Junks in Inatori Bay, Izu

Qualities of colour, light, and atmosphere, a constant in Japanese printmaking, also fascinated Hiroaki (Shotei) Takahashi (1871-1945). For some designs, he varied the pigments, bokashi, and block combinations in otherwise identical landscape compositions to explore the atmospherics of different seasons or times of day. A dusk setting provided ideal conditions for representing the chilly evening air for the Inatori Bay view depicted in this print. 

Hiroaki has constructed a triple play of light effects in this composition. First, the colour relations of the work are established in the bokashi transition from dark, inky blue in the upper sky, down through a play of yellows into intense orange on the horizon, shifting into a sea-blue that attracts the eye forward to the blue-grey wavelets of the foreground. This is complemented by the warm golden light of tiny junk windows and their reflections glowing on the water. The play is echoed again to the right, in the house lights and their reflections on the water in the middle distance.

From 1907, Hiroaki’s prints were published by Watanabe Shozaburo – over 500 compositions were published during the next 16 years and are important examples of the shin-hanga (modern print) movement. Though the blocks were destroyed in the fires following the 1923 earthquake, and Hiroaki himself died in 1945, many of the popular subjects were republished in the post-war years. Compositions like Junks in Inatori Bay made popular souvenirs for Occupation troupes and Watanabe’s growing export market. While this may not be the profoundest print in Te Papa's collection, above all others its says to people 'This is Japan!'

Source: David Bell, 'A new vision: modern Japanese prints from the Heriot collection', Tuhinga, 31 (2020), forthcoming.

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    May 2020