher is looking at them and making sure they are doing the right thing.

  Picture 103

I took this picture because everything was so perfect! This picture really has a Japanese feel to it.

The trees were changing colors and you can hear the river off. The woman in the picture was so beautiful too. In Japan, we define white as a beauty and this woman is representing it. She was sitting on the bench, having a cup of tea and gazing at the boat. In her hand, she is holding a traditional umbrella. She must be having a good time.

------

In this album I took on the persona of a woman who came to visit a friend in Japan. It was interesting for me to act like a foreigner since I am Japanese.  Trying to look in a foreigner’s view, I chose some pictures that are mainly connected to the ordinary people’s life and see how the western culture is getting in to the people’s life. I also chose some pictures that are still preserving Japanese traditional culture. Traveling Japan, she found out that in some parts of places, people are still maintaining the nature. But in some other places especially in the schools, she found out that Japanese are taking in some western cultures. However, she realized that Japan is not just taking in those culture but they are having reasons to it. Japanese thought that kimono is not good for the sports so they absorbed western clothes. Therefore, we can see that Japan was wisely making a choice what to take in.

"Globetrotters' Places" and "Globetrotters' People"

Sorce:http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_places/ga2_vis_kyo07.html

This picture is taken in Kyoto and the name of the temple is ‘Kiyomizu Dera’. This temple is one of the most famous temples in Japan.

The season is in autumn. The left side of the trees is still green but for the right side of the tree, all of the leaves have fallen down. The green trees might be pine tree because the leaves stay on the tree all year long. I see some leaves turning in yellow, but I do not see leaves turning in red. There are no clouds in the sky and the weather is very mild. The temple is built in very high place. I guess this is because the view is very beautiful, and some people are having a view in the picture. This temple is made from tree and it must be a hard work to build the structures from the bottom. What I found interesting was the double bars which were made not to fall down from the temple. I think this is because there was a belief that says if you jump out from the temple and if you were still alive, your wishes will come true. If you died, you can still rest in peace. Therefore, the owner of the temple made the bars double because it is dangerous (I don’t know it helped or not) I also like the angle of the picture. In this picture, there is a temple which was made by people, and on the left side, there are some natures. We can see that people and nature is coexisting. How wonderfulJ!

Sorce:http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_people/ga1_essay03.html

I can see that this girl is not from a poor family, because there is shamisen on the left, tea implements on the middle and the back, and sushi on the front. The girl is sitting in ‘seiza’ which is the Japanese way of sitting. She seems like she is going to eat sushi because she is holding a small plate and chopsticks. However, it is weird because sushi is considered to be an expensive food and we usually eat it with family. I also think this picture is strange because there are two tea implements.

The girl is looking on the right but there is nothing. There might be something which the picture did not include but it seems that she is totally out of it. She is not thinking about sushi, or shamisen. On her hair there is a flower instead of kanzashi, or real flower trying to make like a kanzashi, because something is hanging down from the flower.

To me, this picture is just representing Japanese culture things to the foreigners. It is so strange to have all of the things in one place!