Studio: international art (59.1913)

Modern Tendencies in Japanese Sculpture

“SAKYUMEl” (A CHINESE HISTORIAN)
BY SHINKAI TAKETARO

“THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORY’’

BY SHINKAI TAKETARO

commendable in many instances from an artistic
standpoint, begun to be reared in public places
throughout the Empire. Still, the sculpture that
has had a close connection with such a peculiar
reverence cannot fail to have a great influence on
its development. The glyptic art of Japan in its
earlier stages was almost exclusively devoted to
religious purposes, and was stamped -strongly with
idealistic tendencies. Its wonderful achievements
are seen in the rich legacy of masterpieces be-
queathed to us by the past.

While the demand for statues to decorate parks
and cities is growing with rapidity, the traditional

temple or monastery generally possesses a kaisando
or hall for its founder, whose statue, usually in
wood, is placed on an altar and worshipped. It
may be observed that the spirit which prompts
such an act is not so much homage as a desire to
invoke aid for the salvation of the people. This
Shinto observance inculcated in Buddhistic prac-
tice, let us repeat, has a great deal to do with the
non-existence, until recent times, of statues of our
great men decorating public places in the open air.

But after the inward flow of Western ideas things
began to change. The stone tablets are now being
replaced by bronze statues. Take, for instance,
Kusunoki Masashige, a hero of the early fourteenth
century, celebrated for his courage and unswerving
loyalty to the throne. A shrine erected to his
memory still stands on the bank of the Minatogawa,
where he ended his life in his last battle. But it
was only a few years ago that a bronze equestrian

statue of him was reared for the first time in front
of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Especially since
the Chino-Japanese War, less than twenty years
ago, have bronze statues, unfortunately not very

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