橋本雅邦

On August 21, 1835 (27th day of the 7th month of Tenpō 6), Hashimoto Gahō was born the son of Hashimoto Seien Osakuni, a painter in service to the Matsudaira Suō no kami family, on the grounds of the Edo Kobikichō Kanō school artist Seisen’in Osanobu. His childhood name was Sentarō 千太郎 and later Nagasato 長郷. His “gō” (art name) was Shōen Tadakuni 勝園雅邦. His alternate “gō” included Mokugansai 木雁斎, Kokkisai 克己斎, and Suigetsu Gasei 酔月画生. Around the age of seven he began studying painting under his father, and in 1845 (18th day, 4th month, Kōka 2), he entered the studio of Kanō Seisen’in Osanobu, who was his father’s teacher and then master of the Kobikichō studio. He entered the studio the same day as Kanō Hōgai. Seisen’in was already ill at the time and died in 1845 (19th day, 5th month, Kōka 2). Thus Gahō had no direct contact with Seisen’in but rather became the disciple of his son, Kanō Shōsen (later Shōsen’in) Tadanobu. In 1847 (Kōka 4) he lost both his parents in quick succession, and was raised by Miura Jisaku, who served his teacher’s family. His earliest period works include “Insect Hunting” 虫狩 (whereabouts unknown), which bears a signature “Nagasato, age 14,” and “Budai” 布袋 (private collection), which is signed “Nagasato, age 15.” In 1857 (Ansei 4) he became the head of the Kobikichō Kanō family’s school and was called one of Shōsen’in’s “shitennō” disciples, a nickname derived from the Four Heavenly Kings Buddhist deity group, along with Kanō Hōgai, Kanō Shōgyoku, and Kimura Ritsugaku. In 1860 (Man’en 1) Shōsen’in granted him independence, he married Tomeko, daughter of Takada Tōzaemon, a vassal of Ikeda Harima no kami, and set up his own household inside the Kobikichō Kanō residential compound. In 1866 (Keiō 2) his lord Matsudaira Suō no kami was transferred to Kawagoe so he became a member of the Kawagoe clan. But then he lost his samurai class affiliation with the 1871 (Meiji 4) dissolution of the former clan system and implementation of the prefecture system. Gahō could not make a living as a painter amidst the huge social order upheaval that occurred during the early Meiji period’s Westernization drive (“bunmei kaika”). So that same year he took a job at the Hyōbushō Kaigun Heigakuryō (Ministry of the Army’s Navy Military Academy, later Kaigun Heigakkō [Naval Academy]). In 1872 (Meiji 5) a great fire destroyed the Kobikichō Kanō compound, and he lost all of his family possessions. He rented rooms in the residence of the former Hyūga Obi “daimyo” in Dobashi, and later lived in the home of Itō Kansai in Uneme-chō. Even thought he had sent his wife and children to the Kobikichō Kanō family’s land in Saitama to escape the Battle of Uenō in 1868, after her return to Tokyo his wife often suffered from mental illness based on her harrowing experiences, and Gahō also struggled to care for her. Gahō produced oil paintings during the unfortunate years of the Meiji 10s (1877-87), but then the reconsideration of Japanese culture that accompanied the rise of nationalism provided a turning point for him. In 1882 (Meiji 15) he entered three works in the government-sponsored First Naikoku Kaiga Kyōshinkai exhibition (Domestic Competitive Painting Exhibition): “The Four Accomplishments” 琴棋書画 (MOA Museum, Shizuoka prefecture) which was awarded the exhibition’s top prize, Silver Prize with “Tokusen” inscription, along with “Li Bai Admiring a Waterfall” (Mizuno Museum of Art, Nagano) and “Bamboo and Pigeons” (purchased by the Imperial Household Agency, The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, Tokyo). Thus he began to make a name for himself as a painter. In 1883 (Meiji 16) he exhibited “Egret” 鷺鶿図 (whereabouts unknown) in the First L’Exposition Rétrospective de l’art japonais in Paris. The following year he displayed “Autumn Farmhouse Scene” 農家の秋景, “Landscape” 山水, and “Egret” 白鷺 (all whereabouts unknown) in the Second L’Exposition Rétrospective de l’art japonais in Paris. That same year he entered “Landscape and Eight Immortals” and “Animals” (both whereabouts unknown) in the Second Domestic Competitive Painting Exhibition, where he received a Silver Seal prize. In 1884 (Meiji 17) the Kangakai (Painting Appreciation Society) was formed with Ernest Francisco Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin in the lead. Gahō was one of the many painters who almost immediately joined the group. They set out to research Japanese painting suitable for a new era, and Gahō displayed his “Bishamonten Pursuing an Oni” (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and “Autumn Foliage at a Mountain Station” (Third Place Honorable Mention, whereabouts unknown) in the Painting Appreciation Society’s First Grand Exhibition. In 1886 (Meiji 19) he resigned from the Naval Academy and made further progress with his painting studies to the degree that his “Benzaiten, the Goddess of Music and Good Fortune, on a Dragon” (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) was