青木繁

Aoki was born in present-day Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 1882. He began studying Yōga (Western-style painting) with the local artist Mori Miyoshi (1872–1913) at the age of 13, around the time that he entered Fukuoka Prefectural Meizen Ordinary Middle School in Kurume (today’s Fukuoka Prefectural Meizen High School). Mori’s students were first taught pencil drawing, before going on to practice copying works and sketching from nature, using a British-made model book and other materials. Another students was Sakamoto Hanjirō (1882–1969), a former classmate of his from higher elementary school, who was also destined to become a Yōga painter. In addition to painting, Aoki was also enthusiastic about literature and circulated a literary magazine he created with Umeno Mitsuo (1879–1953) and other friends at his middle school. Feeling deeply troubled about his future, he often wondered, “How can I be myself?” He came up with the following answer: “Through the art of painting, I can become as noble, great, and true as Alexander the Great—even more so. I can be a magnificent man with shining sincerity who candidly manifests his feelings.” (note 1) In 1899, Aoki quit school and moved to Tokyo to become a painter. He attended the Fudōsha painting school and, in September of the following year, enrolled at the Yōga department of the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō (Tokyo Fine Arts School, present-day Tokyo University of the Arts). Frequenting the nearby Imperial Library (note 2), he expanded his knowledge of ancient Japanese mythology by reading the “Kojiki” and “Nihon Shoki” and explored the myths and religious beliefs of various other cultures. He also earnestly studied the classics by, for example, observing masks at the Tokyo Imperial Household Museum (now the Tokyo National Museum) used in the ancient performing arts of Gigaku and Bugaku. In September 1903, while attending the Tokyo Fine Arts School, Aoki exhibited 14 studies on Japanese and Indian mythology, including “Yomotsuhirasaka, Escape from the Land of the Dead” (Tokyo University of the Arts) and “Jaimini, Philosopher of Ancient India” (Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation, Tokyo). The first of these won the Hakuba Award at the Eighth Hakubakai (White Horse Society) Exhibition, marking his debut in the art world. “There is always something that a person must learn to paint when taking up brush and palette for the first time” (note 3), Aoki told the painter Masamune Tokusaburō (1883–1962) in explanation of his choice of subject. Mythology possibly was the subject he needed to shape himself as a painter. Although engaged in studying the techniques and underpinnings of Western art under Kuroda Seiki (1866–1924), who had received his training in academic painting in France, as a Meiji-period artist keen to contribute to a new national system through painting it is not surprising he remained conscious of Japanese “classics” modeled on eighth-century Tenpyō culture. In the summer of 1904, influenced by the poet Takashima Urō (1878–1954), another native of Kurume, he went on a sketching trip with Sakamoto Hanjirō, Morita Tsunetomo (1881–1933), and Fukuda Tane (1885–1968) to Mera (now in Tateyama City) in Tomisaki Village, Awa County, Chiba Prefecture. It was Sakamoto’s description of seeing a large catch of fish being unloaded at the port that inspired Aoki to produce “A Gift of the Sea” (1904, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation, Tokyo, Important Cultural Property). He may have drawn on the knowledge that Mera, a famous sketching spot, was mentioned in the “Man’yōshū,” an eighth-century anthology of waka poetry, when he conceived his image of 10 naked men carrying several sharks, a scene resonant of some ancient procession. Although he needed to press his companions for the necessary painting materials and help in arranging models to finish the work, the effort proved worthwhile: it gained notice at the Ninth Hakubakai Exhibition and inspired the poet Kanbara Ariake (1876–1952) to publish the poem “Umi no sachi” (A gift of the sea) in the literary magazine “Myōjō” (vol. 11, Year of the Dragon, issue of November 1, 1904). Aoki later illustrated Kanbara’s verse collection “Shunchōshū” and collaborated with Sakamoto on the cover design: projects undertaken during the era of Meiji Romanticism when pictorial art and literature overlapped. In March 1907 Aoki took on the challenge of producing a work to show at the Tokyo Kangyō Hakurankai (Tokyo Industrial Exposition) organized by the Tokyo prefectural government. According to the artist, “Paradise under the Sea” (1907, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation, Tokyo, Important