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KOBAYASHI Kiyochika
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Artist – KOBAYASHI
Kiyochika (小林 清親) was a Japanese ukiyo-e painter and
printmaker of the Meiji period. After relocation to Tokiyo in
May 1873, he began to concentrate on art and associated with
such artists as Shibata Zeshin and Kawanabe Kyōsai, under whom
he may have studied painting. In 1875 he began producing series
of ukiyo-e prints of the rapidly modernizing and Westernizing
Tokyo and is said to have studied Western-style painting under
Charles Wirgman. In August 1876 produced the first kōsen-ga (ja)
(光線画, "light-ray pictures"), ukiyo-e prints employing
Western-style naturalistic light and shade, possibly under the
influence of the photography of Shimooka Renjō.
During the Sino-Japanese war he depicted many war scenes on Ukiyo-e. His style is a synthesis of Western and Japanese painting style. His works showed the strong influence of Western perspectives, changes of lights and mainly night effects. He is considered the last of the important Ukiyo-e print makers ("The last Mohican of Ukiyo-e"). KOBAYASHI Kiyochika is best known for his prints of scenes around Tokyo which reflect the transformations of modernity. He has been described as "the last important ukiyo-e master and the first noteworthy print artist of modern Japan,
or, perhaps an anachronistic survival from an earlier age, a minor hero whose best efforts to adapt ukiyo-e to the new world of Meiji Japan were not quite enough". Kiyochika was heavily influenced by Western art, which he studied under Charles Wirgman. He also based a lot of his work on Western etchings, lithographs, and photographs which became widely available in Japan in the Meiji period. Kiyochika also studied Japanese art under the great artists Kawanabe Kyōsai and Shibata Zeshin.
His woodblock prints stand apart from those of the earlier Edo period, incorporating not only Western styles but also Western subjects, as he depicted the introduction of such things as horse-drawn carriages, clock towers, and railroads to Tokyo. These show considerable influence from the landscapes of Hokusai and the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, but the Western influence is also unquestionable; these are much darker images on the whole, and share many features with Western lithographs and etchings of the time. These were produced primarily from 1876 to 1881; KOBAYASHI Kiyochika would continue to publish ukiyo-e prints for the rest of his life, but also worked extensively in illustrations and sketches for newspapers, magazines, and books. He also produced a number of prints depicting scenes from the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, collaborating with caption writer Honekawa Dojin to contribute a number of illustrations to the propaganda series Nihon banzai hyakusen hyakushō ("Long live Japan: 100 victories, 100 laughs").
His caricatures in the Marumaru Chinbun probably represent Kiyochika's best-remembered work. The humour frequently targeted differences between the Japanese and foreigners.
Personal life - KOBAYASHI Kiyochika (小林 清親) was born KOBAYASHI Katsunosuke (小林 勝之助) in Edo, September 10th in 1847. His father was Kobayashi Mohē (小林 茂兵衛), who worked as a minor official in charge of unloading rice collected as taxes and had the rank of a Commissioner (kanjō-bugyō). His mother Chikako (知加子) was the daughter of another such official, Matsui Yasunosuke (松井安之助). The 1855 Edo earthquake destroyed the family home but left the family unharmed. into a family of lower military, serving the ruling Shogunate of the Tokugawa clan.
Though the youngest of his parents' nine children, Kiyochika took over as head of the household at the age of 15 upon his father's death in 1862 and changed his name from Katsunosuke. As a subordinate to his father and heir to his title as a kanjō-bugyō official, Kiyochika travelled to Kyoto in 1865 with the last Tokugawa Shogun. They continued to Osaka, where Kiyochika thereafter made his home. During the Boshin War in 1868 Kiyochika participated on the side of the shogun in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in Kyoto and returned to Osaka after defeat of the shogun's forces. He returned by land to Edo and re-entered the employ of the shogun. After the fall of Edo (江戸開城 Edo Kaijō) in July 1868, he relocated to Shizuoka, the heartland of the Tokugawa clan, where he stayed for the next several years.
Kiyochika returned to the renamed Tokyo in May 1873 with his mother, who died there that September. KOBAYASHI Kiyochika married his first wife Fujita Kinu (藤田きぬ) in 1876. They had two daughters (Kinko 銀子, b. 1878, and Tsuruko 鶴子, b. 1881). Kiyochika separated from his first wife around 1883 and remarried in 1884 to Tajima Yoshiko (田島 芳子, died 1912). They had three further daughters (Natsuko 奈津子, b. 1886, Seiko せい子, 1890–99, and Katsu 哥津, b. 1894). His wife Yoshiko died in 1912. KOBAYASHI Kiyochika spent July to October 1915 in Nagano Prefecture and visited the Asama Onsen hot springs in Matsumoto to treat his rheumatism. On 28th of November in 1915, KOBAYASHI Kiyochika died at his Tokyo home in Nakazato, Kita Ward. His grave is at Ryūfuku-in Temple in Motoasakusa.