awarded a Second Place certificate. Around this time and under the guidance of Fenollosa, Gahō began to tone down his previously strong texture strokes and other brushed lines as he experimented with bringing Western perspectival and lighting methods into Japanese painting expression. His fame, and that of Hōgai, grew all the more. In 1888 (Meiji 21) he began working in the preparatory office for Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō (Tokyo Fine Arts School), present-day Tokyo University of the Arts). He assumed teaching duties when the school opened the following year, and was named a professor there in 1890. He taught many of the first year students, including Yokoyama Taikan, Hishida Shunsō and Shimomura Kanzan. While Gahō was critical of the traditional training by copying earlier masters' works method (“funpon shugi”), he is said to have been diligent about studying antique paintings. As a result, traces of his study of Muromachi ink paintings by artists such as Sesshū and Sesson can be often seen in his own works. In 1890 he entered his “Autumn Landscape” (later “White Clouds and Autumn Leaves”, Important Cultural Properties [ICP], Tokyo University of the Arts), which received a First Prize at the Third National Industrial Exposition. That same year he was named a Teishitsu Gigeiin (Imperial Artist) as part of the system founded that year, becoming both in name and deed the leading Kanō school nihonga painter of the time. He entered his “Landscape” (Tokyo National Museum) in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago. In 1895 (Meiji 28) he entered “Sakyamuni and Sixteen Arhats” (private collection) and “Dragon and Tiger” (ICP, Seikado Bunko Museum of Art, Tokyo) in the Fourth National Industrial Exposition, with his novel full color depiction of the dragon and tiger, a major ink-painting theme, evoking public comment. Starting in 1896 (Meiji 29) he served on the judging committee of the competitive painting exhibitions held by the Nihon Kaiga Kyōkai (Japan Painting Association) every spring and autumn, and his innovative entries, such as “Sparrows and a Cat in a Bamboo Grove” (later “Cat in Bamboo Grove”, 1896 [Meiji 29], Tokyo National Museum) and “Reprimand of Linji Yixuan” (1897 [Meiji 30], private collection) were much discussed. In 1898 (Meiji 31) the so-called Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō art-school crisis led Okakura Tenshin to resign from the Tokyo Fine Arts School and when other teachers sought to resign en masse, Gahō also resigned his official position. That same year Gahō participated with Tenshin and others in the planning and founding of the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute) as a privately run art research organization. He went on to play a leading role in the Nihon Bijutsuin, from acting as a judge at the exhibitions which the organization held in tandem with the Japan Painting Association, to directing the painting research group (Kaiga Kenkyūkai) developed within the institute and other such roles. It is particularly noteworthy that Gahō fans formed the Gahōkai and Seikikai groups in the Meiji 30s and sponsored frequent solo exhibitions. In 1903 (Meiji 36) Gahō entered his “Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang” (Itsuo Art Museum, Osaka) in the Fifth National Industrial Exposition. His “Dragon and Tiger” (The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, Tokyo) was entered in the 1900 Paris World Exposition where it received a Silver Prize. In 1904 he displayed six framed works at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World’s Fair), including “Lingering Light in the Forest” (Sunpu Museum, Shizuoka), “Dawn Light on Mt. Penglai” (Yoshizawa Memorial Museum of Art, Sano, Tochigi), “Red Maples White Water” (Woodone Museum of Art, Hiroshima) and two pairs of six-panel screens, “Spring Inlet, Autumn Grove” and “Clouds and Accumulated Snow” (both private collections). His works received the highest honors at the exhibition and thus he achieved international acclaim as a major Japanese painter. Gahō’s health gradually failed in his later years, and in 1905 (Meiji 38) he resigned from his role of leader of the Nihon Bijutsuin citing old age as the reason. In 1907 (Meiji 40), even though he had been appointed a member of the judging committee for the First Bunten (Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition), he resigned due to ill health. On January 2, 1908 (Meiji 41) he held a New Year’s calligraphy ceremony, gathering his pupils as stipulated by the Kobikichō Kanō family rules, and his two renderings of the “three cintamani” (wish-fulfilling jewels) on that occasion became his last works. On January 13, 1908 he died at his home in Tatsuoka-chō, Hongō-ku, Tokyo. He was 74 years old (in the traditional Japanese “kazoe-doshi” age system). (Orii Takae / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-03-06)