Born in Miyagi in 1946. Oil painter, Professor of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
Graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music 1970 and completed his masters in Oil Painting in the Department of Painting of the Graduate School of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1972. After completing a term as a research student at the same university in 1973, he enrolled as an exchange student at Hamburg Art University in Germany. He became an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts in 1981 after returning to Japan, and in 1986 he became an Associate Professor at the same university.In 1995, he served as a Monbusho-sponsored Japanese Overseas Reserch Fellow at Vienna Art University in the Restoration subject. Since 1999 he has been a professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. His works include Toshi Shozo no Zu, Choshokuban to Netsudenki, Aoba, Nachi no Otaki, and Zao Okama.
This was my first opportunity to participate as a juror in the Mitsubishi Asian Children's Enikki Festa and to examine the numerous illustrated diaries from Asian nations up close. The works were from 24 nations and regions and were a powerful reminder of Asia's vastness. Among the entries were those from the Far East, including China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan; from Pakistan, India, and other nations of Southwest Asia; from Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and other nations of Southeast Asia; and from nations to the north, such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
On viewing the works one after another, we experience a remarkable dichotomy: (1) the globalization of culture and (2) the fun and happiness that the children enjoy in the context of their local environs. We experience, too, the children's pride in their lifestyles and their prayers for the preservation of the best elements of those lifestyles. The artists are perceptibly eager to interact with other children in Asia and worldwide, and they are issuing messages in that spirit from their own perspectives. They bring to their work a robust vitality.
We encounter in these works a truly remarkable range of technical approaches. Some of the children unleash a physical vigor through their painting and drawing. Some deploy colors of bold contrasts in works of stunning radiance. Some achieve a softly exquisite harmony in their colors. Some bring their works alive through the positioning of human figures in landscapes and interiors. Some experiment with perspective. Some employ decorative calligraphy in works that meld graphic and textual elements synergistically.
Perceptible throughout the works is a yearning for peace, and the Mitsubishi Asian Children's Enikki Festa is an invaluable initiative for nurturing a worldview that honors that yearning. I hope that this initiative will continue and that it will bring together a growing community of artists and viewers.