Cultural Property), a reference to the mythological palace of Watatsumi (a marine deity), required a great deal of research, including studying how fish, seaweed, and the human figure appeared underwater. A father by now—his girlfriend, Fukuda Tane, had given birth to their son Sachihiko two years earlier—he approached the exhibition brimming with enthusiasm, intent on firmly establishing his reputation as a painter. And yet, although the work was highly anticipated by his peers, it placed at the bottom of the third-prize list, frustrating the artist’s hopes. He went public to express his strong disapproval of the ranking in the magazine “Hōsun” (vol. 1, no. 5, October 23, 1907). A confrontation is known to have occurred at the same exposition between supporters of the Hakubakai and the Pacific Painting Association over the fairness of the judging. In August 1907, on receiving news of his father’s death, Aoki returned to his hometown of Kurume. As head of the family, he was now responsible for five other people including his mother, sisters, and younger brothers. Unable to provide either for them or the son he left behind with Fukuda Tane’s family, he wandered around Kumamoto, Saga, and other parts of Kyushu, calling on old classmates from his art-school days and former teachers, constantly burdened by financial difficulties. There is evidence that he tried to stay afloat as a painter by using his contacts to obtain commissions for portraits of local notables and military men and other works. After being engaged by a sake brewing company Seiriki Shōten (located in what is today Ōkawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture) to produce a painting to hang in the hall of its Western-style offices, Aoki camped in the building while working on the large piece “Fishermen Returning Home” (1908, Woodone Museum of Art, Hiroshima). He hoped, furthermore, to return to the center of the art world by entering another work, “Sound of Autumn” (1908, Fukuoka Art Museum), in the Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition (Bunten), but apparently failed to meet the deadline for the event. From around 1909, he sojourned in Saga Prefecture, spending time with his former teacher Mori Miyoshi. It is known that he exhibited his own works and hosted a showing of others during this stay. He died from pulmonary tuberculosis at a hospital in Fukuoka City on March 25, 1911. He was 28. In March 1912, on the first anniversary of his death, “Aoki Shigeru Kun IsakuTenrankai” (Posthumous Exhibition of Works by Aoki Shigeru) (Takenodai Exhibition Hall, Ueno, Tokyo) was organized by Sakamoto and friends. The publication “Aoki Shigeru Gashū” (Pictures by Aoki Shigeru) (Tokyo: Seikyōsha, 1913) came out the following year. In November 1939 and March 1940, another “Aoki Shigeru Isaku Ten” (Posthumous Exhibition of Works by Aoki Shigeru) was held in Tokyo (Ginza) and Osaka, organized by Seijusha and featuring works from the collection of Umeno Mitsuo, a friend from ordinary middle school who had helped Aoki financially on many occasions. Umeno had been gathering works in the hope of dedicating a museum, but he decided to part with them now to ensure they would be preserved and reach a wider public. “A Gift of the Sea” and “Paradise under the Sea” were purchased by Ishibashi Shōjirō (1889–1976), the founder of what became Bridgestone Corporation. Ishibashi started collecting them at the urging of Sakamoto, his former teacher from higher elementary school, who worried about works being lost as a result of Aoki’s untimely death. In 1948, a monument was erected in acknowledgment of the artist’s wish for his ashes to be buried at the base of a pine tree on Mt. Keshikeshi (Mt. Kabuto) in Kurume. Bearing a tanka poem by Aoki inscribed in hiragana calligraphy designed by Sakamoto—“Wagakuni wa Tsukushi no kuni ya Shirahiwake haha imasu kuni haji ōki kuni [The province of Tsukushi, mythical Shirahiwake, is my country, where my mother is, where hazenoki trees abound]” (“Murasame shū,” from “Pictures by Aoki Shigeru,” 1913)—the monument still stands quietly on a mountainside overlooking the Chikugo Plain where Aoki was born and raised. (Ito Eriko / Translated by Ota So & Walter Hamilton) (Published online: 2024-03-08) Notes 1. Aoki Shigeru, “Jiden Sōkō [autobiographical draft],” in “Kashō no sōzō: Aoki Shigeru zenbunshū [Creation of appearances: Complete writings of Aoki Shigeru]” (Tokyo: Chuokoron bijutsu shuppan, 1966). 2. The building is now used for the National Diet Library’s International Library of Children’s Literature. 3. Aoki Shigeru, “Tsuisōki [Memoire] IV,” in “Aoki Shigeru gashū” (Pictures by Aoki Shigeru) (Tokyo: Seikyōsha, 1913).