Aliases - none
Disciples - In 1894 Kiyochika established his own art school. One of his students was Tsuchiya Koitsu (1879-1949) stayed in his master's home for 19 years. Koitsu is known as a master of Shin-Hanga. Another promising student was Inoue Yasuji (1864-1889), but he died at the young age of only 25.
During the Sino-Japanese war he depicted many war scenes on Ukiyo-e. His style is a synthesis of Western and Japanese painting style. His works showed the strong influence of Western perspectives, changes of lights and mainly night effects. He is considered the last of the important Ukiyo-e print makers ("The last Mohican of Ukiyo-e"). KOBAYASHI Kiyochika is best known for his prints of scenes around Tokyo which reflect the transformations of modernity. He has been described as "the last important ukiyo-e master and the first noteworthy print artist of modern Japan,
or, perhaps an anachronistic survival from an earlier age, a minor hero whose best efforts to adapt ukiyo-e to the new world of Meiji Japan were not quite enough". Kiyochika was heavily influenced by Western art, which he studied under Charles Wirgman. He also based a lot of his work on Western etchings, lithographs, and photographs which became widely available in Japan in the Meiji period. Kiyochika also studied Japanese art under the great artists Kawanabe Kyōsai and Shibata Zeshin.
His woodblock prints stand apart from those of the earlier Edo period, incorporating not only Western styles but also Western subjects, as he depicted the introduction of such things as horse-drawn carriages, clock towers, and railroads to Tokyo. These show considerable influence from the landscapes of Hokusai and the work of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, but the Western influence is also unquestionable; these are much darker images on the whole, and share many features with Western lithographs and etchings of the time. These were produced primarily from 1876 to 1881; KOBAYASHI Kiyochika would continue to publish ukiyo-e prints for the rest of his life, but also worked extensively in illustrations and sketches for newspapers, magazines, and books. He also produced a number of prints depicting scenes from the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, collaborating with caption writer Honekawa Dojin to contribute a number of illustrations to the propaganda series Nihon banzai hyakusen hyakushō ("Long live Japan: 100 victories, 100 laughs").
His caricatures in the Marumaru Chinbun probably represent Kiyochika's best-remembered work. The humour frequently targeted differences between the Japanese and foreigners.
Personal life - KOBAYASHI Kiyochika (小林 清親) was born KOBAYASHI Katsunosuke (小林 勝之助) in Edo, September 10th in 1847. His father was Kobayashi Mohē (小林 茂兵衛), who worked as a minor official in charge of unloading rice collected as taxes and had the rank of a Commissioner (kanjō-bugyō). His mother Chikako (知加子) was the daughter of another such official, Matsui Yasunosuke (松井安之助). The 1855 Edo earthquake destroyed the family home but left the family unharmed. into a family of lower military, serving the ruling Shogunate of the Tokugawa clan.
Though the youngest of his parents' nine children, Kiyochika took over as head of the household at the age of 15 upon his father's death in 1862 and changed his name from Katsunosuke. As a subordinate to his father and heir to his title as a kanjō-bugyō official, Kiyochika travelled to Kyoto in 1865 with the last Tokugawa Shogun. They continued to Osaka, where Kiyochika thereafter made his home. During the Boshin War in 1868 Kiyochika participated on the side of the shogun in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in Kyoto and returned to Osaka after defeat of the shogun's forces. He returned by land to Edo and re-entered the employ of the shogun. After the fall of Edo (江戸開城 Edo Kaijō) in July 1868, he relocated to Shizuoka, the heartland of the Tokugawa clan, where he stayed for the next several years.
Kiyochika returned to the renamed Tokyo in May 1873 with his mother, who died there that September. KOBAYASHI Kiyochika married his first wife Fujita Kinu (藤田きぬ) in 1876. They had two daughters (Kinko 銀子, b. 1878, and Tsuruko 鶴子, b. 1881). Kiyochika separated from his first wife around 1883 and remarried in 1884 to Tajima Yoshiko (田島 芳子, died 1912). They had three further daughters (Natsuko 奈津子, b. 1886, Seiko せい子, 1890–99, and Katsu 哥津, b. 1894). His wife Yoshiko died in 1912. KOBAYASHI Kiyochika spent July to October 1915 in Nagano Prefecture and visited the Asama Onsen hot springs in Matsumoto to treat his rheumatism. On 28th of November in 1915, KOBAYASHI Kiyochika died at his Tokyo home in Nakazato, Kita Ward. His grave is at Ryūfuku-in Temple in Motoasakusa.
Aliases - none
Disciples - In 1894 Kiyochika established his own art school. One of his students was Tsuchiya Koitsu (1879-1949) stayed in his master's home for 19 years. Koitsu is known as a master of Shin-Hanga. Another promising student was Inoue Yasuji (1864-1889), but he died at the young age of only 25.
Copyright 2008 ff: Hans P. Boehme